ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 17, 1996 TAG: 9612170076
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: WARREN FISKE AND SCOTT HARPER STAFF WRITERS
Nitrogen and phosphorus are the two culprit nutrients, causing algae blooms and reducing life-sustaining oxygen in streams and rivers that feed the bay with fresh water.
Calling his proposal ``unprecedented,'' Allen also said he would ask the General Assembly this winter to appropriate $8 million to upgrade sewage treatment plants that release nitrogen and phosphorus into state waters, and he pledged another $11 million to fight nutrients in the Potomac and Shenandoah river basins.
Critics, including environmentalists and Democratic lawmakers, applauded the governor for turning his attention to the environment but said the plan falls woefully short.
Just last week, a state watchdog agency warned that Virginia is falling behind in its commitments to cut nutrients by 40 percent by 2000 - a key goal in the overall bay cleanup.
The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission last week estimated that it would cost between $157 million and $193 million to adequately control nitrogen and phosphorus in the Potomac River alone.
The Republican governor denied his proposals came in response to JLARC's report.
``Some folks are always negative,'' said Allen, claiming that the report was politically inspired by anti-business forces. ``They may want to give up on the administration, but the administration is not giving up on the bay.''
One state delegate, Tayloe Murphy, a Northern Neck Democrat, already has stated his intention to sponsor legislation seeking much more money for nutrient pollution than the governor unveiled Monday.
The governor said his cleanup money would be set aside in a newly created Chesapeake Bay Tributaries Trust Fund. It would be disbursed to localities as a 50 percent match for local projects that reduce the flow of nutrients into the bay within the Potomac and Shenandoah watersheds. To receive funding, Allen said projects must fall into one of the following categories: upgrading municipal sewage treatment plants; improving storm water management in urban and rural areas; implementing erosion and sediment controls; or expanding nutrient management programs.
LENGTH: Short : 47 linesby CNB