E.P.A. Delivers Report on Delaware Agriculture Programs

(PHILADELPHIA - August 31, 2015) The E.P.A. announced today it has completed an evaluation of Delaware's animal agriculture regulations and programs. The assessment is one of 6 that the agency is conducting of state animal agriculture programs within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.

E.P.A. conducts periodic reviews of state programs as part of its oversight responsibilities under the Clean Water Act. This assessment looked at Delaware's implementation of federal and state regulatory programs, as well as voluntary incentive-based programs to meet the nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment pollution reduction commitments in its Watershed Implementation Project under the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load or TMDL.

E.P.A. will use the assessment along with its ongoing Chesapeake Bay TMDL evaluations to help ensure that Delaware has the programs, policies, and resources necessary to succeed with its Project to meet the Chesapeake Bay TMDL.

The assessment found that Delaware's Nutrient Management Plan has broad coverage, regulating over 1,000 farms throughout the state, including both crop and livestock farms. While regulated farms are required to develop and implement nutrient management plans, farmers are not required to submit them to the Delaware Department of Agriculture (DDA) for review or approval. DDA assists farmers in getting back into compliance with their nutrient management plans, but does not take enforcement actions for noncompliance.

DDA is currently addressing several deficiencies in its data systems to enhance its accounting of the number of farmers that are covered under the regulations and the level of compliance with the nutrient management regulations.

The assessment found that Delaware's Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) Plan has issued only one CAFO permit since 2010, with a backlog of approximately 440 farms that have applied for and are waiting to gain CAFO permits. Delaware has committed to register 150 CAFOs under its permit Plan by the end of 2015.

In addition, the assessment found that Delaware is relying heavily on voluntary agricultural cost-share programs to increase implementation of conservation practices and on better data collection efforts to document those practices that are already on the ground.

Along with the Delaware assessment, E.P.A. also released its evaluations today of animal agriculture programs in Maryland and West Virginia. The agency issued similar reports on animal agriculture programs in New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia earlier this year.

The reports are accessible at:
http://www.epa.gov/reg3wapd/tmdl/ChesapeakeBay/EnsuringResults.html (Click on the Agriculture tab)

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