Keeping Legislation at Bay

Two major phosphate producers faced legislation to ban the use of their product in laundry detergents. Environmentalists charged that phosphates were choking waterways like the Chesapeake Bay; yet there was scientific evidence that phosphate discharge from detergent represented just five percent of the problem. The real culprit was fertilizer.

In the case of the Bay, it was natural fertilizer – read manure – used by Amish farmers in eastern Pennsylvania. In Ohio, Utah, Washington state and elsewhere, aggressive farming methods were leaching chemical fertilizer into the inland waterways.

Our team set out to offer real, useful alternatives to a phosphate detergent ban. In the Commonwealth, we teamed with the agricultural extension program to support “Manure Management,” offering materials to help farmers recognize that more isn’t necessarily better. We also promoted expanded funding for water treatment facilities.

In other states, farmers were taught “no-till farming” – leaving fields dormant during the winter – and rotating crops from field to field to help maintain the integrity of the soil.

In offering positive alternatives to ill-advised legislation, the companies were able to defer the ban for several years – the primary objective – and gave them time to identify other applications and customers for their natural organic, phosphates.