State officials say that animal manure produces more phosphorus and nearly the same amount of nitrogen pollution as all human wastewater from treatment plants in the state.
Although the dairy and hog industry in states near the bay produce more kilograms of manure, poultry waste has more than twice the concentration of pollutants per kilogram. Reducing pollution from agriculture is also about a tenth as costly as it is to achieve the same reductions from urban development, state and federal environmental officials say.
“The reason to focus on poultry,” said Tom Simpson, executive director of Water Stewardship, an environmental nonprofit agency, “is that sewage treatment plants have already been required to reduce their pollution and storm water runoff from cities, and large dairy and hog farms have permits that can be used to limit their water pollution.”
But in the past two decades, the poultry industry has carved a special role for itself in terms of the oversight it receives, and it has twice defeated state efforts to impose permits.
FOXES IN CHARGE OF THE HENHOUSE
Maryland is one of the only states where the poultry industry is regulated by the state Department of Agriculture, whose primary mission is helping farmers, and not by the state Department of the Environment, which is charged with enforcing pollution laws.
Most other states with large poultry farms already require the permits and regular inspections.
In Maryland, however, chicken farmers have only had to file nutrient management plans with state agriculture officials, describing how they control their chicken waste each year.
These documents are not public. The guidelines for manure storage are optional, and the fine for not filing a plan is US$350.
Standing in front of his pickup truck with a bumper sticker that said “It’s not farmland without farmers,” Richardson shook his head in frustration.
“As far as I can tell, the current system works fine except a few bad apples,” he said. “What they are proposing now is just more cost for us growers and more time doing paperwork.”
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