AFBF sues EPA over Chesapeake plan

Atlanta-The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) on Jan.10 filed a lawsuit in federal court to halt the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s pollution regulatory plan dictating how much nitrogen and phosphorous can be allowed into Chesapeake Bay from agriculture and other sources. “We all want a clean and healthy Chesapeake Bay,” said AFBF President Bob Stallman. “This lawsuit is about how we get there. Farm Bureau believes EPA’s ‘diet’ for the Chesapeake is dangerous and unlawful.” AFBF says the agency is overreaching by establishing a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), or so-called “pollution diet” for the 64,000 square mile area, regardless of cost. The suit declares Farm Bureau’s three basic objections to the TMDL rule: the activities of farmers, homeowners, and businesses in the six-state watershed are unlawfully “micromanaged,” sometimes down to the individual farmer; EPA relied on inaccurate assumptions and on a scientific model that the agency itself admits was flawed to establish the TMDL; and EPA violated the requirement that agencies allow meaningful public participation on new rules. “Farmers and ranchers already are taking real, on-the-ground actions every day to improve water quality, actions that have been shown by USDA reports to reduce soil erosion and provide other environmental benefits,” Stallman asserted. “Those actions will continue, regardless of what happens with this lawsuit.”