Sen. Joe Getty: Farmers Triumph Over Withdrawal of Proposed Phosphorus Regulations

In an email update, Sen. Joe Getty (R-Carroll) said that farmers and republican legislators "successfully derailed a new round of burdensome agricultural regulations" after the Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) withdrew proposed phosphorus management regulations from the review committee's agenda. 

Last week, the MDA announced it would withdraw its proposed regulations to implement the new Maryland Phosphorus Management Tool (PMT) from consideration by the Joint Committee on Administrative, Executive, and Legislative Review (AELR), according to an MDA release. This action also cancels the AELR hearing on the regulation scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 20.

The regulations were withdrawn because of concerns identified in public meetings and through the public comment process. The MDA will consider all comments and critical issues raised by stakeholders, develop an approach that addresses concerns raised, and resubmit a new proposal to AELR in 2014 that includes a phased implementation schedule for the new tool, according to the MDA website. 

"There is no documented scientific evidence that these regulations will improve the health of the Chesapeake Bay," Senate Minority Leader David Brinkley, a member of AELR, said. "Yet imposition of these regulations will wreak economic havoc on Maryland's farmers, especially dairy farmers in Western Maryland and the poultry industry on the Eastern Shore."

Sen. Getty said that at a recent event, outgoing Baltimore County Farm Bureau President Keith Wills warned that the proposed PMT regulations would cause hardship to local livestock and crop operations by disrupting the current storage, handling and distributions systems for manure. (To review the position paper from the Maryland Farm Bureau click here)

Economist Anirban Basu told legislators and county officials at the Md. Rural Counties Coalition Summit in Annapolis last Friday that the PMT regulations were a "piling on" of overly burdensome regulations that harm a fragile agricultural post-recession economy, according to Sen. Getty's email.