Report: Farm Bill Holds Key To Polluted Bays

American Rivers, Environmental Defense, and Restore America’s Estuaries today called on Congress, when it renews farm programs this fall, to reward farmers who help save America’s most polluted bays.

According to a new report by the groups, Bringing Dead Zones Back to Life: How Congress, Farmers and Feedlot Operators Can Save America’s Most Polluted Bays, agricultural runoff is the leading threat to 13 of the nation’s 17 most polluted bays. The report finds that most farmers are rejected when they seek federal help to clean up polluted bays.

Agriculture contributes one-third or more of the pollutants that cause low-oxygen dead zones in many of the nation’s most polluted bays, as well as contributing to toxic algae blooms and the loss of bay grasses that provide critical habitat for fish and crabs.

The bays primarily impacted by agricultural runoff include the Laguna Madre (TX), Northern Gulf of Mexico (LA), Neuse River (NC), Delaware Inland Bays (DE), San Francisco Bay (CA), Corpus Christi Bay (TX), Baffin Bay (TX), Tijuana Bay (CA), Potomac River (MD, VA), Chesapeake Bay (MD, PA, VA), Patuxent River (MD), Lake Pontchartrain (LA), Newport Bay (CA), Calcasieu Lake (LA), Barnegat Bay (NJ), and Florida Bay (FL).

“Most farmers and feedlot operators are willing to do their part to clean up America’s most polluted bays, but they are repeatedly rejected when they seek federal help,” said Environmental Defense water resource specialist Scott Faber. “Congress should reward farmers when they take steps to clean up our bays.”

By triggering the growth of algae, polluted runoff contributes to low-oxygen “dead zones” and blocks the sunlight needed by bay grasses. Polluted runoff also reduces food supplies for fisheries and makes red tides occur more often and last longer. Agricultural runoff can be reduced by techniques such as targeted fertilizer and manure applications, installing buffers and wetlands to filter runoff, and tillage practices that reduce erosion.

“Many farmers are willing to take action to reduce farmland runoff, but 70% of the farmers who seek federal water quality grants to implement these practices are rejected due to inadequate federal funds,” said Jeff Stein, Mississippi Regional Representative for American Rivers.

The groups urged Congress to support H.R. 2375, the Working Lands Stewardship Act championed by Reps. Ron Kind (D-WI) and Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD), which provides more than $6 billion in annual funding to farmers who help reduce polluted runoff and restore wetlands.