Small Town News

Sussex, DNREC continue lawsuit negotiations

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Seek settlement on pollution-control strategy

After more than a year of legal wrangling, the lawsuit over the Inland Bays Pollution Control Strategy could end in a settlement.

Just after the pollution-control strategies were promulgated in October 2008, Sussex County and a group of landowners sued the state, charging the regulations violated property rights.

Discussions have been productive, says David Small, deputy director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC). Small said the department is committed to improving water quality in the Inland Bays, and the pollution-control strategy, which requires vegetated buffers of 30 feet to 100 feet along waterways, is an important part of ongoing efforts.

Ed Lewandowski, executive director of the Center for the In-land Bays, said, "From my position and perspective, we need to protect what we have in place. We currently have riparian buffers serving important functions, including reducing nutrient pollution in our waterways."

Buffers - vegetated zones between developed areas and water - reduce flooding and provide critical habitat for animals that live in and along the Inland Bays and their tributaries. They also mitigate the effects of sea-level rise on tidal marshes, Lewandowski said.

The center's board of directors took no position on the lawsuit. Sussex County and DNREC Secretary Collin O'Mara are members of the board, and the board said taking no position allows center staff to testify if necessary.

Center staff previously released recommendations for buffer strips that are wider than those adopted in the state strategy-

DNREC spent more than a decade developing the pollution-control strategy, removing, replacing and changing buffer requirements. Scientists say buffers are one of the cheapest and most reliable ways to reduce nutrient pollution.

High levels of nutrients are re-sponsible for excessive plant growth, which reduces water clarity and produces low oxygen levels that result in fish kills.





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