New American Ghost Towns - Rural Maryland

There are several counties in America, each with more than 10,000 homes, that have vacancy rates above 55%. The rate is above 60% in several.

...Data from states and large metropolitan areas do not tell the story of how much the real estate disaster has turned certain areas in the country into ghost towns. Some of the affected regions are tourist destinations, but much of that traffic has disappeared as the recession has caused people to sell or desert vacation homes and delay trips for leisure. This makes these areas particularly desolate when tourists are not around...

 The 4th example is Worcester  County, Maryland:

Nearby: Ocean City, MD (~29 miles)

Number of homes: 55,749

Vacancy rate: 60%

Population: 49,274

The Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation recently estimated that the county would have a sharp drop in its tax base in fiscal year 2012 and "another, more drastic, revenue decrease" for the fiscal year that follows. The twin engines of county’s economy are tourism and agriculture. Experts believe the tourism business in Maryland’s Eastern Shore could remain crippled for years.

So, basically, the bleed over of money from Ocean City has dropped to a trickle due to the recession, and the only industry alive locally is agriculture.  Is it any wonder that the rural counties are resistant to EPAs efforts to tell them how much fertilizer to apply?