Rachel Carson State Office Building s2

MINUTES AGRICULTURAL ADVISORY BOARD Rachel Carson State Office Building Room 105, First Floor Conference Room Harrisburg, PA April 18, 2007 Betsy E. Huber, PA Grange, called the meeting to order. Attendance - Members Larry Breech, PA Farmers Union Michael Brendle, Poultry Producer Betsy E. Huber, PA Grange David McElhaney, Livestock Producer Cathy Curran Myers, PA Department of Environmental Protection Walt Peechatka, PennAg Gerald Seyler, Grain Farmers Brenda Shambaugh, PA Association of Conservation Districts Andrea Sharretts, PA Farm Bureau Thomas B. Williams, Dairy Producer

Agencies, Advisors, and Guests Doug Goodlander, State Conservation Commission Duane Hobbs Hosea Latshaw, NRCS Mike Pechart, PA Department of Agriculture Duke Adams, Kerry Campbell, Don Fiesta, Bob Gibson, Ron Hassinger, Marjorie Hughes, Linda Nguyen, Steve Taglang, Michelle Tate and Sharon Trostle, PA Department of Environmental Protection

Action on the minutes of the February 21 meeting The minutes of the February 21 meeting were approved as distributed.

Model Ordinance for Wind Energy, Kerry Campbell, DEP Office of Energy and Technology Development Mr. Kerry Campbell gave a brief overview of the permitting process modeling ordinance for wind energy. A collaboration was started with the Governor's Office and PSATS; Penn Future spearheaded it. Their job was to address local concerns from the community when a wind farm moves into their area. For example, safety, damage to public roads, wind damage, noise issues, and signal interference could be issues. And they were also to come up with some remedies. The Model Ordinance was issued in April 2006. This was developed as a stand-alone ordinance. They also wanted it to fit into a zoning ordinance, and developed three versions.

1 A Wind farms and Wildlife Collaborative was formed and meets regularly to address policies, regulations and legislation that is needed and to ensure that there is adequate protection.

The general consensus of the collaborative was that ground animals and plants are protected, but the larger animals and flying animals are not protected. The larger individual companies that do own and plan to own businesses in Pennsylvania have signed an agreement with the Game Commission to agree to do pre-construction monitoring and post-construction monitoring and to report their findings to the Game Commission.

Larry Breech asked when a site is considered a “wind farm”. Kerry indicated that there are several definitions, but an energy company generally owns a wind farm. Mike Brendle indicated that he does not expect any additional wind farms to be developed in PA because of growing local opposition. Mr. Brendle believes that that legislation may be needed to protect farmer’s ability to develop a wind farm.

Tom Williams asked if animal mortality numbers were available. Kerry stated that there is a lot of data on mortality, however it is so site specific it may not be applicable to other sites. There was some discussion regarding windmill “flicker” and “view space”.

Air Quality Permit, Ron Hassinger, DEP Office of Waste Air and Radiation Management

Mr. Ron Hassinger clarified that the agenda item should read as a Waste Management Permit from the Waste Management Program, not Air Quality. He explained that this is a DEP-initiated general permit to be to published for public comment, and he was attending the Board meeting to respond to any comments or concerns from the Board. We have done permitting on facilities that burn culm or gob material to create electricity.

This permit was originally developed because of the desire to burn chicken litter as an alternative fuel in these facilities. With this draft, we've expanded it to include plant and animal waste materials. Through this permit, once the material has been burned, it can be used as a coal ash material. Under the system for general permits, we issue the initial permit and then whoever wants to operate under this permit has to apply for a Determination of Applicability

Under the operating guidelines, the different kinds of fuels (wood waste, petroleum coke, coal part waste, high carbon fly ash) that can be burned are listed. The permit doesn't specify a lower BTU value for this material, but we have specified that it must be sufficient to maintain continued operation of the unit. If the material were too wet, it would cause a problem. In this draft permit, we've limited it to 50 percent by weight of the total fuel mix. The main purpose is to burn the culm or gob material and then they can use up the 50 percent of alternative fuel.

2 Since this is a draft permit, we may get comments and it could be changed when the permit is finalized. Of course, they also have to meet Air Quality permit guidelines. Anytime a fuel is burned, Air Quality must approve it.

Mr. Walt Peechatka commended the DEP on this initiative. He described it as a positive action that will address a potential water quality problem. Mr. Hassinger confirmed that there will be a 60-day comment period.

Larry Breech asked if Pennsylvania joins the CO2 Cap and Trade Program, will that action impact this general permit. Deputy Myers indicated that she will check it out and come back to the Board.

CAFO Technical Guidance, Bob Gibson, DEP Division of Conservation Districts and Nutrient Management

At the last board meeting, there was a brief discussion about CAFO Technical Guidance. The public comment period ended on April 9. Several comments were received, some from this Board, including PennAg industries, several dairy farmers and organizations, the National Resources Conservation Service, and the Nutrient Mgmt. Advisory Board of the State Conservation Commission. A Comment/Response document is being developed.

Deputy Myers offered that commentators noted a lack of consistency in the regions regarding how they were approaching the re-permitting and applicability of the new regulations. Bob noted that the other common themes were storage facilities review and winter spreading.

ACRE Grant Update, Don Fiesta, DEP Division of Conservation Districts and Nutrient Management

Mr. Don Fiesta gave an update on the ACRE Grants. 21 grants were awarded to 27 counties. Three 3-county grants, two 2-county grants and 16 individual grants were included in this. The funding awarded totaled $774,100 with nine $50,000 contracts. The range of funding was from $13,000 to $50,000.

Comments/Issues/Concerns of the Board

Ms. Andrea Sharretts, of the PA Farm Bureau, noted that EPA is doing surprise inspections in Delaware. These are not CAFO-permitted facilities. Ms. Sharretts asked if they are going to be doing this in PA. Ms. Myers stated that DEP is aware of the inspections. It is her understanding that EPA targeted several states and PA is not one of them.

Mr. Michael Brendle voiced his support for alternative energy development and suggested DEP and the Windfarms and Wildlife Collaborative work together to develop legislation regarding nuisance ordinances to protect energy development on farms, because the impact is beneficial.

3 Public Comment

Mr. Doug Goodlander commended DEP on the general permit to allow the use of manure as well as the CAFO guidance rework.

Adjourn Being no further business of the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 11:50 p.m.

Next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, June 13, 2007.