by: Peggy Kirk Hall, Associate Professor, Agricultural & Resource Law
Recent actions by the Ohio legislature and Governor Kasich will affect the management of agricultural nutrients in Ohio. The Ohio General Assembly has passed “Clean Lake 2020” legislation that will provide funding for reducing phosphorous in Lake Erie. Governor Kasich signed the Clean Lake 2020 bill on July 10, in tandem with issuing Executive Order 2018—09K, “Taking Steps to Protect Lake Erie.” The two actions aim to address the impact of agricultural nutrients on water quality in Lake Erie.
The Clean Lake 2020 legislation provides funding for the following:
- $20 million in FY 2019 for a Soil and Water Phosphorus Program in the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA). In utilizing the funds, ODA must:
- Consult with the Lake Erie Commission and the Ohio Soil and Water Conservation Commission to establish programs that help reduce total phosphorus and dissolved reactive phosphorus in the Western Lake Erie Basin and must give priority to sub-watersheds that are highest in total phosphorus and dissolved reactive phosphorus nutrient loading.
- Create specific programs that include the purchase of equipment for (1) subsurface placement of nutrients into soil; (2) nutrient placement based on geographic information system data; and (3) manure transformation and manure conversion technologies; soil testing; tributary monitoring; water management and edge-of-field drainage management; and an agricultural phosphorus reduction revolving loan program.
- Not use more than 40% of the funds on a single program or activity.
- $3.5 million for county soil and water conservation districts in the Western Lake Erie Basin for staffing costs and for soil testing and nutrient management plan assistance to farmers, including manure transformation and manure conversion technologies, enhanced filter strips, water management, and other conservation support.
- $2.65 million for OSU’s Sea Grant—Stone Laboratory on Lake Erie to construct new research lab space and purchase in-lake monitoring equipment including real-time buoys and water treatment plant monitoring sondes.
- A $2 million obligation increase for the Ohio Public Facilities Commission allocated to the costs of capital facilities for state-supported and state-assisted institutions of higher education.
Governor Kasich’s Executive Order contains two parts:
- Directs the ODA to “consider whether it is appropriate to seek the consent of the Ohio Soil and Water Commission to designate the following Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC) watersheds or portions of watersheds in the Maumee River Basin as watersheds in distress due to increased nutrient levels resulting from phosphorous attached to soil sediment: Platter Creek Watershed, Little Flat Rock Creek Watershed, Little Auglaize River Watershed, Eagle Creek Watershed, Auglaize River, Blanchard River, St. Mary’s, Ottawa River.”
- If the Soil and Water Commission consents to a designation of a watershed in distress, ODA, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the Ohio EPA “should recommend a rule package that establishes the following . . . nutrient management requirements for all nutrient sources; development of associated management plans for agricultural land and operations within the designated watershed boundaries; requirements for the storage, handling, land application, and control of residual farm products, manure, and erosion of sediment and substances attached thereto within the designated watershed boundaries.”
The legislation containing Clean Lake 2020 provisions, S.B. 299, is available here. Governor Kasich’s Executive Order is here, and a fact sheet issued with the Executive Order is here.