In Wednesday's Star, a local political group alleges that an expansion of Talbot County's shoreline buffer, from 25 to 60 feet, would be a "taking ... without any scientific evidence that [it] would have any positive effect on water quality."

This follows a speech by a Talbot County Council member who opined that "there is no science to back up" an expansion of the buffer.

Both these claims are wrong.

According to the Department of Agriculture and the Maryland Department of the Environment, 70 percent of the nitrogen going into the Choptank River runs off from farms, more than from wastewater plants, stormwater and septic systems combined.

Nitrogen feeds algae blooms that soak up the water's oxygen, leaving little for other life forms. As a result, our "dead zones" increase.

To address this runoff, Dr. Thomas Fisher of the Horn Point laboratory states unequivocally that 60 feet should be a "minimum buffer width, both in tidal and non-tidal areas." The chairman of our Planning Commission, himself a scientist, testified last week to his agreement with Dr. Fisher.

Just eight months ago three scientists presented a report to a Virginia conference, summarizing 13 studies concluding that the critical buffer width for nitrogen removal is 55 to 65 feet. In contrast, there is no science to support the view, repeated at last week's county council hearing, that "a 25-foot buffer is adequate."

The agricultural community responds that farmers already are engaged in "best management practices." That may be, but those efforts haven't worked. The Talbot County Creek Watchers' most recent local water sampling found that "nitrogen pollution increased for the fourth consecutive year to almost five times the standard."

No effort to address our woeful water quality will succeed until we acknowledge these facts and the relevant science, and put aside political agendas and false information.

THOMAS T. ALSPACH, Easton