BALTIMORE — An environmental watchdog group has found that inspections of Maryland poultry farms in recent years turned up water pollution concerns in the majority of cases, but only a few of those operations paid fines.
The Baltimore Sun reports that an Environmental Integrity Project review of inspection records from 2017 through 2020 covered 182 of about 500 Eastern Shore poultry operations.
The review found that more than half the time, regulators found improper animal waste handling. Chicken litter is a major pollutant in the Chesapeake Bay.
The Sun reports that the group released a report Thursday raising concerns that the Department of the Environment rarely collects fines.
The department says it aims to help farms fix problems before penalizing them.
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