News & Notes September 2004

Governor Proposes ACRE Plan

When Governor Rendell vetoed House Bill 1222 (a bill to establish a cause of action for unauthorized enforcement of local ordinances governing agricultural operations), he asked the Secretaries of the PA Departments of Environmental Protection and Agriculture to come up with a new solution to the problem. In response, Secretaries McGinty and Wolff created the plan for the protection of Agriculture, Communities and the Rural Environment (ACRE). The plan is designed to balance legitimate business interests of agriculture and the quality of life concerns of our municipalities while increasing environmental protection. It's goal is to identify issues of disagreement through negotiation.

The proposal would replace litigation with negotiation in local disputes. The major aspirations of the plan are to:

• Create an Agriculture Review Board
A five-member Agriculture Review Board - comprising the secretaries of Agriculture, Environmental Protection and Community and Economic Development, the Dean of Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences and a member appointed by the Governor - will be created. The Agriculture Review Board allows farmers, residents and municipalities to have a forum where they can identify disagreements over existing or planning farming operations in a community. The legality of certain ordinances under state laws such as the Right to Farm Act and the Nutrient Management Act could be reviewed. If an issue cannot be resolved, the board would make a formal determination that is enforced by the Attorney General and could be appealed to Commonwealth Court.

• Direct regulation of more farms
The proposal extends Nutrient Management Act and Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) coverage.

• Enhanced enforcement
An amount of $500,000 will be dedicated to technical assistance through the conservation districts and $500,000 will be provided to DEP for enforcement upon the passage of the Governor's Growing Greener II initiative.

• Require odor management
The initiative also takes on the issue of odors. New and expanding CAFOs and Concentrated Animal Operations (CAOs) will be required to implement best management practices to help relieve odor problems. It would establish requirements for planning and implementing effective odor management for new animal housing and manure management facilities.

• Address federal air quality mandates
Identifying and addressing sources of federal Clean Air Act violations are another priority.

• Close manure export loophole
The following would work to close the loophole: signed agreements, record keeping, nutrient balance sheets and the Commercial Manure Hauler and Broker Certification Act.

• Ensure minimum setbacks/buffers
The plan requires minimum setbacks/buffers on CAOs, CAFOs and import sites.

• Improve agriculture impaired streams
This would be addressed through a DEP/agriculture organizations work group, action plans and outreach.

• Monitor use/impacts of antibiotics
The plan calls for addressing public concerns over the environmental impacts of antibiotics through monitoring and research.

• Funding
Financial incentives to help farmers create buffers and apply new conservation technologies would be developed. This would include expanding the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP), funding the state share of CREP, supporting installation of buffers and continuing the energy harvest program.

The plan also includes comprehensive revisions to the Nutrient Management Act. Phosphorus based planning, conservation plans, winter application and field stacking will be included in the revisions.

For more information visit www.dep.state.pa.us keyword: "DEP CAFOs"

Bylaws Committee Update

As it was announced in the July 2004 issue of News & Notes, a committee has been appointed by PACD President Jarrett Miller to review the PACD bylaws and operational structure.

Comments from the members on the current bylaws should be submitted in writing to Susan Marquart, PACD, 25 N. Front St., Harrisburg, PA 17101. Susan will forward all written comments to the committee for consideration. The first committee meeting will be held in October.

The current bylaws are available on the PACD website at, http://www.pacd.org/about/bylaws.htm. How PACD's committees operate, the policy process and the statewide leadership structure are also available online.

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