A recent (March 30) letter by Barry Goldman brought up again the false choice, consistently argued by "environmentalists" that we have to oppose development and economic progress in order to preserve our environment. With intelligent planning and implementation, we can have more chickens, an improving economy and clean water.
A 1999 US Geological Survey publication reported that in the Chesapeake Bay, 95 percent of the nitrogen and 87 percent of the phosphorus input was coming from the rivers feeding the upper bay. Pollution reduction targets established by the EPA for agriculture continue to be achieved or exceeded, while contributions from urban and suburban areas are getting worse.
This led the USGS to conclude that "Increasing human populations and the associated land-use changes continue to be the primary factors causing water quality and habitat degradation in the bay and its watershed."
In other words, it is not clean water or more chickens, it is clean water or more people. Let's put the blame where it really rests, on you.
Royce Haynes
Lewes
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