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Virginia May Set Numeric Nutrient Limits
For Sewage Treatment Plants, Warner Says
Virginia plans to develop numeric, technology-based standards to limit
discharges of nutrients from sewage treatment plants, Gov. Mark Warner (D)
announced Dec. 9.
His announcement followed a meeting of the Chesapeake Bay Executive Council,
which consists of the governors of Maryland and Virginia, the mayor of
Washington and the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Warner, who chairs the executive council, also announced a plan to make
restoring the bay an issue of national importance and said he wants to model the
effort on the federal and state collaboration set up to restore the Everglades
in Florida.
"Federal and state parties come together to save the Everglades because they are
a national treasure, not just a Florida treasure," he said.
Series of Initiatives
The executive council, which meets annually, marked the 20th anniversary of the
Chesapeake Bay Program, which was developed to help restore the largest estuary
in the United States, by announcing a series of initiatives.
These include plans to restore 10,000 miles of riparian forest buffers along
tributaries to the bay; restore 185,000 acres of underwater grasses in the bay,
up from the current 89,658 acres; and amend the blue crab fishery management
plan to set new limits on the crab harvest.
In order to elevate the restoration of the bay to national prominence will
involve building regional consensus with not just the states immediately
bordering the bay, but those whose activities affect the bay, such as New York,
Pennsylvania, and Delaware.
Environmental advocates, led by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, have been urging
states and EPA to do more to address nutrient pollution, the major problem
affecting the health of the bay. CBF wants EPA to require states to incorporate
numeric criteria for nutrients of 3 milligrams per liter into the National
Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits for sewage treatment plants.
Warner said the 3 mg/l level is the lowest technically feasible limit, but did
not indicate the numeric limit the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality
intended to propose.
"We're working toward regulations that have a numeric level," he said. "At some
sewage treatment plants, it's not technically or financially feasible to meet
that level."
Petition for Nutrient Limits
CBF petitioned EPA Dec. 1 to set nitrogen limits and require discharge permits
to contain nitrogen controls for sewage treatment plants and other industrial
dischargers to the Chesapeake Bay (232 DEN A-8, 12/3/03 ).
Adam Krantz, a spokesman for the Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies,
told BNA that the foundation's push for stricter regulatory controls on publicly
owned treatment works is not consistent with the voluntary spirit of the
Chesapeake Bay agreement, first signed in 1983 and renewed in 2000. The
agreement called for voluntary measures to cut nitrogen loadings to 175 million
pounds annually by 2010.
CBF has said that goal will not be met at the current pace of activity.
Warner agreed that more needs to be done.
"Despite all that progress," he said, "we need to redouble our efforts."
Krantz also said the foundation focuses too much on nitrogen controls on point
sources when the biggest contributors of nutrients to the bay are nonpoint
sources, such as agricultural runoff.
Warner and Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich (R) said the bay restoration effort will
require more money from the federal government with Ehrlich saying a permanent
funding source may be needed. The restoration goals probably could not be
achieved without federal help, they said, especially when states are facing
severe fiscal crises.
Cost of Restoration
The cost of the restoration effort is estimated at about $19 billion, Warner
said, adding that about $6 billion has already been committed, a sum he said was
"soft."
Will Baker, executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, said he was
disappointed in the announcements from the executive council. However, he said
he found Virginia's commitment to develop numeric criteria for nutrients
somewhat encouraging, although no details about the proposed efforts were made
available.
He said he was concerned about the plan to seek an increase in federal
involvement because it may mean states will delay any plans until they get a
financial commitment from the federal government.
He said he was not impressed by the move to develop a plan for the bay modeled
on the Everglades restoration. After all, he said, President Reagan declared the
bay a national treasure in 1984 and the bay still has problems.
Leavitt used the occasion to tout a proposal he announced Dec. 4 to cut sulfur
dioxide and nitrogen oxides emissions from power plants. The proposed interstate
air quality rule, he said, would cut NOx emissions 1.4 million tons by 2010 and
1.7 million tons by 2015, for a reduction of about 50 percent from current
levels in the 30 states covered by the rules (234 DEN A-7, 12/5/03 ).
EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt estimated the proposal would cut nitrogen
deposited into the bay by about 8 million pounds. He also applauded the plan to
broaden the collaborative effort to clean up the bay.
Kathleen McGinty, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental
Protection, said Pennsylvania would also push to include nutrient limits in
discharge permits "where appropriate and where effective."
The state, she said, also intends to develop a nutrient bank and registry to
help foster trading programs for nutrient reduction.
By Susan Bruninga