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New VA Law Bans Sale of Lawn Fertilizer with Phosphorus
Posted by: Phosum ()
Date: February 18, 2011 05:13PM

Good news from the oldest continuous lawmaking body in the New World, the Virginia General Assembly:

Legislation that bars the Virginia sale of fertilizer containing phosphorus for use on established lawns has passed both the House of Delegates and state Senate and is on its way to the governor’s desk to be signed into law.

That’s a big deal because once the measure is enacted into law and becomes effective in 2013, it could cut up to 230,000 pounds of phosphorus pollution per year, or 22 percent of Virginia’s phosphorus reduction goal for 2017. And that could save Virginia localities millions of dollars by reducing their need to install expensive runoff treatment systems to comply with the new Chesapeake Bay pollution “diet.â€
The concept is simple: avoid costly pollution cleanups later by not allowing the pollution to occur in the first place. Lawn and turf grasses are now the largest “crops†grown in the Chesapeake watershed and are increasing at an annual rate of 8.6 percent -- faster than the rate of population growth. But even Lawn1 though most established lawns require no phosphorus, many homeowners routinely apply fertilizer containing phosphorus to yards and lawns. Fertilizer with nitrogen is also frequently misapplied to paved surfaces, frozen ground, or grass that simply doesn’t need it.

Virginia Tech scientists estimate that runoff from lawns adds millions of pounds of nitrogen and phosphorus each year to our streams, rivers, and the Chesapeake Bay. This excess nutrient pollution over-stimulates the growth of Bay algae, clouding the water, stunting underwater grasses, and robbing the water of vital oxygen.

Once phosphorus gets into runoff, it can cost more than $30,000 per pound to remove it using engineered stormwater systems. But by banning the sale and application of fertilizer with phosphorus for routine lawn maintenance, Virginia will help solve a major Chesapeake Bay problem for little or no cost to citizens.

The new Virginia law also requires lawn service companies and other professionals to apply fertilizer only according to nutrient management standards, mandates clear labeling on fertilizer packages to inform consumers about proper application rates, and prohibits the use of de-icers that contain nitrogen.

The bipartisan legislation was sponsored by Senator Richard Stuart and Delegate Lee Ware but also had a host of co-patrons from both sides of the political aisle and the support of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF), James River Association, Home Builders Association of Virginia, Virginia Association for Commercial Real Estate, and the state’s agribusiness community.

Similar bills are under consideration in the Maryland and Pennsylvania legislatures.

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Re: New VA Law Bans Sale of Lawn Fertilizer with Phosphorus
Posted by: Thomas More ()
Date: February 18, 2011 09:53PM

This bill is a joke.

Penn State agronomists demonstrated over two decades ago that phosphorus from fertilizer immediately binds to the clay soils found in this area and does not run-off into storm water.

The principal source of phosphorus in the Potomac is animal manure from cows and chicken factory farms in the Shenandoah, after old primary and secondary WWTPs like Blue Plains. Tertiary WWTPs like UOSA get the phosphorus out.

But banning phosphorus in lawn fertilizer doesn't cost tax money (to retrofit WWTPs) or interfere in an agri-business.

Cynical symbolism that accomplishes nothing.

Typical crap from Richmond. Proving once again that excrement can flow uphill.

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Re: New VA Law Bans Sale of Lawn Fertilizer with Phosphorus
Posted by: ThePackLeader ()
Date: February 19, 2011 10:00PM

Somebody should leave a pile of crap on the doorsteps of the legislature. Oh, wait...

==================================================================================================
"And if any women or children get their legs torn off, or faces caved in, well, it's tough shit for them." -2LT. Bert Stiles, 505th, 339th (On Berlin Bombardier Mission, 1944).

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Re: New VA Law Bans Sale of Lawn Fertilizer with Phosphorus
Posted by: clf ()
Date: April 08, 2012 01:19PM

More feel good legislation from on high. The same ill logic
that eliminated P from dish detergents when the Spokane river
was "polluted" with phosphates...led to elimination of P from
detergents nationwide (try and find phosphate containing detergent
in your local store), as the enviro-lemmings fanned out across the
US. And notice the lousy results of your dishwasher now.

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Re: New VA Law Bans Sale of Lawn Fertilizer with Phosphorus
Posted by: Mr. Green Jeans ()
Date: April 08, 2012 01:32PM

I use plutonium on my lawn. It makes it rich, dark, and very green! You have to special order it from the garden department at Lowes!

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Re: New VA Law Bans Sale of Lawn Fertilizer with Phosphorus
Posted by: mikey3333 ()
Date: April 08, 2012 04:03PM

I add TSP to Cascade to make up for the phosphates that were taken out of dishwasher detergent. There will be a hack for this.

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Re: New VA Law Bans Sale of Lawn Fertilizer with Phosphorus
Posted by: Nogoats ()
Date: April 08, 2012 04:06PM

I just shit in my yard, problem solved!

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Re: New VA Law Bans Sale of Lawn Fertilizer with Phosphorus
Posted by: Jess1 ()
Date: April 08, 2012 04:59PM

"This bill is a joke"

A correct description of 99.9% of all legislation.

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Re: New VA Law Bans Sale of Lawn Fertilizer with Phosphorus
Posted by: 2010s ()
Date: April 09, 2012 10:15AM

But more recent research indicates that the clays' binding sites become saturated and the phosphates remain in the runoff.

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Re: New VA Law Bans Sale of Lawn Fertilizer with Phosphorus
Posted by: Atom ()
Date: April 09, 2012 10:42AM

If you put a bunch of fertilizer on your perfectly manicured lawn than you're just as much of an asshole as any other polluter.

Try the meadow effect. The more species of plants you have around your house, especially if they are naturally occurring, the more efficient your personal ecosystem will be. The whole lawn thing has been shoved down our thought by big buisness, and jack off neighborhood associations. It's not necessary for a beutiful landscape and you can spend a fraction of the cost, frustration, water use, fertilizer etc if you just let your native flora grow.

Fertilizer use just increases fertilizer dependent plants, and screw up our water ways.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/09/2012 10:43AM by Atom.

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Re: New VA Law Bans Sale of Lawn Fertilizer with Phosphorus
Posted by: rookies ()
Date: April 09, 2012 11:54AM

People who Fertilizer are idiots. Your lawn clippings are more than enough fertilizer you need for your lawn, and it is free. If you paying for it, you just don't know how to take care of your lawn.

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