Mr. Kenneth F. Murin
PA Department of Environmental Protection
Bureau of Water Quality Protection
P.O. Box 8465
Harrisburg, PA 17105-8465

Dear Mr. Murin:

At the Agricultural Advisory Board's December 18, 1996 meeting, you provided an overview of the proposed revisions to the Department's Chapter 102, Erosion Control Regulations. A committee was appointed at that meeting, to review the proposed revisions to the regulations, and provide comments to the Department. That committee met with you, and other Department staff, on January 6, in the Rachel Carson State Office Building in Harrisburg. Enclosed below are the committee's comments and concerns regarding the proposed revisions to the Chapter 102, Erosion Control Regulations.

The committee members had concerns with the proposed wording of section 102.4(b) on page 4. The committee noted that conservation plans may include other elements in addition to erosion and sediment control best management practices; and there are also different types of conservation plans. As the section is currently worded it would be confusing to the agricultural community. There was also discussion about the second part of that section, regarding who would be responsible for developing and implementing a conservation plan. The committee stressed the need for more flexibility in the regulation regarding responsibility for plan development and implementation between the landowner, the tenant, and lessee. The committee suggested the following rewrite of section 102.4(b):

"In the case of agricultural plowing and tilling, the landowner or land occupier shall be responsible for developing and implementing a sediment pollution plan or conservation plan, which contains erosion and sediment pollution control best management practices. The landowner may delegate his obligation to implement and maintain the plan, or parts thereof, by written agreement, to a tenant or lessee."

The committee feels this language will be more easily understood by the agricultural community, and addressees the committee concerns regarding conservation plans, and the landowner, tenant, and lessee relationship and responsibilities.

The committee also had some concerns regarding the definitions contained in section 102.1, since some definitions may have different meanings based on other settings (for example, best management practices may be used in other ways besides for the use of sediment pollution controls.) The committee recommended that the Department emphasize the words "when used in this chapter" in the first sentence to section 102.1. The committee also suggested that the Department provide a definition to the term "natural process" which is used in the definition for "erosion", and is not defined in the Clean Streams Law.

It was suggested that the Department may want to add additional clarification to the permit exemption requirements for agricultural plowing and tilling in section 102.31(b). There has been a case, where a municipality required a farmer, to get an approved land development plan to implement their conservation plan. It was suggested that the Department add agricultural installation of best management practices and the expansion of tillable acreage to the agricultural plowing and tilling exemption. Although we understand that this may not totally resolve the situation, since municipal regulations may be more stringent than state regulations, we feel that it would help in avoiding those type of situations.

The committee members also expressed concern regarding PennDOT discharging stormwater off of roadways onto agricultural fields. Although the members were aware that this issue could probably not be addressed through the proposed revisions to the Chapter 102, Erosion Control Regulations, they felt it was enough of a concern to bring it up at this meeting. Often a fully implemented conservation plan can be rendered useless because of the discharge of water from roadways. As explained at the meeting, the Department staff are attempting to set up a meeting with PennDOT officials and conservation district staff to address this concern. The committee encourages the Department staff to follow through on this meeting and make the concerns of the agricultural community known.

If I may be of further assistance, please contact me at 717-234-5001.

Sincerely,

Brenda Shambaugh

Chairperson

Agricultural Advisory Board