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CHESAPEAKE BAY: GLENDENING SEEKS TO LIMIT FERTILIZER USE

Hoping to curb Chesapeake Bay pollution and prevent future outbreaks of the toxic microbe Pfiesteria piscicida, Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening (D) yesterday said he would propose mandatory limits on the use of agricultural fertilizers.

Dru Schmidt-Perkins of Clean Water Action said the bill would include regulations recommended by a state commission that analyzed policy responses to the Pfiesteria problem and would phase them in by 2002. Glendening has not finalized details of the bill, which he presented to environmentalists yesterday in Annapolis.

The panel determined that Pfiesteria outbreaks were partially caused by excess nitrogen and phosphates that washed into the bay from manure-based fertilizers used on Maryland's poultry farms (Greenwire, 11/3/97).

Lobbyist Gerard Evans of the Delmarva Poultry Industry yesterday said the industry would fight the governor's proposal because the link between agricultural waste and Pfiesteria had

not been proven. Glendening "often has said" that any impact of the new regulations on state farmers would be offset by state programs to help them adjust to the new policies (Peter Goodman,

Washington Post, 1/15).