White House boosts North Carolina's efforts to combat fish kills and control agricultural run-off
RALEIGH -- North Carolina's response efforts to estuarine fish kills got a major boost today from the White House with presentation of $365,000 in federal subsidies along with a pledge to provide up to $221 million to help farmers control nutrient run-off.
"This administration's top environmental priority is protecting and restoring the state's water quality," said Gov. Jim Hunt. "Last week's fish kill on the Neuse was a sobering reminder that we continue to step up our efforts. This funding will help us continue to combat run-off and water pollution, fish kills and Pfiesteria."
White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles presented the grant in Washington, D.C. to Secretary Wayne McDevitt of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources. The funding had previously been appropriated in the 1998 budget.
The $365,000 grant will provide DENR's Division of Water Quality about $80,000 for sampling and response equipment to monitor and investigate estuarine fish kills and toxic Pfiesteria's role, $200,000 for the Division of Marine Fisheries to conduct systematic fish collection and sampling in the lower Neuse, New and Pamlico rivers; and $85,000 for fish health evaluations from the College of Veterinary Medicine at N.C. State University.
McDevitt said the funding provides important support for the department's efforts and compliments Governor Hunt's $101 million environmental budget under consideration in the General Assembly.
"In North Carolina, we have witnessed fish kills, algal blooms and degradation of some of our waterways and estuaries due to excess nutrients," McDevitt said. "We have acted to combat our nutrient problems and have made some meaningful progress. ... It is clear we need to do more to restore our coastal areas."
The $221 million that the White House pledged to help Tar Heel farmers control nutrient run-off would be used in conjunction with $39.3 million that the state's Clean Water Management Trust Fund committed in April to DENR for a six-year period.
The Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program would cover three eastern river basins (Chowan, Tar-Pamlico and Neuse) and the Jordan Lake watershed, where nutrient runoff from agricultural operations is a prominent water quality problem.
The program would operate similar to the existing federal Conservation Reserve Program except that agricultural lands that meet certain criteria could voluntarily be enrolled at any time, instead of only during set sign-up periods. The U.S. Department of Agriculture would pay for 15-year contracts and 50 percent of the farmer's cost of installing best management practices.
As governor, Hunt has pushed to protect and restore North Carolina's waterways. He announced a $2.9 million plan last year to step up monitoring, invest more in Pfiesteria research and improve fish kill response. Last August, he signed into law the Clean Water Responsibility Act, which includes a moratorium on new and expanding hog facilities, allows counties to zone large hog farms, cracks down on animal waste and limits nutrient levels in rivers and streams.
Hunt fought for fisheries reform, environmental education efforts, improved animal and municipal water operations, safer drinking water and stepped up enforcement for those who violate water quality regulations. In addition, the state's Environmental Management Commission approved a 30 percent nitrogen reduction plan for the troubled Neuse River.
His environmental budget focuses on three components -- prevention, detection and response -- to combat water pollution. The budget includes critical funding to reduce nutrients and sediments in North Carolina's waterways, expand coastal water quality monitoring to inland waters, support the state's river basin planning program, provide more aggressive responses to fish kills, and boost the state's compliance and enforcement efforts.
The governor's budget also includes funding for the long-term protection of North Carolina's most valuable resources. It includes funding to increase public awareness and education about North Carolina's natural heritage and to promote the responsible use of our resources.
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Date Posted: August 13
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