THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 10, 1994 TAG: 9411100624
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON, N.C. LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines
A seven-year, $11 million study of ways to restore and improve the nation's second-largest estuary came to an end Wednesday when Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved the project.
Meeting beside the Pamlico River, Hunt and Robert Perciasepe, EPA assistant administrator, signed a 200-plus-page management plan for the Albemarle-Pamlico Estuary and called for implementing measures suggested in the report.
``This is a celebration of people working together and making things work on a voluntary basis,'' Hunt told the crowd of about 250 people gathered in downtown Washington. ``This isn't based on somebody's ideology. This is based on facts.''
``Let's all pledge today. . that we're going to carry this through,'' he said.
The management plan, which officials hope will guide federal, state and local governments, addresses the sources of pollution - from sewage treatment plants and city streets to agricultural runoff and rural septic tanks. It also seeks to preserve the area's valuable natural resources - from wetlands to seaweed and grasses to the fish and wildlife that live in the watershed.
The plan recommends limiting the amount of treated sewage and other effluent entering the watershed; expanding voluntary pollution control programs for farmers and other landowners; establishing new regulations for forestry operations; preserving about 23,000 acres of ``rare or representative natural communities;'' beginning a cost share program for commercial fishermen and developing management plans to help restore the state's commercial fishing stocks.
Unlike earlier APES management plans, the latest version relies more on voluntary incentive programs, such as ``best management practices'' to help farmers pay for projects that protect water quality, rather than new regulations, according to officials with the Department of Environment, Health and Natural Resources.
Hunt said he would submit ``modest'' budget proposals to the General Assembly when it convenes in January to begin implementing some of the plan's recommendations.
After a draft of the management plan was presented last year, some environmental groups said it did not go far enough in protecting and restoring the estuary, while many local government officials were concerned about the prospect of more state government regulation and mandates and their effects on local governments, economic development and commercial fishermen.
But APES officials said those concerns were addressed in the final version of the plan signed by Hunt.
``It's come a long way,'' said Douglas N. Rader, senior scientist with the state Environmental Defense Fund and the first director of the study. ``It's got a long way to go in terms of what remains to be done. . . but everything that needs to be done can be done.'' by CNB