A blue ribbon commission chaired by former governor Harry R. Hughes last year called for limiting farm pollution as part of the effort to prevent future pfiesteria outbreaks. Last summer, outbreaks killed 30,000 fish and sickened people on the Eastern Shore. The commission specifically recommended that chicken manure now spread across fields as fertilizer be used in other ways so it cannot wash into the bay. The commission heard testimony about alternative uses for the manure. It can be turned into commercial compost or into pellets and fed to other animals.
Scientists believe nutrients in animal manure likely fuel pfiesteria outbreaks.
But each alternative carries costs. None are immediately profitable, though they hold potential given advances in technology and development of markets for new products. Environmentalists worked feverishly to persuade Glendening to force poultry producers to take responsibility for the manure, so the small farmers wouldn't be stuck with the bill for disposing of the waste. But business leaders said making the poultry industry pay for disposing of manure may lead companies to shift operations elsewhere. When you start adding new costs on it that nobody else has to do anywhere else, it just makes it that much more difficult.