9/26 By BRIAN BERTHIAUME

Hell hath no fury like the Delaware Nutrient Management Commission (DNMC) scorned. Especially if the target of that fury is the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Latent frustration and anger surfaced at the DNMC Government Interaction Subcommittee meeting, Sept. 18 in Dover. The pivotal topic of the evening was a recent EPA document which proposes sweeping changes to the pollution control permitting process for livestock operations. Specifically, EPA targetted the animal unit threshold used to define a concentrated animal feeding operation. Currently set at 1,000 animal units (100,000 broilers), EPA seeks to adjust it as low as 300 animal units (30,000 broilers).
Delaware Secretary of Agriculture Jack Tarburton presented a letter from Gov. Tom Carper, addressed to EPA’s J. Charles Fox. The letter gently admonishes EPA, and asserts that current regulatory values are sufficient. However, the subcommittee was not mollified by Carper’s effort.
“This is a well-written letter,” said Sussex County poultry producer Chip West II, “but a letter is one thing. I think we’d feel better if the government came out in support of us.”
Connie Larrimore, a Kent County poultry producer, said, “We’ve gained a lot of public trust so far, and we’re starting to lose it. How can we do our job if they keep changing the rules?
“You could never get a farmer and a member of the Chesapeake Bay Trust in the same room before,” Larrimore continued. “Now we sit down and talk about issues and work to fix them.”
Although the EPA’s “outreach document” found there would be “no substantial direct (economic) effect” from altering the regulations, West disagreed.
“This is an expensive program,” said West, who is also chairman of the DNMC’s Budget Subcommittee. “If the bar is raised any higher, the state of Delaware flat out can’t afford it.”
That, pointed out Sussex County swine producer Dale Ockels, would be detrimental to the environment as well as agriculture, especially in regards to the cost-share program for manure transport.
“In one week, we can move 20 percent of Maryland’s annual amount,” he said.
Subcommittee chairman Stephen Corazza also weighed in, saying, “EPA has established internally that these numbers need to be changed. It’s an aggressive undermining of our program.”
Without support from the Carper administration against EPA changes, subcommittee members doubted they would be able to effectively convince farmers to get involved with the program.
“People who were going to sign up early don’t want to now, because they don’t think we even have a plan,” West said. “We’ve been neutered by the EPA.”
In fact, many of the subcommitte members seemed to doubt their personal commitments to the program in light of recent events.
“We’re a lone voice out there, and our credibility’s getting hurt. I’d like to see our public officials come out and support us,” said DNMC vice-chairman David Baker. “Right now, we need to analyze what this will do to our program.”
EDITOR’s NOTE: Gov. Carper’s letter to the Environmental Protection Agency is on The Delmarva Farmer’s Web site at: www.americanfarm.com