|
|
||
Farm Bureau upset at new bay regs Date published: 12/3/2009
BY CHELYEN DAVIS
RICHMOND --Virginia farmers say stricter regulations contained in proposed federal rules to protect the Chesapeake Bay could run them out of business.The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is pre-paring new bay cleanup regulations that could be ready next year, and both houses of Congress have legislation to do the same. Members of the Virginia Farm Bureau, which is holding its annual convention in Richmond this week, say they support a cleaner bay, but that they fear passage of such mandates could be too costly for them to meet, especially in this poor economy. Farmers said they "My land is my greatest asset, and I value it and protect it the same way I have looked after my children," said Hanover dairy farmer Leigh Pemberton. But Pemberton, whose family has been farming for more than 100 years, is afraid new regulations will require changes so expensive that he'd go out of business. "I have never lost so much money in one year" as he did this year, Pemberton said. Amelia dairy farmer Donna Kerr said she, too, is worried. She has already fenced off her streams and taken other conservation measures. But, she said, her family endured a 40 percent drop in the price they get for milk this year. If she has to spend money to meet new standards, she said, she can't. "It'll be the end for me. There's no money to do this," Kerr said. Park Dodd said he's been farming in Caroline County since 1961. He said he, too, has taken many conservation measures on his own, but fears new mandates would drive other farmers out of business. "The more mandates the fewer that can afford to do it," Dodd said. Farm Bureau leaders will be asking the state for more financial help for farmers in the upcoming legislative session, and they plan to lobby in Washington against stricter regulations for farmers. "There certainly is a better way to attack this issue than for farmers to close their gates and fallow their fields," said Virginia Farm Bureau President Wayne Pryor. According to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the legislation currently in Congress doesn't impose specific mandates on farmers: Instead, it establishes pollution-reduction targets and lets states decide how to meet them. The foundation also says the legislation would provide money for assistance to farmers. Chelyen Davis: 540/368-5028
they just charge more for their produce. There is no such thing as a poor farmer. They are lucky they are not being prosecuted for poisening our planet.
How many are better of than the Chesapeake Bay? How
many worse off? How does the Chesapeake Bay Rank? Can
we bring the Chesapeake Bay back to reasonable health?
Right now - each group wants to believe that it's another
groups problem. Agriculture might be an issue but so is
Storm Water Runoff from urban area and sewage treatment
plants that dump prescription drugs, antibiotics and
hormones into the rivers.
If we say we want to do something - we must be willing to
deal with realities and stop blaming other
Many of the readers here may never see the bay much
less care about it but let me tell you from experience...it is
an amazing place and it is dying, dying, gone. The
oysters are dead, fish are hard to find and the water clarity
nil. Phosphates and Nitrogen have smothered what's left.
Those two components come from agriculture AND homes
and both compounds are extremely toxic to the system. I
would urge you to take a trip to the bay sometime and see
what I am talking about. You will be shocked.
thanks to the chesapeake bay act we now have to clear cut lots in order to build on em in some waterfront areas. we used to fudge a lil so we could leave some trees but thanks to help from the government small lots get clear cut to comply with the regs some desk jockey treehugger thought up.
Everyone else in the state falls under mandates and laws to actually reduce Bay and other waterway pollution, why shouldn't farmers? While some farmers and rural land owners work to minimize and control their pollution footprint, many don't. Let's all be on the same page when it comes to saving the Bay, and if farmers get a pass, why shouldn't everyone else, including developers? Clean waterways will cost us all, and any one group of "polluters" should not be allowed to side step required measures to do so.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||
