O’Malley: Poultry defendants deserve pro bono aid

By NANCY L. SMITH
AFP Correspondent

BERLIN, Md. — Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley told a group of poultry growers and industry executives that the defendants in the Waterkeeper Alliance water pollution lawsuit should receive free legal assistance.
“We’ve got to find a law clinic that takes farmer cases. If one university is going to take the Waterkeeper case pro bono, another university needs to take the farmers’ side,” O’Malley said.
The University of Maryland School of Law Environmental Law Clinic is providing free legal counsel to the Waterkeeper Alliance in its suit against the Alan and Kristin Hudson Farm and Perdue Farms, according to Bill Satterfield, executive director of Delmarva Poultry Industry, Inc.
O’Malley spoke with growers and executives at Greg and Valerie Wilkins’ Berlin farm on Aug. 20.
He was accompanied by Buddy Hance, state agriculture secretary, and Robert Summers, Maryland Department of the environment deputy secretary.
Joining them were James Mathias and Norman Conway, Maryland District 38B delegates.
Environmental regulation was the principal topic of discussion.
Conway said he had talked to the law school dean about the Waterkeeper Alliance lawsuit. Mathias added, “I am confident we will get in-kind legal assistance for these farmers.”
O’Malley praised the environmental efforts of poultry farmers, saying, “We need to tell EPA ‘Do not have one set of rules for Maryland and one for the rest of the country.’ That’s not acceptable.
“If farmers in other states were up to the standards you guys are, we would have a cleaner Chesapeake Bay.”
He stressed the need for participation in the cover crop program. “You need to lead the way and show others how to (protect the Bay). The best way is to sign up for cover crops.
“I sit with governors from other states and say ‘Look what we’re doing.’”
Lee Richardson, a Wicomico County poultry grower, shared with O’Malley a report of recent work by the USDA Agricultural Research Service on removing phosphorus from chicken manure.
O’Malley was interested in the process, which is said to selectively remove up to 80 percent of phosphorus from manure.
“We could export phosphorus to people (in other regions) who need it,” Richardson said.
Jennifer Rhodes, Queen Anne’s County Extension educator and grower said, “There isn’t too much manure. We have farmers fighting over manure. We just have to figure how to get it out of high phosphorus areas to low phosphorus areas.”
Wicomico County grower Daniel Rayne told O’Malley, “Manure is an excellent source of fertilizer. People are fighting to get it. Beans take a lot of phosphorus. It’s an excellent source of nitrogen.”
The governor asked if cover crops helped take up excess phosphorus, but was informed by attendees that cover crops help only somewhat, although they do take up nitrogen.
Richardson noted that “Twenty-five years ago, we threw (manure)into the air. Now, we have high-tech spreaders and it’s being applied in a much better way than ever.
“The question is why haven’t we seen improvement,” he asked.“Because you’re walking up a down escalator.”
He listed “four contributing forces” in the clean water issue, “agricultural runoff, septics, storm water and wastewater discharge.” He noted that reductions in agricultural runoff are going down and septic and storm water are “going up and going in the wrong direction.”
He blamed a lack of investment in sewer construction and population expansion into rural areas where septic systems rather than sanitary sewers are used.
“But her majesty, the Chesapeake Bay, has seen some improvement,” he added.
Bill Massey, director of environmental and technical support services for Mountaire Farms and a member of the Maryland Agricultural Commission, noted “We now have industrial-style storm water regulations for farmers, the same as if you were going to build a shopping center.
“I don’t think we should be treated like shopping centers.”
Douglas Baxter, regional environmental manager for Tyson Foods, Inc., told the governor, “It irks me to hear people say the Wilkinses are running a factory farm, not a family farm.”
O’Malley responded, “There will always be advocacy groups. I hear a lot of farmers saying ‘The entire public thinks we’re the enemy.’
“I don’t think so. Everybody eats. The buy-local program has been a big success.”
But Wicomico County grower Paul Chesnik, a member of the Maryland Agricultural Commission, noted chickens are not included in the buy-local program because the companies are regional rather than confined to Maryland.
Secretary Hance did not agree with barring chicken from the program “just because the companies operate in other states. We consider chicken to be a local product.”
The governor said he was a big supporter of the buy-local program. “On the shore, there’s no excuse not to,” he said.
Steve Schwalb, Perdue vice president of environmental sustainability, suggested that poultry manure or products made from it could be used to fertilize state-owned land.
O’Malley said he was unaware that any state lands were fertilized, but was informed by various attendees that state-owned golf courses and athletic fields were fertilized, as were road rights-of-way at the time of seeding.
“I’m proud of you guys,” O’Malley told the growers. ”You’re ahead of farmers in other states. Don’t be too discouraged. Take it from one who has higher unfavorables,” he told the group.
“Let’s do what we have to do to show we’re ahead of the curve,” he encouraged.
Attendees included poultry growers from Somerset, Wicomico and Worcester counties, representatives of Allen Family Foods, Inc.; Amick Farms; Mountaire Farms; Perdue Farms; and Tyson Foods, Inc. Also represented were Farm Bureaus in the three counties and University of Maryland Extension.