Agriculture pollution contaminates local waterways and is the single, largest source of pollution to the Chesapeake Bay. Maryland is working on solutions, but our progress is hamstrung by a lack of information and a dysfunctional permitting system.

Agriculture Tracking and Improvement Act (SB 546/HB 904) would help Maryland get information currently lacking about agriculture practices, manure transport and water quality on the Eastern Shore, and it would improve transparency and fairness in the State’s industrial agriculture permitting program.  

Specifically, the bill would:

• help the agriculture industry comply with the state’s regulation to reduce the use of phosphorous (known as the Phosphorous Management Tool);
• create a voluntary system to track manure transport and land application by private companies;
• update the permitting timeline and fees for industrial poultry operations (know as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations or CAFOs);
• reinstate water quality monitoring stations on the Lower Eastern Shore.

Take Action and send an email to your Maryland representatives to urge them to vote YES on SB546/HB904. It passed the Senate and now we need to get it through the House! All sectors of our state -- business, cities, agriculture, residents – need to do their fair share to reduce pollution in our local waterways and ultimately the Chesapeake Bay.

Click here for more information about the bill.