EPA Notifies DEP It Will Act If PA Does Not Make Progress In Meeting Clean Water Goals

Nicholas DiPasquale, Director of EPA’s Chesapeake Bay Program Office, sent a letter to the Department of Environmental Protection on May 4 reminding DEP his office can take action to assure Pennsylvania’s nutrient and sediment reduction goals are met if Pennsylvania does not act.

One basic action EPA could take, DiPasquale said, was for EPA to directly use money awarded to Pennsylvania for Chesapeake Bay compliance to support on-the-ground implementation of reduction measures.

The letter goes on to outline EPA’s suggests on how to meet the water pollution reduction goals in the two major sectors the furthest behind in meeting those goals-- agriculture and urban/suburban stormwater runoff.  Here are some highlights--

-- Eliminate the three strikes and you’re out enforcement policy for non-CAFO and non-CAO (livestock) farms that now allows a farmer to delay action to address compliance issues;

-- Institute annual self-reporting by farmers on environmental compliance for all non-CAFO, non-CAO operators;

-- Revised enforcement policies to take immediate enforcement action if farmers are found to be in violation of environmental requirements;

-- Expand nutrient management planning beyond CAFO and CAO (livestock) operations to all cropland to meet Pennsylvania’s nutrient management commitments;

-- Accelerate installation of high priority conservation practices on farms, including enhanced nutrient management, stream exclusion, forest buffers, cover crops, precision dairy feed management, conservation tillage and more;

-- Fix the deficiencies in Pennsylvania’s agricultural conservation programs identified by EPA in March;

-- Revise the MS4 (PAG-13) stormwater management permit to include specific load reduction requirements and encourage more watershed-based or regional permits and plan preparation; and

-- Finalize a revised stormwater BMP Manual that is consistent with Chesapeake Bay Program requirements.

DEP Secretary John Quigley has acknowledged Pennsylvania is not meeting its Chesapeake Bay commitments and said a reboot of the program is needed.  He said he and Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding are developing a revised plan for meeting those commitments.

DEP’s Citizens Advisory Council will hear a presentation at its meeting on July 21 by Suzanne Trevena, EPA Region III Water Protection Division, on EPA’s evaluation of Pennsylvania’s progress in meeting its Chesapeake Bay cleanup milestones.

A copy of the EPA letter is available online.