DATE: Wednesday, October 22, 1997           TAG: 9710220005

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B10  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Editorial 

                                            LENGTH:   45 lines

STATE LUNACY PLANS TO ALLOW TYSON FOODS TO INCREASE ITS DISCHARGE OF AMMONIA INTO A TRIBUTARY OF THE CHESAPEAKE BAY ARE ABSURD.

It is simply outrageous that Virginia might allow Tyson Foods to dump additional ammonia into a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay at a time when that seafood-rich estuary is threatened by a mysterious fish-killing disease.

According to staff writer Scott Harper, Virginia and the other states bordering the Chesapeake Bay have pledged to cut levels of nitrogen and phosphorus by 40 percent by the year 2000. Ammonia is a nutrient pollutant composed mostly of nitrogen, which is choking the Chesapeake Bay.

Despite its previous agreement to help clean up the Bay, the state now has recommended that ammonia standards be relaxed for Tyson. That's a curious way to go about reducing nitrogen levels.

This move would allow the country's largest producer of chicken and poultry products to discharge even more ammonia into Sandy Bottom Branch - a stream that the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality listed last year as an ``impaired'' waterway. Sandy Bottom Branch feeds into Pocomoke Sound, which feeds into the Bay.

About 2,000 fish died this summer near the mouth of Pocomoke Sound from the fish-killing microbe pfiesteria, causing part of this waterway to be shut down. Pfiesteria not only kills fish, but some scientists are blaming it for skin lesions, memory loss and nausea in humans. Scientists also suspect that components of chicken manure helped turn pfiesteria into a virulent killer of fish.

Prudence would dictate that until pfiesteria is understood and the public is assured that the Bay is protected against such a deadly disease, pollution standards should at the very least remain static. Even without pfiesteria, adding a nitrogen-laden pollutant to an already sick river makes no sense.

Fortunately, misguided Virginia state officials cannot act entirely on their own. Any relaxation in standards would have to be approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

But it shouldn't require federal interference to keep the Bay clean. It is in Virginia's interests to maintain standards that protect this enormous resource. Many livelihoods depend upon a healthy Chesapeake Bay.

We urge state officials to reconsider this ill-conceived plan to boost pollution in the Bay.

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