
DATE: Friday, October 31, 1997              TAG: 9710310930

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:  122 lines

ALLEN SEEKS $60 MILLION FOR BAY MONEY WOULD AID STATES' AIM: RID WATERWAY OF NUTRIENTS

Gov. George F. Allen announced Thursday that he wants to spend $60 million during the next two years to fight pollutants from farms, sewage plants and city streets to help clean up the Chesapeake Bay.

Such pollutants, called nutrients, are blamed for many of the environmental problems in the Bay, including the emergence of the toxic microbe Pfiesteria piscicida. When too many nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus wash into waterways, scientists believe, the microorganism becomes highly aggressive and can attack fish and sicken humans.

Allen said the money, if approved by state lawmakers this winter, would empower Virginia to meet a central goal of a multistate campaign to restore the ailing Bay: reduce nutrients by 40 percent by the year 2000.

``Virginia's economic strength is bringing forth a renaissance of expanding opportunity and growth which allows the commonwealth to make this investment in the health of the Chesapeake Bay,'' Allen said.

Allen said he would propose the $60 million package as part of his overall budget plan for the next two years. He will present that plan in December before stepping down as governor.

Allen is barred from seeking a second term. His former attorney general, James S. Gilmore III, and Lt. Gov. Donald S. Beyer Jr. are vying for the job in next month's elections.

His announcement surprised environmentalists, who often have criticized the Republican governor as not doing enough to protect natural resources, including the Bay.

``It's obviously welcome news, albeit a little late,'' said Joseph Maroon, executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation in Virginia. ``Hopefully, this will help us catch up, although I'm sure this will get a lot of scrutiny from the General Assembly.''

Allen's proposal highlighted the annual meeting of the Chesapeake Bay Executive Council, which consists of the governors of Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, the mayor of Washington, and the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. All have pledged since 1983 to work together to revive the Bay, and each reported Thursday that progress is being made.

The government leaders said water is clearer, striped bass and shad are rebounding, and underwater grasses that feed and shelter aquatic life are becoming more abundant in areas, especially in the Virginia portion of the Bay.

Still, efforts to cut the levels of nitrogen and phosphorus, which together can rob life-sustaining oxygen from water and cause fish kills, are lagging. In the lower James River and throughout much of the Rappahannock River, for example, phosphorus levels are increasing, according the scientific surveys.

``We must do more to ensure that less nitrogen and phosphorus is entering the Bay and its tributaries,'' said Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening. He noted that his state recently won a $200 million commitment from the federal government to stem nutrients by planting grasses along streams and better controlling fertilizer runoff from farms.

Allen seeks to combat the problem on several fronts. Under his spending plan, local governments could apply for state aid, called ``Year 2000 Challenge Grants,'' to speed improvements of aging or unsophisticated sewage treatment plants.

He would extend state money to private plants and those on Virginia's Eastern Shore and on the York, James and Rappahannock rivers. Previously, money was available only to facilities in the Potomac River watershed.

The governor also offered to pay up to $7 million to modernize the Blue Plains sewage plants on the banks of the Potomac, which for years have been a major source of nutrient pollution. This part of the plan brought a wide smile to Washington Mayor Marion Barry's face; his city relies almost exclusively on Blue Plains but lacks funds to clean it up.

To Virginia farmers, Allen pledged greater financial assistance for planting winter crops that curb runoff, to help buy no-till farm equipment that reduces erosion, and to acquire technology that more precisely spreads fertilizers.

While not mentioning pfiesteria by name, Allen proposed to help Virginia chicken farms, whose animal waste is blamed in part for sparking the microbe in the lower Pocomoke River this summer. Some 2,000 fish died from a pfiesteria-like attack in late August in the Eastern Shore river, which is lined with small, chicken farms.

The governor said money would be available to build special sheds to safely house chicken manure and to buy a feed additive known as phytase, which reduces the amount of nutrients in chicken excrement.

When asked why he did not seek such money before, Allen cited the economy. ``We have more revenues now; we can do this now,'' he said. ``When I took over as governor (in January 1994), we had job loss in Virginia - the military was downsizing. Now, we're going great.''

State Del. Tayloe W. Murphy Jr., chairman of the Chesapeake Bay Commission, was pleased with Allen's announcement but slightly skeptical.

Murphy co-authored legislation enacted earlier this year that set aside $15 million, plus 10 percent of the state surplus, for sewage plant improvements and runoff controls. He wondered how much of Allen's plan is simply an extension of that program, with a little added money on top.

``I'm glad to see him support funding,'' Murphy said. ``But I'm not sure how much of this is new money. It would have been nice to see this come out earlier.''

Also Thursday, the executive council passed three directives. One called for greater and more immediate emphasis on nutrient controls. Another set a policy for a ``net gain'' in wetlands; the Bay had been losing these marshes and bogs at a rate of about 3,000 acres a year despite an earlier council commitment to ``no net loss'' of wetlands.

The third directive pushed for a community watershed approach to the cleanup, urging neighbors, civic groups and local businesses to get more involved in solving the problems of their little backyard creeks or streams. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos

ASSOCIATED PRESS/File

Graphic

WHY

Nitrogen and phosphorus can rob life-sustaining oxygen from water

and cause fish kills.

WHAT THE MONEY WOULD BE USED FOR

Local governments could apply for state aid to speed improvements

of aging or outdated sewage treatment plants.

State money would be extended to private plants and those on the

Eastern Shore and on the York, James and Rappahannock rivers.

Farmers could get more money for planting winter crops that curb

runoff, to help buy equipment that reduces erosion, and to acquire