AN ANALYSIS OF NUTRIENT TRADING AS A MECHANISM TO MEETING TOTAL MAXIMUM DAILY LOADS FOR NAVAL INSTALLATIONS IN THE CHESAPEAKE BAY WATERSHED
Abstract
The Department of Defense is one of the largest Federal landholders in the Chesapeake
Bay watershed with over 420,000 acres spread among 68 installations. Navy Installations
located within the Chesapeake Bay watershed face constraints on construction, training
operations and higher facility costs due to their impact on water quality. The Navy
manages water quality and nutrient discharge, into the bay through a number of mitigation
efforts to include upgrades to waste water treatment plants, adoption of best management
practices (BMP’s) and changes to land use. Navy installations are required to meet
nutrient discharge requirements established in state Watershed Implementation Plans.
Nutrient trading, is a new market based tool some states are employing to meet these
requirements. Nutrient trading is a form of exchange (buying & selling) of nutrient
reduction credits. A nutrient market works by establishing a mandatory cap on the
combined pollution loads from multiple sources while allowing users to exchange of
pollution allocations between sources. This paper examines the feasibility of nutrient
trading by the Navy to meet TMDL requirements. A review of current legal environmental
statues and Department of Defense policies was conducted to determine the barriers,
policy, and economic considerations for the Navy to participate in the Virginia Nutrient
Credit Exchange. Data was collected from the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren
VA, and Marine Corp Base Quantico VA, and various technical reports to assess the
viability of nutrient trading both to meet total maximum daily load (TMDL) and Department
of Defense (DoD) environmental requirements. The study found that legal statutes and
DoD policy would permit trading between Navy facilities; however, federal statutes
and policy changes would be required for the Navy to participate in the Virginia Nutrient
Credit Exchange and other state nutrient markets. Additionally assuming other Federal
Agencies and Departments require a similar legislative change to allow the purchase
of nutrient offsets, other statutes should be considered to address this issue in
a consistent manner for all Federal entities. Trading may not meet the Navy’s other
environmental requirements for low impact development (LID), and employing best management
practices and other regulatory controls to meet TMDL requirements creates additional
environmental benefits that should be considered.
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Master's projectPermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/6868Citation
Neagley, John (2013). AN ANALYSIS OF NUTRIENT TRADING AS A MECHANISM TO MEETING TOTAL MAXIMUM DAILY LOADS
FOR NAVAL INSTALLATIONS IN THE CHESAPEAKE BAY WATERSHED. Master's project, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/6868.Collections
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