THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 11, 1996 TAG: 9610110499
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 68 lines
Gov. George F. Allen, under pressure from political rivals and neighboring states, agreed Thursday to a goal of planting 2,010 miles of shoreline forests in a little more than a decade to help restore the Chesapeake Bay.
Until Thursday, aides said, the governor had not decided whether to support a numerical goal, which Virginia farmers have opposed for fear it may lead to new government regulations.
But at the annual meeting of the Executive Council of the Chesapeake Bay Program, in Harrisburg, Pa., Allen was persuaded by leaders from Maryland, Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to keep Virginia in step with its partners in the Bay's cleanup, officials said.
In a statement after the meeting, Allen said, ``By setting this goal, we help improve water quality in the Chesapeake Bay, provide for accountability in government and give the public an objective to work toward.''
The initiative will affect waterfront areas from Pennsylvania to Virginia, and certainly will include Hampton Roads, where many streams, creeks and small rivulets empty into the Bay.
Under the voluntary program, landowners will be encouraged, through tax credits and public out reach efforts, to plant trees and grasses along inland waterways.
Scientists and officials believe that these forest buffers will help soak up nutrients, fertilizers and dirty floodwaters before they can flow downstream and damage the Bay.
The goal approved Thursday is more aggressive than one suggested earlier by a special subcommittee. That group had urged that the Bay states plant 2,000 miles of forests by 2010. There are 52,000 miles of uncovered stream banks and shoreline property within the Bay's multistate watershed.
The new goal increases the overall target by 10 miles and keeps the same deadline year. It was Allen who suggested the 2010 goal, saying matching the numbers to the year made the target ``more meaningful,'' said Julie Overy, a spokeswoman for the governor.
``He spent the last couple days going over some of the concerns,'' Overy said. After talking to executive council members, ``he was relatively assured that this was not going to be anything but a voluntary program.''
A study panel, chaired by Virginia state forester James Garner, had recommended no numerical goals after 18 months of reviewing the issue. Garner said earlier this week that specific goals are not needed, and that he hoped the executive council would not adopt any.
But representatives from Maryland, Pennsylvania and the EPA started going public last week with their displeasure over the no-goal recommendation. They argued that Virginia, the lone voice against specific targets, threatened to water down an initiative that holds real promise for helping the Bay.
Allen's administration has come under increasing criticism for its environmental policies. Conservationists and Democrats pointed to Virginia's reluctance to support a forest buffer goal as further proof of the Republican governor's shortcomings on the environment.
The Virginia Farm Bureau, which opposed specific goals, reacted modestly Thursday.
A spokesman in Richmond, Greg Hicks, said farmers remain opposed to any new government mandates directed at the Bay's cleanup.
``We feel we can get more accomplished with voluntary actions,'' Hicks said. ``Like a large percentage of farmers, we're already doing a lot to help the Bay. Most farmers already have a forest buffer or grass strips on their land.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Gov. George Allen by CNB