HONESDALE, PA — The Wayne County Commissioners on November 5 joined in a farm and agriculture industry legal action to stop a federal water cleanup plan for the Chesapeake Bay, which is seeking a hearing before the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS).

The commissioners last week approved the county’s notification to the PA Farm Bureau of Wayne’s participation in the action through its SCOTUS filing of an amicus curiae, “friend of the court” brief.

In taking the action, the commissioners emphasized that Wayne’s filing would not obligate the county toward the costs of continuing appeal.

While the county’s once dominant dairy industry has been greatly reduced, agriculture still remains as one of Wayne’s primary economic drivers.

The farm bureau has pursued a series of unsuccessful appeals to the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) plan since 2011. In July a federal appeals court struck down their latest action and upheld the plan, called the Chesapeake Bay Clean Water Blueprint, which establishes a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for how much nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment can enter the bay each year.

In mid-September, the farm bureau signaled its intent to appeal to the high court by filing papers asking for a one-month filing deadline extension for their petition for a court hearing to November 6.

The farm bureau appeal has drawn support from attorneys general in 21 states, from states mostly outside Chesapeake Bay’s watershed areas. They worried that the plan could set the precedent for similar EPA action to clean up watersheds like the Mississippi River, which cuts through prime agricultural regions.

In other business last week, the commissioners approved an application to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development for fiscal year 2016-17 funding of $202,666 for the Wayne-Pike Rapid Rehousing Grant, and the contracting with Brian T. Kelly & Associates for a required transportation program audit of the 2014-15 fiscal year.