DEP’s Citizens Advisory Council is scheduled to meet on May 22 to hear a presentation on Pennsylvania’s draft Chesapeake Bay Watershed Implementation Plan by Veronica Kasi, Director of DEP”s Chesapeake Bay Program Office.
The Plan describes how Pennsylvania intends to move forward and accelerate progress towards meeting the nutrient reduction targets established by the Chesapeake Bay Partnership for the improvement of local water quality and the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay with the goal of having all practices in place by 2025.
The draft Plan estimates an additional $1.5 billion in funding and 144 new staff would be needed over the next 6 years to achieve the Chesapeake Bay pollution reduction goals.
More specifically, the draft Plan recommends providing funding for 4 priority programs-- Agricultural Compliance- $33.1 million, Soil Health- $32.9 million, Grass Buffers- $9.2 million and Forested Buffers- $41.4 for a total of $116.6 million of the $257 million annual obligation.
The draft Plan are recommends an increase in state agency staff from 32 to 80 and for external agency staff from 93 to 189 for a total of 144 new staff.
If the draft Plan is implemented as proposed, there will be a reduction of 22.57 million pounds of nitrogen [the goal is 34 million pounds] and an 824,000 pound reduction of phosphorus [the goal is 760,000 pounds].
The Plan says Pennsylvania will achieve the other needed reductions “... through the completion of the remaining Countywide Action Plans and the remaining priority initiatives described in Section 2 that have not yet been quantified.”
With just the existing programs and resources, Pennsylvania would miss the 2025 nitrogen reduction goal by at least 19 years (2044).
DEP is accepting public comments on the draft Plan through June 7.
Click Here to view a copy of the Bay Plan presentation.
The meeting will be held in Room 105 of the Rachel Carson Building in Harrisburg starting at 10:00. A Call-In option is available: 267-332-8737, 52478877#
The next scheduled meeting of the Council is on June 18.
For more information and available handouts, visit DEP’s Citizens Advisory Council webpage. Questions should be directed to Keith Salador, Executive Director, 717-787-8171 or send email to: ksalador@pa.gov.
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