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Bill would widen nutrient‑application setback to 100 feet, add incentives for buffers and compensate tenant farmers on critical shoreline parcels
Summary
Delegate Stein introduced HB 1175 to expand riparian buffer protections by requiring a 100‑foot nutrient‑application setback on tidal‑border farmland, while offering per‑acre and tenant payments to encourage voluntary enrollment in forest and grass buffers.
Delegate Stein presented HB 1175 to increase the nutrient‑application setback along tidal waters to 100 feet (from 35 feet), expand incentives for voluntary buffer enrollment and establish payments for tenant farmers who operate enrolled land.
Proponents — including ShoreRivers, university economists and conservation groups — described riparian buffers as among the most cost‑effective practices for reducing nutrient and sediment loads to the Chesapeake Bay and for protecting low‑lying farmland from salt‑water intrusion. Witnesses said the bill targets about 2,600 acres statewide (largely on the Eastern Shore),…
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