The signs were adorned with images of poultry because, when it came to advocating for environmental regulations, no one was going to play chicken.
“Pick up after yourself, Big Chicken.” “Poultry poop pollutes.” “Big Chicken should clean up its own mess … NOT Maryland taxpayers.”
These statements, emblazoned on Chesapeake Bay Foundation posters, might sound silly to the casual reader. But for environmental advocates, they represent a push to hold companies financially accountable for pollution they add to the Chesapeake Bay.
On Tuesday, Maryland legislators and contract farmers — those hired by companies to grow certain products — introduced the Poultry Litter Management Act to both chambers of the General Assembly. The bill would require major animal agriculture companies to pay the cost of properly disposing excess manure on their contract farms.
“It’s a fairness issue, it has an adverse impact on our environment and we need to clean it up,” said Sen. Joan Conway, D-Baltimore, “and those individuals who are making the mess need to clean up the mess.”
The bill is a response to what many environmentalists describe as major chicken companies getting a “free ride” as they produce around 228,000 tons of excess manure in the state each year but are not mandated to pay for the environmental costs of moving that waste.
“I don’t know if people realize that the 300-plus million chickens raised annually on Maryland’s Eastern Shore create more waste than everyone else who lives in Maryland,” said Sen. Richard Madaleno, D-Montgomery.
Julie DeYoung, a spokeswoman for Perdue Farms, pushed back against the notion that the company — an animal agriculture business based in Salisbury, Maryland that contracts with 265 poultry producers in the state — requires their contract farms to pay to dispose poultry litter.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Josh Magness over at CNS Maryland
