Skip to agency navigation
Skip to main content

Official Website

of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

    The .gov means its official.

    Local, state, and federal government websites often end in .gov. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania government websites and email systems use "pennsylvania.gov" or "pa.gov" at the end of the address. Before sharing sensitive or personal information, make sure you're on an official state website. 

    What's New

    If your facility is in need of credits to meet permit cap load requirements, view the 2023 Verified Nitrogen Credits and 2023 Verified Phosphorus Credits lists to see what credits are available and who has them. These lists are updated daily when changes occur. As credits are verified; the documents will be made available.
    Check out our Nutrient Credit Trade Negotiation and Register Your Nutrient Credit Trade at a glance summaries to find out how to buy credits.
    Need to contact a credit generator on the verified credits lists?
    Check out our Certified Generator Contact Information list.

    Certified Nonpoint Sources
    If your verification plan calculations indicate that you generated credits, you can verify those credits and sell them.
    Check out our Verify Your Nutrient Credits (Nonpoint Source), Nutrient Credit Trade Negotiation, and Register Your Nutrient Credit Trade at a glance summaries to find out how to sell credits.
    Certified Point Sources
    If your Annual Chesapeake Bay Spreadsheet v2.2 (Excel) indicates that you have generated credits after all data has been entered (after September 30th), you can verify those credits and sell them.
    Check out our Verify Your Nutrient Credits (Point Source), Nutrient Credit Trade Negotiation, and Register Your Nutrient Credit Trade at a glance summaries to find out how to sell credits.
    Not sure if you are Certified?
    Check out our Certified Generator Certification ID list to see if you are certified and get your current certification ID. All PS certification IDs have been updated for CY23. Certification IDs with expirations of 9/30/2027 are valid for the current CY23 truing period (October 1, 2023 – November 28, 2023)

    Request submissions are logged in and processed in the order they are received. See the Credit Trading Process page for more details on the request submission process.

    To ensure processing can be completed in time for credits to be sold and applied to permit limits no later than the November 28th Chesapeake Bay annual DMR submission deadline, submit complete requests for compliance year 2024 (10/1/23 – 9/30/24) electronically to the Nutrient Credit Trading Program email (RA-EPPANutrientTrad@pa.gov) by the following dates:

    • Certification Requests: Monday, April 8, 2024
    • Verification Requests: Friday, November 1, 2024
    • Registration Requests: Friday, November 15, 2024

    Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, requests for Compliance Year 2024 must be received by midnight, November 22, 2024, to be accepted and processed.

    NOTE: Effective March 1, 2018, only the updated forms below will be accepted for certification, verification, and registration request submissions.

    Certification Form

    • Point sources are covered by a mass certification and do not need to submit a certification request.
    • Nutrient Credit Nonpoint Source Certification Request (instructions (PDF)
      (3830-FM-BCW0503)
      A complete certification request submission for nonpoint sources must include this certification request form, the PDF from CBNTT and supporting documentation, including a verification plan (see Section 5 of the form for more details).

    Verification Forms

    Registration Form

    • Nutrient Credit Registration Request (instructions (PDF)
      (3830-FM-BCW0504)
      A complete registration request submission must include this registration request form and a copy of the agreement between the buyer and seller of credits. The Nutrient Trading GIS App may be used to identify surface waters and their basin, Ch. 93 water quality uses, and impairments (requirement information on the request form).

    Please review the instructions for each form to ensure all necessary information is correctly provided in each submission.

    Wastewater Treatment Plants that are buying and/or selling credits must use the current version of the Annual Chesapeake Bay Spreadsheet v2.2 (Excel) (Annual Nutrient Monitoring) above.

    • 25 Pa. Code § 96.8
      PA Nutrient Credit Trading Program regulations, entitled "Use of offsets and tradable credits from pollution reduction activities in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed"
    • Phase 3 Watershed Implementation Plan Nutrient Trading Supplement.
    • Phase 3 WIP Wastewater Supplement (PDF)
    • Point Source Credit Generators Table (PDF)
    • Nutrient Trading GIS App
      This GIS application has been designed to facilitate filling out forms for the PA Nutrient Credit Trading Program. You can use it to identify surface waters and their basin, Chapter 93 water quality uses, and impairments (section 5.D. on the certification request form, sections 1C and 3 on the registration request form).
    • BMP Descriptions (PDF)
      List of Chesapeake Bay Program Approved Agricultural Best Management Practices
    • Manure Production, Analysis, and Estimates of Nutrient Excretion in Swine (PDF)
      Swine Manure Efficiencies
    • Certified Generator Certification IDs (PDF)
      A list of the certification ID numbers for all currently certified generators (required field for the verification and registration request forms). If you are a point source intending to verify credits and are not listed, please contact the program at RA-EPPANUTRIENTTRAD@pa.gov to be assigned a certification ID.
    • Certified Generator Contact Information (PDF)
      The certified generator contact information in this list is provided to facilitate communication between buyers and sellers. If your contact information needs updated, please email updated contact information to RA-EPPANUTRIENTTRAD@pa.gov.
    • Nutrient Credit Trade Contract Sample (DOCX)
    • Manure Treatment Technology (MTT) Nutrient Credit Calculation Methodology (PDF)
      This MTT Nutrient Credit Calculation Methodology is the result of a multi-state/EPA/USDA workgroup and part of DEP’s commitment to shift from practice-based to performance-based calculation methodologies as described in the Phase 3 WIP Nutrient Trading Supplement. This MTT Methodology will be incorporated into the Chesapeake Bay Nutrient Tracking Tool (CBNTT) and used once the Program has implemented use of CBNTT for nutrient credit generation calculations.
    • CAST - Source Data (chesapeakebay.net)
      The information needed to determine the Edge of Stream (EOS) and Delivery Ratios for pollution reduction activities can be found on this website. EOS for agricultural BMP’s is determined by the Load Source with the corresponding Land to Water Factors for the particular segment in the location of the BMP. To determine the Edge of Tide (EOT) delivery ratios for nitrogen and phosphorus, the Stream to River and River to Bay for that segment will be multiplied together and the result will be the delivery ratio.
    • Chesapeake Bay Nutrient Tracking Tool (CBNTT)
      CBNTT is based on the Nutrient Tracking Tool and is a user-friendly web-based application for efficiently estimating nutrient and sediment losses from crop and pasture fields at the field and farm scale. Agricultural producers can define their crop or pasture management scenarios for each field or area of interest. NTT runs a biophysical model, the Agricultural Policy/EXtender (APEX), a field-scale, biophysical model that estimates crop yield and nutrient and sediment fluxes on a given field based on soil, weather, crop management inputs, and conversation practices. The use of this tool will increase consistency of calculation methodology, as well as update that methodology to the current Phase 6 of the CB Watershed Model, fulfilling an understanding with EPA.

    For further information, contact:

    Nutrient Credit Trading Program
    Department of Environmental Protection
    Bureau of Clean Water - Division of Data Management
    RCSOB, P.O. Box 8774
    Harrisburg, PA 17105
    (717) 787-6744
    RA-EPPANutrientTrad@pa.gov

    The information outlined on this website is intended to supplement existing requirements. Nothing on this site shall affect regulatory requirements. The information herein is not an adjudication or a regulation. There is no intent on the part of DEP to give the information on this website that weight or deference. This information establishes the framework, within which DEP will exercise its administrative discretion in the future. DEP reserves the discretion to deviate from this statement if circumstances warrant.