Hot News

3.18.2008

By NANCY L. SMITH
AFP Correspondent

OCEAN CITY, Md. — “I’m not a big fan of moral judgment on environmental issues,” announced Waterkeeper Alliance President Steve Fleischli on March 13.
The head of the sometime-controversial group spoke at the annual meeting of the Assateague Coastal Trust.
ACT is the oldest environmental advocacy organization protecting the coastal bays beginning in the early 1970s, when its work to preserve the unspoiled character of Assateague Island resulted in the island’s National Seashore designation.
Fleischli, who served as executive director of the Waterkeeper Alliance from 2003 to his appointment as the group’s president in June 2007, focused on the Eastern Shore poultry industry, whose environmental record his group has challenged in the past.
He described “20-foot-high-by-100-yard-long piles of chicken litter that can flush into waterways” as a problem created by “megafarms.”
“We know there is one billion pounds of chicken litter produced in Maryland each year. Where is that going?” he asked.
Fleischli emphasized that his group does not oppose all land application of waste.
“It has to be monitored. People need to recognize that there is only so much capacity for land to absorb nutrients.
“They should apply [litter] the same as people who pay for fertilizer. They should treat chicken litter as if they are paying for it,” he said.
Fleischli described his organization’s activities as “grassroots political action to protect waterways in the U.S. and other countries.”
The Waterkeeper Alliance promotes clean water through local efforts. Each local Waterkeeper program reflects the needs of the body of water and community it represents.
Each local Waterkeeper program has a full-time Waterkeeper, the public advocate for the body of water who is described as part investigator, scientist, lawyer and advocate.
Locally, ACT Coastkeeper Kathy Phillips patrols and protects the Maryland and northern Virginia Eastern Shore coastal bays.
She monitors the coastal bays and their watersheds for signs of polluting activities and follows local issues relating to water quality and resource degradation.
Recounting the history of the Clean Water Act, Fleischli said, “It promised fishable, swimmable water by 1983.”
In continued pursuit of that goal, Fleischli called for “meaningful dialogue” with farmers to improve water quality.
He also espoused use of the courts while speaking.
“Litigation is how civilized people deal with problems. We encourage folks not to be afraid of that kind of system,” said the former adjunct professor at Pepperdine University School of Law.
He added, “I don’t think anyone in the Waterkeeper movement believes all farmers are bad. They play a very important role.”
“We’re not about putting people out of business,” he said, “We’re about putting people out of the pollution business.”
Noting that environmental laws apply to farms, he said, “If you can’t operate within the law, you should be doing something else.”
Farmers who can be competitive only by breaking environmental laws are “unfair to others who do comply and compete,” he said.