From Virginia Department of Environmental Quality - Get The Facts
Nutrients and the Chesapeake Bay
Just like people, plants and animals that live in rivers,lakes and bays need nutrients to grow. However, too many nutrients can be harmful.
The Chesapeake Bay contains excess nutrients, making it and portions of its tidal rivers "impaired" or unhealthy. This means that there are fewer fish, crabs and healthy habitats to support Virginia’s fishing and tourism industries, damaging a way of life for many people.
It is so kind the way you put it, Virginia.
Far too kind really.
People would rather blame Monsanto and/or Republicans and/or capitalists or whoever the designated enemy is. All are guilty but it's mainly you and me and all those other people and their cows and hogs and chickens and horses - let's leave our horses out of this. We especially love horses too, Virginia.
Reducing nutrients
Virginia and other Bay states must reduce the nutrients that are released into the Bay and its rivers.
Nutrients, the most common of which are nitrogen and phosphorus, primarily enter the streams and rivers feeding the Bay in two ways:
Through the discharge or release of treated wastewater from a facility (called a point source).
From the water that runs over farm fields, forestlands,subdivisions, construction sites and city streets (called nonpoint sources), and eventually into streams as
runoff or through ground water.
For the rest of the story involving nutrient trading credits, see the pdf. file here. Nutrient trading credits have a better chance of helping the environment than the shitty [if you will pardon the expression] energy credits in the energy bill that is quite likely to speed up climaticide.
Virginia's manure and my manure and your manure and that of our animals can be a source of fertilizers and energy - or it can be an air and water killer.
Most here seem to prefer the killer way - because it is "organic."
Sorry, Virginia, we don't need fishes and clean water. We won't be around long the way we are going.
Maybe then Mother Nature will have another chance to evolve an intelligent species on her planet. She has obviously failed this time.
Best, Terry