Copyright 1998 The Baltimore Sun Company
The Baltimore Sun
January 7, 1998, Wednesday, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: BUSINESS, Pg. 1C
LENGTH: 588 words
HEADLINE: Pfiesteria cleanup expected to be costly; Projected
outlays run into millions
BYLINE: Ted Shelsby, SUN STAFF
BODY:
SALISBURY -- The state is beginning to count up the potential
cost of dealing with the Pfiesteria problem and -- as taxpayers
could learn -- it won't be cheap.
Just the cost of enrolling all state farms in nutrient-management
plans by 2000 could total $ 9 million over the next two years,
according to the state's new agriculture secretary, Henry A. Virts.
To meet the goal, he said, the state will have to hire 129
people. Salary and operating costs were estimated at $ 4.5 million
a year.
It could take another $ 14 million for poultry processors to
install equipment to produce a new type of chicken meal that would
reduce the phosphorus level in chicken manure.
It's estimated that the price tag of additional manure storage
sheds will top $ 2 million, and it will cost between $ 2 million
and $ 3.5 million a year to supply farmers with a cover crop designed
to prevent hazardous nutrients from entering the bay and its tributaries.
Virts was a participant in a town meeting Monday night at the
Wicomico Youth and Civic Center where approximately 600 farmers
showed up to voice their opinions on proposed regulations to reduce
farm runoff into Chesapeake Bay, which is believed to be a factor
in the toxic Pfiesteria outbreak.
He said the department's estimates of the costs of implementing
the recommendations of the state's commission on Pfiesteria
headed by former Gov. Harry R. Hughes were prepared for Gov.
Parris N. Glendening and Department of Natural Resources Secretary
John R. Griffin.
The commission also encouraged the state to provide "an
appropriate and meaningful level of support" to the Agriculture
Department and the University of Maryland's Cooperative Extension
Service to assist farmers in the use of best management practices.
This would require an additional 22 people and cost $ 1 million
a year.
"This is the cost to taxpayers to implement the [Hughes
commission] plan as it is written," said Royden Powell III,
deputy agriculture secretary.
"We tried to make it as realistic as possible. We didn't
want to inflate the numbers nor did we want to underestimate the
cost."
The governor has not determined which of the panel's recommendations
he plans to adopt.
There are other costs associated with the commission plan to
be determined, including the price of developing alternative uses
for manure and the development of a plan aimed at transporting
chicken manure from the lower Eastern Shore.
Kay Richardson, past president of the Delmarva Poultry Industry
Inc., the industry's trade association, said chicken processors
may be required to build additional feed factories to make an
enzyme-treated chicken meal.
Adding the enzyme phytase helps improve the digestion of phosphorus
by chickens and reduces the amount excreted.
But, Richardson said, adding phytase also slows the feed production
process and companies many have to build additional plants to
meet feed requirements.
The Hughes commission recommends that Maryland and surrounding
states establish cost-sharing programs to assist in the conversion
of feed mills.
Griffin told farmers at the meeting that the governor is prepared
to "put the money where his mouth is" in addressing
the Pfiesteria outbreak last summer.
Griffin declined to be specific, but he told the group that
they "would not be disappointed" with the governor's
funding request from the General Assembly to help cover the costs
of adopting at least some of the Hughes commission recommendations.
Pub Date: 1/07/98
GRAPHIC: PHOTO, SUN FILE : 1997, Eastern Shore farm: Reducing
the phosphorus level in chicken manure at operations such as this
one at Shelltown is one of the goals.
LOAD-DATE: January 8, 1998