"Maryland is spending millions in taxpayer dollars on technology designed to protect people and water from animal manure pollution at large-scale livestock farms — but has wasted money on fruitless projects and shown little evidence that the investments are working, according to a new report.
The report alleges that over the past decade the state’s Animal Waste Technology Fund spent taxpayer money on “failed and significantly delayed projects,” and is actually adding to pollution burdens in already heavily contaminated and low-income communities.
“There is almost no evidence, after decades and millions of public dollars spent, that the Animal Waste Technology Fund has met its statutory objective of creating ‘economically feasible technologies’ that reduce nutrients from animal waste in the state,” the report states.
Regulators estimate the state has 590 concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), which are facilities where animals are grown in concentrated facilities that generate loads of manure. The bulk of Maryland CAFOs raise chickens, and are highly concentrated on the state’s Eastern Shore, with an estimated 95% of the state’s CAFOs in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Such facilities are linked to air pollution and elevated levels of nitrate in drinking water. The Chesapeake Bay, for example, has suffered from excess nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus that have spurred algal blooms, dead zones and fish and wildlife die-offs. The state estimates about half of the Bay’s excess nutrients come from animal manure."
