More bad news for the Susquehanna River and Chesapeake Bay. Pennsylvania’s newly adopted state budget falls short of providing the funding needed to reach self-imposed pollution-reduction goals.
But that point might be moot. Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a closely watched Interior and Environmental Appropriations bill that includes an amendment barring the Environmental Protection Agency from spending money that in any way penalizes or fines states that have failed to meet self-imposed pollution-reduction targets.
Because the states set their own pollution standards, legislators felt it was unfair and out of the federal government’s jurisdiction to enforce the state’s goals.
That means Pennsylvania is not likely to be coerced by Washington to reduce the Total Maximum Daily Load of pollutants that have nearly destroyed a prime smallmouth bass fishery, and which empty into Chesapeake Bay.
Recent studies appear to show a connection between tens of thousands of diseased smallmouth bass and agricultural runoff and municipal sewage legally discharged into the river. Oddly, the smallmouths are most vulnerable to the pollutants. It is believed by some researchers that natural parasites that target smallmouth bass exacerbate the impact of the chemical releases.
The state Department of Environmental Protection was charged with deciding whether the Susquehanna suffered from “impairment,” a legal designation that would spark federal and state actions and funding. The DEP’s statement fell short of that declaration.
As part of the 2010 settlement of a Clean Water Act lawsuit, the states and EPA established what were referred to as “science-based limits” on the level of pollution release that would negatively impact Chesapeake Bay. The states developed their own plans to achieve those goals and agreed to file bi-yearly status reports with consequences imposed by EPA for failure to implement their plans.
Pennsylvania’s Blueprint goal was to have 60 percent of the pollution-reduction practices necessary to restore water quality in place by 2017, and 100 percent in place by 2025.
Opponents of what came to be called the Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint, led by the American Farm Bureau Federation, filed suit in federal court to prevent implementation of the self-imposed Blueprint rules. They lost the case and its appeal, and the Supreme Court decided not to hear the case, leaving the Appeals Court ruling that the Blueprint is legal and should be implemented.
The House bill would protect farmers and other landowners from EPA actions believed by some to be “overzealous.” It also would eliminate enforcement of pollution-control agreements that Pennsylvania and other states had agreed to follow.
“We at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation have been doing this work to Save the Bay for almost 50 years,” said William C. Baker, president of the nonprofit group, in a statement. “The frustrations of a bay getting worse have been huge. But now, with the Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint, we are seeing real, system-wide improvements.”
Commission leadership
Last week the Fish and Boat commissioners elected Rocco Ali of North Apollo as commission vice president. Ali’s district includes Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Washington and Westmoreland counties.
As president they elected Glade Squires of Downingtown, Chester County, who represents Berks, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lehigh, Montgomery, Northampton, Philadelphia, and Schuylkill counties.
White-nose research
In March, the disease that is killing bats by the millions finally reached Washington state, having originated in a popular caving site in New York. Recently, a silver-haired bat from the same Washington county tested positive for the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome, but showed no visible fungal growth, lesions or other common symptoms.
Silver-haired bats are not susceptible to white-nose syndrome, but researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife said the finding suggests the species might be a carrier of the fungus, and that sampling dead bats found outside hibernation sites might be a cheap and efficient way to conduct white-nose syndrome research.
First Published: July 17, 2016, 4:00 a.m.