LOUISIANA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY | Secretary Aurelia S. Giacometto
A DEPARTMENT OF THE STATE OF LOUISIANA
United States’ most important water quality protection law; Originally passed in 1972, the Act's goal is to "restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation's waters."; The Act contains a number of provisions that affect agriculture.
This product brings together data on fertilizer consumption in the United States by plant nutrient and major selected product, as well as consumption of mixed fertilizers, secondary nutrients, and micronutrients. Share of crop area receiving fertilizer and fertilizer use per receiving acre, by nutrient, are presented for the major producing States for corn, cotton, soybeans, and wheat. Additional data include fertilizer farm prices and indices of wholesale fertilizer price. Fertilizer price data (table 7) have been updated through 2012. Fertilizer price indexes (table 8) have been updated through 2011. Fertilizer consumption and use (tables 1-6) have been updated through 2010. Fertilizer consumption and use for corn (tables 9 to 14) and for cotton (tables 15 to 20) have been updated through 2010. Fertilizer consumption and use for wheat (tables 27 to 32) have been updated through 2009. Crop-specific updates occur when survey data from the Agricultural Resource Management Survey and NASS' Agricultural Chemical Usage Data become available.
Include the construction, rehabilitation, and operation of dams, levees, and other facilities for flood control.
Florida has initiated rulemaking to adopt quantitative nutrient water quality standards to facilitate the assessment of designated use attainment for its waters and to provide a better means to protect state waters from the adverse effects of nutrient over enrichment. FDEP plans to develop numeric criteria for causal variables (phosphorus and nitrogen) and/or response variables (potentially chlorophyll a and transparency), recognizing the hydrologic variability (waterbody type) and spatial variability (location within Florida) of the nutrient levels of the state’s waters, and the variability in ecosystem response to nutrient concentrations. FDEP’s preferred approach is to develop cause/effect relationships between nutrients and valued ecological attributes, and to establish nutrient criteria that ensure that the designated uses of Florida’s waters are maintained. Florida currently uses a narrative nutrient standard to guide the management and protection of its waters. Chapter 62-302.530, Florida Administrative Code, states that “in no case shall nutrient concentrations of body of water be altered so as to cause an imbalance in natural populations of flora or fauna.” The narrative criteria also states that (for all waters of the state) "the discharge of nutrients shall continue to be limited as needed to prevent violations of other standards contained in this chapter [Chapter 62-302, FAC]. Man-induced nutrient enrichment (total nitrogen or total phosphorus) shall be considered degradation in relation to the provisions of Sections 62-302.300, 62-302.700, and 62-4.242, F.A.C.” FDEP has been actively working with EPA on the development of numeric nutrient criteria for several years. To limit nutrient enrichment, Florida will develop nutrient criteria for all waters, guided by recommendations from a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) composed of technical experts from throughout the state. The TAC will review all available technical information to ensure that the resulting criteria reflect the characteristics and aquatic life use of Florida’s diverse water bodies.
The report presents the TMDL for nitrate nitrogen, which was determined to cause the impairment of Jackson Blue Spring and its receiving water, Merritts Mill Pond. These waterbodies are located in the Chipola River Planning Unit of the Apalachicola–Chipola Basin. Jackson Blue Spring and Merritts Mill Pond were verified by the FDEP as impaired by nutrients and were included on the Verified List of impaired waters for the Apalachicola–Chipola Basin that was adopted by Secretarial Order in May 2009. The TMDL establishes the allowable level of nutrient loadings to Jackson Blue Spring and Merritts Mill Pond that would restore these waterbodies so that they meet their applicable water quality criterion for nutrients. This report will be used as the basis for discussions during the development of the Basin Management Action Plan (BMAP).
2008 Revisions to Florida Watershed Restoration Act focused on water quality credit trading. Authorized trading, but limited to pilot project in Lower St. Johns River Basin (LSJR); Authorizes trading in the LSJR pilot program under process established in adopted Basin Management Action Plan (BMAP). Required FDEP to initiate rulemaking by September 1, 2008. FDEP issued Notice of Rule Development in August 2008 and held first public workshop on November 21, 2008. 2008 Legislation provides authority for Pilot Trading Program under process established in adopted BMAP, but, OGC recommended FDEP adopt rule for Pilot. Longer term, will also need to revise rule for any expansion of program. The rule will be done in “phases” with initial rulemaking focused on pilot program. Generally speaking, FDEP has translated BMAP text into rule language to support pilot. BMAP authorizes “Formal” Trading that occurs AFTER adoption of BMAP with detailed allocations to individual sources. Trading must be implemented via permits. One of the trading parties must have an individual permit.
This manual is written to be a practical field guide for forest landowners, logging contractors and the forest industry to ensure water quality during forestry operations. It sets forth the voluntary guidelines and procedures to be followed for each operation and describes the federally mandated Best Management Practices (BMPs) for forestry operations in wetlands. Each chapter is written as a stand-alone guide. BMPs common to several operations will appear with each.
List of the fiscal 2012 Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) awardees. The information includes the project location, the amount of funding, the project title and a brief description.