Showing posts with label Water quality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Water quality. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Virginia Agriculture and Conservation Leaders Applaud Virginia’s New Resource Management Plan

The seals of the Commonwealth of Virginia
The seals of the Commonwealth of Virginia (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Leaders from the agriculture and environmental communities across the Commonwealth released the following statements today following the Governor’s visit to Weyers Cave to tout the Commonwealth’s new Resource Management Plan. Governor McAuliffe attended the event today and witnessed some of the best practices at work in the farming community. The Resource Management Plan will help build a new Virginia economy by expanding best practices on Virginia farms that make operations more efficient and cost effective while reducing impacts on Virginia waters, including the Chesapeake Bay.


Wayne Pryor, president, Virginia Farm Bureau:

“The RMP program is an opportunity for all Virginia farmers, regardless of the scale of their operations or the commodities they produce, to voluntarily consult with certified professionals on the entire scale of conservation BMPs they could employ; to develop a customized plan; and to enter into a nine-year agreement that is subject to compliance review. Those plans and agreements will assure them that, for the life of the agreements, they are in compliance with state and local water quality standards. The Virginia Farm Bureau applauds Governor McAuliffe for his leadership and support for this important program.”


Katie Frazier, president, Virginia Agribusiness Council:

“The Virginia Agribusiness Council applauds the launch of Resource Management Plans as a voluntary mechanism to achieve both water quality goals and provide farmers with regulatory certainty. Since the General Assembly approved the program in 2011 with our support, we have been anxiously awaiting the implementation of this exciting new approach to conservation. The Council looks forward to continuing to work with the Governor, DCR, DEQ, VDACS, and Soil and Water Conservation Districts as the RMP program fully launches in late 2014.”


William C. Baker, president, Chesapeake Bay Foundation:

“The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) has long supported farm conservation practices like those called for by Virginia’s Resource Management Plan Program, especially fencing livestock out of local streams and rivers. We support Governor McAuliffe’s call for farmers across Virginia to embrace these conservation practices by participating in the RMP program. That would mean cleaner water, more productive farms, a healthier Bay, and a more robust economy.”    


William C. “Sparky” Crossman, president, Virginia Grain Producers Association:

“The Virginia Grain Producers Association supports these plans not only because of their direct benefit to our farmers and the environment, but because participation in the program is voluntary and the program is flexible. It gives the farmer the ability to select the mix of practices best suited to their farm in order to meet necessary standards. The RMP program is critical to ensuring our farms can feed a growing population while keeping the promises we made to protect and restore our local environment and the Chesapeake Bay.”


Eric Paulson, president, Virginia State Dairymen’s Association:

"The Virginia State Dairymen's Association commends the Governor on signing the Resource Management Plan (RMP) into law. This program will provide farmers with another tool to track and implement conservation practices with a level of certainty. This voluntary program will allow farmers to account for the many conservation practices they have already implemented on their farm. "

Kendall Tyree, executive director, Virginia Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts:

"The potential value of the RMP program to water quality is significant, in which we expect Virginia's Soil and Water Conservation Districts to play a vital role. We applaud the Governor for his effort and continued support of voluntary conservation efforts.”

           
Jason Carter, executive director, Virginia Cattlemen’s Association:
"The Virginia Cattlemen's Association membership is certainly supportive of sound environmental management to ensure preservation of the resources so vital to our businesses and industry.  We are appreciative of the Governor's desire to maintain, and add to, a suite of voluntary and cost shared best management conservation practice options for our producers to choose from within the management of their cattle operations."


Hobey Bauhan, president, Virginia Poultry Federation:

“Poultry farmers have a proven commitment to conservation practices for improving water quality.  While a state regulatory program already governs poultry litter management, many poultry farms have other farming activities which could be covered under a voluntary Resource Management Plan.  I commend the Governor for his leadership on this program and encourage farmers to take a close look at participating.”

Please Re elect US Senator Mark Warner so he can finish the job.
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Saturday, December 14, 2013

Governor McDonnell Announces Clean Water Budget Investments

The Chesapeake Bay – Landsat photo
The Chesapeake Bay – Landsat photo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Continues Efforts to Improve Health of the Chesapeake Bay
Total investment in Water Quality During McDonnell Administration Exceeds $460 million

RICHMOND - Governor Bob McDonnell announced today that his upcoming biennial budget will include major funding aimed at continuing the administration’s efforts to improve water quality in Virginia’s rivers and the Chesapeake Bay.  The budget proposals includes investments and allocations for projects such as Chesapeake Bay restoration, pollution reduction efforts, storm water grants, oyster replenishment programs, funding for the Tangier Seawall and other water quality projects.  With this budget the McDonnell Administration has now invested more than $460 million in water quality projects over the course of the last four years.

  Speaking about the budget proposals, Governor McDonnell said, “As the Chesapeake Bay restoration program celebrates its 30thanniversary, improving the health of the Bay has been one of our most important environmental priorities. The Chesapeake Bay is a national treasure and an ecological wonder.  Over the past 30 years, the Chesapeake Bay Partnership has made immense progress in reducing nutrient pollution flows into the Chesapeake Bay.  As Virginians, we are committed to ensuring a clean and vibrant Chesapeake Bay for future generations to cherish.”

            Governor McDonnell continued, “Virginia’s magnificent waterways from the Cheseapeake Bay to the streams running through the Blue Ridge Mountains deserve preservation and protection. With this budget we are continuing our sustained commitment to improving water quality across the Commonwealth, and ensuring that the Chesapeake Bay remains a vibrant, healthy and beautiful Virginia treasure for generations to come.”

The introduced budget allocates over $31 million from the FY2013 budget surplus, generated by sound fiscal management and savings by state agencies and employees, to the Water Quality Improvement Fund (WQIF) to continue these essential programs:
·         $19.78 million will be used to continue pollution reductions activities in agricultural programs through the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR);
·         $800,000 will be used to support the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program;
·         $250,000 will be slated for implementation of forestry best management practices;
·         $100,000 will be used to implement best management practices on golf courses;
·         $6.59 million will be used to support nonpoint activities in the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), including stormwater projects, such as municipal separate stormwater sewer systems (MS4) and grants to local governments; and

·         $3.95 million will be deposited within the WQIF reserve fund.  

            In addition, the budget provides funds to the Department of Conservation and Recreation to support the development of Agricultural Resource Management Plans and to provide engineering support to Soil and Water Conservation Districts, as well as continuing $6.9 million annually to the districts for operational support funding.

            The budget also authorizes an additional $20.0 million of bonds through the Virginia Public Building Authority in FY 2016 to support the Local Stormwater Assistance Program created by the Administration last year.  These funds are intended to supplement the $35.0 million of bond funding authorized for the program by the 2013 General Assembly.

Additionally, the budget:
·         Continues $2.0 million of general fund support for oyster replenishment in both FY 2015 and FY 2016,
·         Provides funding for the Commonwealth’s estimated share of the Tangier Seawall project’s costs based on the most recent estimates provided by the Army Corp of Engineers.  The proposed budget provides $23,000 in FY 2015 and $6,000 in FY 2016.

·         Authorizes $1.0 million of bonds through the Virginia Public Building Authority in FY 2014 to assist the City of Alexandria with improvements to its Combined Sewer Overflow system.  

During the McDonnell Administration, over $440 million was invested in clean water efforts including;
·         More than $218 million deposited to the Water Quality Improvement Fund
·         $101 million water quality bond fund to improve wastewater treatment plants across the state
·         $35 million bond fund to establish the new stormwater local assistance fund
·         $75 million bond fund for improvement to the combined sewer overflow systems in Richmond and Lynchburg
·         $10 million to Hopewell and Appomattox for improvements to their waste water and drinking water systems
·         With the money included in this budget, $5 million will be invested in oyster restoration efforts.

Water Quality Accomplishments During McDonnell Administration
·         Virginia has reduced nitrogen pollution by 7.67 million pounds or 11.1%, phosphorus pollution by 0.68 million pounds or  7.7%, and sediment pollution by 262.0 million pounds or 6.9%
·         Phase I and II of Virginia’s Watershed Implementation Plan was developed and approved by the EPA.
·         The Governor signed legislation eliminating phosphorus from usable fertilizer beginning December 31, 2013.
·         The Governor signed legislation requiring golf courses to implement nutrient management plans by 2017.
·         The Governor signed legislation requiring VDACS to establish reporting requirements for contractor-applicators who apply fertilizer to more than 100 acres annually.
·         The Governor signed legislation allowing farmers who develop agriculture resource management plans to be deemed as being in full compliance with any load allocation contained in a TMDL.

·         Virginia received the EPA’s “Biggest Loser” Award in 2011 for reducing more non point source nitrogen than any other state in Region 3 and second in the nation. 
·         Virginia is exceeding its commitments under the Chesapeake Bay Program to reduce nutrients in the bay from wastewater treatment plants.  Major wastewater facilities in 2011 exceeded pollution reduction goals by more than 2,000% for nitrogen (7 million lbs/yr) and more than 450% for phosphorus (567,000 lbs/yr).  
·         Virginia expects to exceed our 2013 Bay milestones and is well on the way to meeting its commitments.
·         Virginia restored 1,653 acres of wetlands in 2011, more than double that of any other jurisdiction.
·         Virginia established a new fund to support stream exclusion efforts resulting in protecting over 75,000 linear feet or 14.2 miles of stream bank with livestock exclusion fence.  Over $18.6 million in state funds was dedicated to livestock exclusion.

·         Oyster harvest in 2012-2013 was 60% greater than in the previous harvest years increasing dock value to more than $16.2 million. The ripple effects through the economy from last year’s unexpectedly large oyster harvest resulted in an estimated $42.6 million in economic value.
·         The blue crab population reached its highest level in 20 years in 2012, and overfishing is no longer occurring.   The total population of blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay reached 764 million. This was a 66 percent increase above the 2011 abundance level and was the highest level recorded since 1993.
·         The bald eagle breeding population within the Virginia portion of the Bay now numbers over 800 pairs, a dramatic recovery for the estimated low of 20 pairs.  The Chesapeake Bay now supports the highest bald eagle chick growth rates and brood size of any population throughout the range.
·         The osprey breeding population within the Chesapeake Bay has recovered from 1,400 pairs in the early 1970s to more than 8,000 pairs today, with the Bay now supporting the largest breeding population of osprey in the world

·         The summer flounder stocks quadrupled under a stock rebuilding plan.  Recreational size limits were reduced, allowing anglers to keep more of the fish they catch.
·         Virginia improved and expanded the use of nutrient credits in Virginia.  Building on our existing nutrient credit trading program and will be a key tool in meeting and maintaining water quality in the Chesapeake Bay as well as offering flexibility in meeting nutrient reduction requirements statewide.
·         Virginia has around 780,000 acres under nutrient management inside the Bay and 950,000 statewide.
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