ANNAPOLIS, MD (May 22, 2012) \u2013 Proposed changes to Maryland\u2019s Nutrient Management Regulations were submitted to the Joint Committee on Administrative, Executive and Legislative Review (AELR) for review today, announced Agriculture Secretary Buddy Hance. Following months of negotiations with stakeholder groups, the Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) has finalized its new rules for the use of manure, biosolids and other organic nutrient sources on crop fields. The goal of the process is to achieve consistency in the way all sources of nutrients are managed. Once the proposed changes are published in the Maryland Register, MDA will provide public notice and offer a 45-day public comment period.<\/p>\n
In crafting the nutrient management regulations, Maryland has considered recommendations of Governor Martin O\u2019Malley\u2019s BayStat Science Panel as well as concerns raised by environmental, agricultural and municipal stakeholders.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe revised regulations strike a balance between maximizing water quality benefits, addressing the practical needs of implementing requirements in the field, and assuring economic impacts are manageable,\u201d said Secretary Hance. \u201cWhen taken as a whole, the revised regulations will advance agricultural water quality management far beyond any efforts existing in other jurisdictions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ultimately, the new regulations are designed to help Maryland meet nitrogen and phosphorus reduction goals spelled out in its Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP) to protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay. Once approved, the proposed changes will be included in MDA\u2019s Nutrient Management Manual. Following are key features of the new regulations:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe implementation schedule addresses a major stakeholder concern and should provide farmers and local governments with adequate time to comply with the new regulations and to apply for cost-share funding to install additional best management practices,\u201d said Secretary Hance. \u201cThe O\u2019Malley Administration is committed to providing farmers with the critical financial resources necessary to meet our shared environmental goals.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Nutrient Management Advisory Committee has been working on the revised regulations for more than a year.\u00a0 The new rules were originally introduced last fall; however, due to overwhelming feedback Governor O\u2019Malley asked that the proposed regulations be placed on hold to provide an additional opportunity for stakeholders to further discuss the proposal.<\/p>\n
If the AELR Committee approves the proposed regulatory changes, they will be published in the Maryland Register for a 45-day public comment period. After the comment period closes, MDA will review any comments. If MDA makes substantive changes as a result of the public comment, the revised regulations will be resubmitted to the AELR and the Maryland Register.<\/p>\n
Established in 1998 to develop and refine regulations and requirements for Maryland’s Nutrient Management Program, the 16-member Nutrient Management Advisory Committee includes representatives from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, MDA, University of Maryland, Maryland departments of the Environment and Natural Resources, Maryland Farm Bureau, Delaware-Maryland Agribusiness Association, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, commercial lawn care companies, the biosolids industry, as well as local governments and the state legislature.<\/p>\n
A summary of the MDA\u2019s proposed changes submitted to AELR is available online at www.mda.maryland.gov\/pdf\/proposednmregs2.pdf<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ANNAPOLIS, MD (May 22, 2012) \u2013 Proposed changes to Maryland\u2019s Nutrient Management Regulations were submitted to the Joint Committee on Administrative, Executive and Legislative Review (AELR) for review today, announced Agriculture Secretary Buddy Hance. Following months of negotiations with stakeholder groups, the Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) has finalized its new rules for the use Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[914,67],"class_list":["post-235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release","tag-nutrient-management","tag-regulations"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":236,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235\/revisions\/236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}