WEST VIRGINIA

• One-third of all river sites tested in the Potomac headwaters of West Virginia exceed bacteria safety standards.
  
  
• West Virginia has no program for regulating environmental pollution from poultry, which produces about 155,000 tons of manure each year.

The headwaters of the Potomac River have long been home to West Virginia agriculture, with poultry and cattle farms dominating the countryside. In the early 1990s the poultry industry began expanding on a vast scale.¹ Major food corporations have been the driving force behind this expansion, with Wampler Foods' chicken processing plant in Moorefield at the geographic hub of this growth. Other major corporations -- Tyson Foods, Inc., Perdue and Rocco Turkey -- have spurred growth in chicken houses by contracting with poultry farms in the state to supply their chicken processing plants in neighboring Virginia. Some of the state's political leaders have been eager to lure large corporations to the state with economic incentives for opening new poultry farms and processing plants.² Leaders in the West Virginia legislature recently introduced a bill giving a large tax subsidy to industry for jobs created by agricultural expansion.³

Pollution Problems

Intensive agriculture in Potomac Headwaters region has led to alarming levels of bacteria in the river and its tributaries and spurred excessive algae and siltation.⁴ A 1994-1995 study completed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) indicates that one third of all sites tested in the headwaters of the Potomac exceeded accepted bacterial safety standards.⁵

Many stretches of this great river are no longer safe for recreation. The high levels of fecal coliform bacteria that have been measured in Potomac waters indicate that swimmers run the risk of infection from disease-causing organisms like Salmonella, Giardia and Cryptosporidium.⁶ The world class recreational resources of Smoke Hole, the Trough, and Seneca Rocks in the South Branch area of the Potomac -- all locations favored by tourists for canoeing, fishing and swimming -- are threatened by this pollution.⁷ State agencies and the U.S. Department of Agriculture recently came to this alarming conclusion:

A high potential exists for contraction of waterborne illnesses in the Potomac Headwaters because of the widespread presence of bacteria throughout the watershed and heavy dependence on the streams for drinking water and for water contact recreation.... The report further states that the numbers of feedlots and poultry houses per square mile also correlate with concentrations of fecal coliform, fecal streptococci, and nitrates.⁸

Additional testing done in 1996 and 1997 by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) supports the USGS study of 1994 and 1995.⁹

In 1996, the state classified as "impaired" seven tributaries of the Potomac headwaters, including the South Branch of the Potomac, the South Fork of the South Branch and the North Fork of the South Branch. The impaired classification indicates that many of these waters are so polluted they can no longer support swimming or fishing. Agriculture is cited as the cause of this pollution. All seven of the Potomac tributaries on the impaired list were new additions due to recent data indicating serious water quality problems.¹⁰

Chicken processing plants pose an additional pollution threat to the area. Wampler Foods' poultry processing plant in Moorefield, which has a NPDES permit under the Clean Water Act, is barred under the Act from dumping its waste into town facilities without approval from the state. Wampler has been cited for unauthorized disposal of some of its industrial waste into the town sewage treatment facility. For several months in 1995, Moorefield's sewage treatment plant spilled raw sewage into the South Branch, in part due to the failure of the town's sewage waste lagoon. Some citizens of the community suspect that the town's sewage treatment problems were linked to the town's illegal acceptance of untreated industrial waste from Wampler. A local sewage treatment plant operator reported poultry feathers in the town lagoon on a number of occasions.¹¹ Wampler and the town of Moorefield have each been the subject of two enforcement actions by the Department of Environmental Protection for this activity.¹²

The Potomac Headwaters area has also suffered four major floods in recent memory, one in 1985 and three in 1996. The floods intensified pollution from the region's poultry and cattle industries¹³ as rushing torrents washed animal waste from croplands and farm buildings into nearby waterways. Following flooding from Hurricane Fran in 1996, "one of the biggest public health threats was 268,000 chicken and 56,000 turkey carcasses" that had died in the floods, according to a state Department of Agriculture spokesperson.¹⁴

Other local problems have involved nuisance complaints. Moorefield residents have lost business because of the overwhelming odors and flies.¹⁵ One local restaurant owner complained her herb garden died due to the toxicity of the air.¹⁶ Another resident told the County Commission he can no longer use his well because of pollution from poultry manure stored and spread near his house.¹⁷

The Potomac Headwaters of West Virginia supply some of the drinking water for many towns downstream. The Washington D.C. metropolitan area, which is downstream from the Potomac Headwaters, last year began having bacteria outbreaks in its drinking water system.¹⁸ For the second year in a row, the Potomac is listed as one of the 20 most endangered rivers in the country due to agriculture and land development. This news comes after several years of celebrating a clean-up campaign that made it possible for Washington-area residents to safely fish and swim in the river after decades of pollution had put it off-limits. "The unfettered expansion of the poultry industry could very well undo much of the progress that has been made in the last 25 years," an American Rivers spokesperson recently warned.¹⁹

The Potomac River empties into the Chesapeake Bay, bringing nitrogen and phosphorus pollution from the river's source in West Virginia. The health of the Bay's fish and shellfish is seriously threatened by a glut of these inputs emanating from manure and fertilizer used at surrounding farms. In 1987, the Chesapeake Bay Agreement, signed by the District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, agreed to reduce nutrient pollution to the Bay by forty percent by the year 2000. While almost 25 percent of the Potomac watershed lies in West Virginia, and about 13 percent of the nutrients delivered to the Bay by the Potomac comes from West Virginia, the state refused to sign this document and cooperate with neighboring states. In doing so, the state also declined federal assistance for reducing nutrient pollution to the Chesapeake Bay.²⁰ West Virginia, despite its renegade status, was asked to attend Governor Glendening's Chesapeake summit this year on Pfeisteria, an algae that thrives in nutrient-polluted waters and has caused major fish kills.²¹ Unfortunately, the summit agreement West Virginia signed was limited to information-sharing and included no commitment to reduce nutrient pollution of the Bay.

Regulatory Climate

The state Department of Environmental Protection together with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently proposed cleanup plans for six impaired tributaries in the Potomac Headwaters. The plans were developed to fulfill a Clean Water Act requirement that the state allocate reductions in water pollution among contributing polluters. (This process is known under the Clean Water Act as Total Maximum Daily Load or TMDL.) A cleanup plan for a seventh river classified as impaired, the Lost, was recently developed. The plans direct agricultural sources -- primarily confined poultry operations -- to reduce fecal coliform bacteria contributions by 38 percent. Under the plan, Wampler Foods' poultry processing plant in Moorefield is to reduce by 100 percent the fecal coliform contributed by its storm sewers.²² However, the state's plan for achieving these goals merely reaffirms its existing program for handling animal waste, which is entirely voluntary.²³

State agency officials are not aware of any Clean Water Act permits that have been issued to factory farms in West Virginia. The state has adopted the view that dry litter poultry facilities are exempt from the Clean Water Act and the non-poultry animal feeding operations are smaller than 1,000 animal units, so state agency officials claim that the state has no CAFOs that would require a Clean Water Act permit.²⁴ Theoretically, if a facility were caught polluting, it could be issued a Clean Water Act permit, but this appears to never have happened.²⁵ In the absence of any regulatory requirements, the state relies upon the voluntary implementation of agricultural best management practices (BMPs).²⁶ This effort includes out-of-pocket costs for producers and significant taxpayer subsidies. Large corporate integrators have not provided financial support to farmers for the implementation of BMPs.²⁷

Primary interviewee for this chapter:

Margaret Janes
Potomac Headwaters Resource Alliance
West Virginia Rivers Coalition
HC 67 Box 27AA
Mathias, WV 26812
Phone: 304-897-6048
Fax: 304-897-7110
e-mail: mjpaws@aol.com

Notes

1. Eric Lipton, "A Growth Industry Spurs Concern," Washington Post (June 1, 1997); personal communication between West Virginia University Extension Specialist and Potomac Headwaters Resource Alliance.

2. Proposed H.B. 2871, West Virginia House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources, re: tax credit for new farming or agricultural processing operations. Committee substitute for HB 2871, Tax credit for new poultry farming or processing operations (February 11, 1998); Ken Ward, "Wise Defends State Poultry Industry," The Charleston Gazette (June 4, 1997).

3. Proposed H.B. 2871, West Virginia House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources, re: tax credit for new farming or agricultural processing operations. Committee substitute for HB 2871, Tax credit for new poultry farming or processing operations (February 11, 1998).

4. Potomac Valley Soil Conservation District, West Virginia Soil Conservation Agency, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, "Potomac Headwaters Land Treatment Watershed Project Environmental Assessment" (June 1996), p, 10; Eric Lipton, "A Growth Industry Spurs Concern," Washington Post (June 1, 1997); Melvin Mathis, USGS, "Streamwater Quality in the Headwaters of the South Branch Potomac River Basin, West Virginia, 1994-95, and the Lost River Basin, West Virginia" (1995), p. 13.

5. Potomac Valley Soil Conservation District, West Virginia Soil Conservation Agency, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, "Potomac Headwaters Land Treatment Watershed Project Environmental Assessment" (June 1996), p. 10.

6. Potomac Valley Soil Conservation District, West Virginia Soil Conservation Agency, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, "Potomac Headwaters Land Treatment Watershed Project Environmental Assessment" (June 1996), p. 10; USDA Agricultural Research Service, Draft - Section II Poultry Manure Management, received May 5, 1995 from Dr. Robt. Wright, Beltsville, Maryland; Ken Ward, "Wise Defends State Poultry Industry," The Charleston Gazette (June 4, 1997); New York Times New Service, "Poultry Bug Fuels Concern," Daily-News Record (October 20, 1997).

7. Potomac Valley Soil Conservation District, West Virginia Soil Conservation Agency, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, "Potomac Headwaters Land Treatment Watershed Project Environmental Assessment" (June 1996).

8. Potomac Valley Soil Conservation District, West Virginia Soil Conservation Agency, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, "Potomac Headwaters Land Treatment Watershed Project Environmental Assessment" (June 1996), p. 10.

9. West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection TMDL Assessment Data 1996-1997.

10. West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection News Release, Draft List 303(d) (June 17, 1998).

11. Personal communication between Walt Miller, Moorefield STP operator and Margaret Janes, Potomac Headwater Resource Alliance (March 21, 1995).

12. Letter from Daniel L. Fitch of Wharton, Aldhizer & Weaver to Laidley Eli McCoy Chief of Water Resources, West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) (September 2, 1993); Letter from Barbara S. Taylor, West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, to Gene Misner, President of Wampler-Longacre Chicken (March 1, 1996); Letter from Barbara S. Taylor, WVDEP, to Mayor Sager of Moorefield, West Virgnia (March 1, 1996); Administrative Order from WVDEP to the Town of Moorefield, Order Number 3678 (December 1, 1995); "In Magistrate Court," Moorefield Examiner (April 1994).

13. Associated Press, "Panhandle Residents Cope, Clean Up after Fran's Floods," The Charleston Gazette (September 10, 1996).

14. Associated Press, "Panhandle Residents Cope, Clean Up after Fran's Floods," The Charleston Gazette (September 10, 1996).

15. "Council Holds Special Meeting to Discuss Odor, Development," Moorefield Examiner (June 12, 1996).

16. "Council Holds Special Meeting to Discuss Odor, Development," Moorefield Examiner (June 12, 1996).

17. "Council Holds Special Meeting to Discuss Odor, Development," Moorefield Examiner (June 12, 1996); Moorefield Examiner, Town Council and County Commission Briefs, (September 13, 1995).

18. Eric Lipton, "A Growth Industry Spurs Concern," Washington Post (June 1, 1997).

19. Eric Lipton, "A Growth Industry Spurs Concern," Washington Post (June 1, 1997). Note: Some fish in the Potomac River are subject to consumption adviseries due to high levels of chlordane on fish flesh.

20. Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin, "The Bay Needs Your Help" (Spring 1993).

21. Rodney White, "Underwood to Attend Regional Meeting," The Journal, Martinsburg, West Virginia (September 18, 1997).

22. U.S.EPA and WVDEP, "Fecal Coliform Total Maximum Daily Loads for the South Fork South Branch Potomac River, South Branch Potomac River including Lunice Creek, Mill Creek and North Fork and Anderson Run, West Virginia" (February 20, 1998).

23. Evan Hansen, Potomac Headwaters Resource Alliance and West Virginia Rivers Coalition, "Total Maximum Daily Loads for Fecal Coliform in the Potomac Headwaters of West Virginia: An Assessment of the Data, Assumptions, and Model" (December 18, 1997); U.S. EPA and WVDEP, Fecal Coliform Total Maximum Daily Loads for the South Fork South Branch Potomac River, South Branch Potomac River including Lunice Creek, Mill Creek and North Fork and Anderson Run, West Virginia (February 20, 1998);WVDEP, WVDA, WVSCA, USEPA, USDA-NRCS, Agricultural Water Quality Protection Position Paper (December 15, 1997).

24. Personal communication between Robbin Marks and Dave Watkins, Groundwater Program Manager, Department of Environmental Protection (November 5, 1998); personal communication between Rebecca Knuffke and Lyle Bennett, Office of Water Resources, Department of Environmental Protection (November 10, 1998).

25. Personal communication between Rebecca Knuffke and Lyle Bennett, Office of Water Resources, Department of Environmental Protection (November 10, 1998).

26. Personal communication between Rebecca Knuffke, Robbin Marks and Lyle Bennett, Office of Water Resources, Department of Environmental Protection (November 10, 1998).

27. Evan Hansen, Potomac Headwaters Resource Alliance and West Virginia Rivers Coalition, "Total Maximum Daily Loads for Fecal Coliform in the Potomac Headwaters of West Virginia: An Assessment of the Data, Assumptions, and Model" (December 18, 1997); U.S. EPA and West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, "Fecal Coliform Total Maximum Daily Loads for the South Fork South Branch Potomac River, South Branch Potomac River including Lunice Creek, Mill Creek and North Fork and Anderson Run, West Virginia" (February 20, 1998); WVDEP, WVDA, WVSCA, U.S. EPA, USDA_NRCS, "Agricultural Water Quality Protection Position Paper (December 15, 1997).