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PFIESTERIA: WH PLEDGES $221M TO NC; OUTBREAKS IN MD, VA

The Clinton administration yesterday pledged $221 million over the next 10 to 15 years to help North Carolina fight runoff pollution that last week led to the first major Pfiesteria piscicida outbreak of the season (Greenwire, 8/6).

White House Chief of Staff and North Carolinian Erskine Bowles announced the funding and remarked that the recent fish kill on the Neuse River was "unfortunately, ... not an individual incident" (Hopkinson/Williams, Wall Street Journal). Bowles: "This is another troubling sign that our coastal waters are in grave trouble" (Geoffrey Upton, Baltimore Sun, 8/7).

Bowles, who is "eying a run for governor of North Carolina," also said an additional $365,000 will be available to the state to respond to the fish kill (Lawrence Knutson, AP/San Francisco Chronicle/Examiner online).

The $221 million, which is subject to congressional approval, would help farmers develop long-term strategies to reduce the runoff pollution that is believed to cause algae to turn toxic and create fish kills. The funds would be used to create up to 100,000 acres in buffer strips along state waterways and other projects (White House release, 8/6).

Don Reuter of the North Carolina Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources: "If this helps to focus attention on a regional and national problem, that's fine" (Carol Leonnig, Charlotte Observer, 8/6).

Joining Bowles were James Baker, administrator of the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, and US EPA Administrator Carol Browner, who said federal agencies are coordinating research on Pfiesteria and helping states anticipate outbreaks (White House release).