CAMPAIGN INFORMATION: Shenandoah Valley Clean Water Collaboration Creating a Smart, Green, and Economically Prosperous Watershed Potomac Riverkeeper Network has obtained a $100,000 grant from the Chesapeake Bay Trust to develop a Shenandoah Valley “Green Vision” through the use of expanded collaborative forums in the Valley that will be focused on increasing wildlife habitat and biodiversity; … Read More
CAMPAIGN INFORMATION: Virginia has various deficiencies in its Combined Animal Feeding Opertation (CAFO) permitting program under the federal Clean Water Act. However, the state of Virginia has refused to improve their regulations in order to sufficiently protect our waters from CAFO manure runoff. These large livestock enterprises often have thousands of chickens and hogs packed into … Read More
A small community is fighting against a large hog Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) or factory farm in Fulton County, PA. This factory-like facility would be the largest in the county and would house close to 9,000 hogs, while confining sows to production of 9,600 piglets each month – or 115,200 piglets annually. With this … Read More
In 2015, Potomac Riverkeeper Network joined with Waterkeepers Chesapeake and several other groups to launch Fair Farms, a movement of Marylanders of all stripes, working together for a new food system — one that is fair to farmers, invests in homegrown healthy foods, and restores our waterways instead of polluting them. The Fair Farms Campaign brings … Read More
CAMPAIGN INFORMATION: Shenandoah Riverkeeper has identified 73 herds of cattle with direct access to the North Fork, South Fork, and mainstem Shenandoah River. A seemingly harmless or even healthy activity for the animals, cattle with direct river access cause tremendous damage to river banks and overall river health. When cows enter the river their sharp hooves disturb … Read More
CAMPAIGN INFORMATION: We have been working diligently for years to tackle the issue of nutrient pollution and the algae crisis it creates on the Shenandoah. Primarily, intense poultry and dairy operations create hundreds of millions of pounds of manure which causes runoff, triggering massive algae blooms year-round, inhibiting recreational use, and hurting aquatic life. Construction sites, failing … Read More
“Confidential” business plans for farmers, or what we refer to as Nutrient Management Plans, go against the Maryland Public Information Act, preventing public access to necessary information to safeguard our rivers from nutrient pollution that exceeds permitted limits. Currently, citizens only have access to nutrient information about Combined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), commonly refer to … Read More
CAMPAIGN INFORMATION: Although the Shenandoah River and it’s wildlife and recreational users are suffering terribly from excess nutrient runoff, which fuel massive algae blooms, Virginia has no water quality standard for nutrients. We have been working for many years to push to get the Shenandoah officially listed by the state of Virginia because of this … Read More
CAMPAIGN INFORMATION: In 2010, Virginia’s legislature removed any local control over the use of sewage sludge (biosolids) as a farm fertilizer. While Virginia law prohibits the application of sewage sludge in a manner that threatens health or the environment, the regulations approved by the state do not meet that high standard. The fundamental problems with … Read More
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