Executive Summary
Saving the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
Requires Better Coordination of
Environmental and Agricultural Resources
EPAOIG Report No. 2007-P-00004
USDA OIG Report No. 50601 -10-Hq
November 20, 2006
Purpose of Review
We conducted this review
at the request of U.S.
Senator Barbara A.
Mikulski of Maryland.
Our overall objective was
to identify principal
barriers to achieving
nutrient reduction goals in
the Chesapeake Bay. This
report, the first of several
planned, is on agriculture
issues. It was prepared
through a partnership
between the U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) and U.S.
Department of Agriculture
(USDA) Offices of
Inspector General. The
report concentrated on
agricultural best
management practices
used to address nonpoint
nutrient and sediment
loading to the Chesapeake
Bay watershed.
What We Found
Despite significant efforts to improve water quality in the Chesapeake Bay watershed,
excess nutrients and sediment continue to impair the Bay's water quality. Improving
water quality conditions in the Bay is necessary to support living resources throughout
the ecosystem, which in turn supports commercial and recreational uses, such as
fishing/shellfishing. At the current rate of progress, the watershed will remain impaired
for decades. State-level partners have committed the agricultural community to making
the largest nutrient reductions, but numerous practices abound and are generally
performed on a voluntary basis. Few of the agricultural practices in the tributary
strategies have been implemented because the agricultural community considers many
of these practices as either being unprofitable or requiring significant changes in
farming techniques. Although the State-level partners have provided substantial funding
to implement these practices, one of the key State partners acknowledged substantial
additional funding is still needed. At the Federal level, applications for USDA's
technical and financial assistance programs went unfunded, making it difficult to expand
incentives for Bay area agricultural producers.
EPA must improve its coordination and collaboration with its Bay partners and the
agricultural community to better reduce nutrients and sediment entering the Chesapeake
Bay watershed. However, members of the agricultural community have been reluctant
to participate with EPA because of EPA's regulatory enforcement role. USDA, a Bay
partner at the Federal level, could significantly assist EPA in implementing the needed
conservation practices within the agricultural community. Given its many conservation
programs, extensive field organization, and long experience working with the
agricultural community, USDA's commitment and collaboration would significantly
contribute to the EPA Chesapeake Bay Program Office's plan for long-term
improvement to the Bay's water quality. However, USDA has not coordinated a
Department-wide strategy or policy to address its commitment as a Bay partner.
What We Recommend
We recommend that EPA execute a new Memorandum of Agreement with USDA that specifically identifies tasks and
timeframes for meeting mutually shared goals in the cleanup of the Bay. Further, the two agencies should agree to a
method to track progress. Also, EPA, USDA, and the States, with assistance from land grant universities and
agricultural organizations, should revisit State tributary strategies to ensure that an effective and cost-efficient
combination of conservation practices are adopted and implemented. USDA should assign a senior level official to
coordinate with EPA's Chesapeake Bay Program and review the feasibility of targeting USDA funds geographically.
Although these steps will not by themselves solve the Bay's problems, they will significantly assist the Bay partners in
cleaning up the Bay. EPA and USDA generally concurred with our findings and recommendations.
For further Information, contact:	To review the full report online, click on:
•	The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency	• www.epa.gov/oig/reportV2007/
Office of Inspector General at (202) 566-2391; or 20061120-2007-P-00004.pdf; or
•	The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of	• www.usda.gov/oig/rptsaudlts.htm
Inspector General, at FOIASTAFF@olg.usda.gov

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