Fairview Township, York County, this week became the second municipality to use nutrient credits to help reduce its costs for meeting mandates calling for the reduction of nutrients going into Pennsylvania waters flowing to the Chesapeake Bay.

There are 184 wastewater plants in the Chesapeake Bay drainage area, covering more than half of the state, that are required to meet the nutrient reduction requirements.

Red Barn Trading Company executed a long-term sales agreement with Fairview Township for the purchase of 300,000 nutrient credits over a period of fifteen years.

The credits will be generated by shipping animal manure to areas outside of the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

Prior to using nutrient credits, Fairview Township was prepared to spend $4 million or more to upgrade the municipality’s one sewage treatment plant. The purchase of the Red Barn nutrient credits represents a cost savings of 68 percent and eliminates the need for capital upgrades, allowing Fairview Township to avoid a substantial increase in sewer rates and additional bond and other financing debt altogether.

Bob Stanley, Fairview Authority Chairman, repeated the Township and Authority’s objective in executing the credit contract, “To minimize the financial impact on our ratepayers. The purchase of nutrient credits requires a 6 percent rate increase. Capital improvements to our plant would have required a 16 percent increase. This is a cost effective solution to our Township’s compliance with the Chesapeake Bay regulations.”

Peter Hughes, President of Red Barn Trading, is excited to be working with Fairview Township and delivering nutrient credits through the long term contract. ”Fairview Township officials should be commended for seeking out the least cost solution for their ratepayers,” said Hughes.

The credits sold to Fairview Township are already DEP-certified as saleable nutrient credits listed on DEP’s website. As a result of this sale, Red Barn will reduce its number of available credits by 20,000 per year.

Currently, Red Barn has more than 480,000 certified nutrient credits available for the Pennsylvania market, which represents the majority of credits available for purchase. Almost all of the approved credits involve shipping manure outside the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

NewsClip: Swap Helps Fairview Twp. Save Money, Cut Pollution

Links: DEP Certifies First Proposals for Generating, Trading Nutrient Credits

Coalition Proposes Pennsylvania Fair Share for Clean Water Funding Plan

DEP- Pending and Approved Nutrient Credits

4/18/2008