We are from the EPA and we are here to help you......
Posted on 06/09/2010 3:27:06 AM PDT by cbkaty
LANCASTER, Pa. — With simplicity as their credo, Amish farmers consume so little that some might consider them model environmental citizens.
Manure that accumulates on Amish farms easily washes into nearby streams, then into the troubled Chesapeake Bay. The federal government’s work with Amish farmers is part of an initiative intended to restore the bay to good health.
“We are supposed to be stewards of the land,” said Matthew Stoltzfus, a 34-year-old dairy farmer and father of seven whose family, like many other Amish, shuns cars in favor of horse and buggy and lives without electricity. “It is our Christian duty.”
But farmers like Mr. Stoltzfus are facing growing scrutiny for agricultural practices that the federal government sees as environmentally destructive. Their cows generate heaps of manure that easily washes into streams and flows onward into the Chesapeake Bay.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
We are from the EPA and we are here to help you......
There is a much greater source of manure further upstream.
If they can pick on the Amish, just wait until they start on your backyard gardening plot!!!
There is a much greater source of manure further upstream.
That’s for sure, a whole lot more.
The real problem with the Chesapeake Bay is
1. Over fishing
2.Over development too close to the Bay
3.Inadequate sewerage which periodically dumps thousands of tons of raw sewage into the Bay.
Continued useof septic systems too close to the Bay.
There are extant the following: "The Potomac River Compact", "The SusquehannahRiver Compact", and "The Chesapeake Bay Compact", all of which were negotiated and signed in the late 1970's. All of which have been ignored by the states of Maryland, Virginia, New York and Pennsylvania.
There is something sinister about the government increasing its scrutiny on the Amish. I would want to see all the facts that support the assertions that the Amish are environmentally destructive. The EPA is far from trustworthy; plus we have a growing anti-Christian attitude in the current Administration.
Yeah. The Amish are certainly to blame for climate change. It is time that they get placed under the header: ‘suspected terrorists’, and detained, and fed only hamburgers.
That’ll teach them.
(which is my particular way of saying: I smell a rat)
The government hates the Amish because they are not dependent on any government service other than national defense. The way it should be.
Isn't it wonderful to know the Feds are focused on the flop from a few cows owned by the Amish instead of wasting their time with silly little things like millions of gallons of crude oil washing up on the Gulf coast. (must I really put a sarc tag here?!)
You forgot about the chicken farm companies that are allowed by the state government to dump tons and tons of chicken poop into the state. This is allowed because of all the money handed to campaign funds. It is no wonder the Bay is not considered safe to swim in and people are pulling out fish with sores from bacteria. I don’t think it is the personal citizen. As always, follow the money trail.
Scuttle butt has it that that the lily-livered congresscritters might well vote to let EPA reign supreme, albeit illegally, so that their cap & trade cripple America agenda could get implemented without they, themselves, being held accountable?
Does anyone know what the status of this bill is?
Doesn’t matter who you are, the government will find some way to get to you. The EPA is a major problem along with 90% of government run institutions that are nothing more then epic failures that eat tax payers money and are the cause of 90% of the problems in this country.
Locally we have issues with people who want to clean-up the bay. I live in Maryland, I’m about 1 miles off the Chesapeake Bay and I have a well & septic system. I pay a yearly fee (tax) on that septic system to help clean up the bay... anyone in MD that has a septic system pays this fee tax) including those in Cumberland, MD that are over 150 miles from the bay.
But on the west side, greedy and totally unscrupulous developers have corrupted politicians too. As an example, look what they have done to poor little Annapolis.
(Methinks they are targeting the Amish because the Amish could - and did - opt out of the obligatory obamaCAre. They have always paid their own way, medically. But Chicago politics of Thugocracy demands retribution for any defiance. (Not to mention what an anathema this independent people must be to the dictator personality. They look upon such people as a cancer on their agenda.)
Every day, I find something that makes me grateful I live back in my home state and in the state at least half way up north.
If I had the wherewithal, I would pick p and go even further up north, dig in and set up to be able, when the stuff hits the fan, to be mostly independent as to heat, light, water and food - like we used to be in my childhood.
The government hates the Amish because they are not dependent on any government service other than national defense. The way it should be.
TSgt - Not anymore..
“A while back, Old Order Amish would not participate in programs like this,” he said, “but farming is getting expensive.”
The anti-Christian attitude is part of it. Another part is the move to control the food supply. By forcing small local food providers out of business they push it to the big multi-national corporations shipping watermelons from Honduras to Chicago.
Both China and Russia have used food to control their undesirables.
After they take care of the Amish cow problem, I wonder if they are going to do something about the countless millions of wild critters (from birds to panthers) that are also pooping where it can run off into the Chesapeake.
Somehow, I don’t think that cows are the problem.
My uncle lives near Oakland in Garrett County, and has a good septic system.
Their "runoff" ends up in the Ohio river, not the Potomac, but they still pay the "flush tax".
It's not about the Chesapeake, it's about control.
Great. Now were going to see all of those pictures of brown pelicans covered with horse $#!t.
Actually, this is all the fault of the New York Times.
If they would get their subscription rate up then they would need even more tons of male bovine manure to satisfy their clientele.
These poor, agrarian farmers (yeah, I know that’s redundant, but I get extra points for the buzz words ) would then have a market for all those piles of manure which now have nothing to do but leach into the Chesapeake.
(Sorry, but I “misspoke”. It is not ALL the fault of the NYT. The Washington Post, ABC/NBC/ABC/CNN/MSNBC etc are also not buying their fair share of manure from these poor, under-exploited Amish farmers)
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