Chicken $#!* Study Claims Less Impact

Poultry Industry Cites Univ. of Del Study; Claims Chicken Manure Pollution Overstated

Eastern Shore farmers and representatives of the poultry industry told lawmakers Friday that EPA estimates on nutrient pollution from poultry production are outdated and way overstated, according to a new study from the University of Delaware.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimated in the 1980s that Delmarva poultry growers contributed 6% of all nutrient runoff into the Chesapeake Bay.

“The EPA is using a formula that is about 30-years-old,” said Delmarva Poultry Industry Inc., President Andrew McLean. “It does not reflect today’s chicken breeds and chicken raising methods.”

The study conducted by James Glancey at the University of Delaware indicated the volume of manure from the current breed of chicken is much lower than in the 1980s and that nutrient concentrations (nitrogen and phosphorus) estimated by EPA then were 1-1/2 times greater for nitrogen and 2-1/2 greater for phosphorus, according to the study. Glancey’s study factored in new management practices, feed technology, and genetics that improved efficiencies over the last 30 years.

What is at stake in this dispute is the ability of the "Bay Diet" to deliver its projected pollution clean up goals.  If this study is right, poultry is already making a smaller contribution to the Bays nutrient problems than is currently projected by the EPA models, and the planned measures to improve the nutrient impact of poultry farming will be less than projected by the models. It also means that the share of pollution being apportioned to poultry must be coming from some other source, which will need to be further restricted to make the desired goals

Could be.