The Ohio House unanimously passed a bill yesterday designed to help reduce farmland manure runoff into Lake Erie, while the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has responded to 10 reported manure spills discovered in the last nine days.

House Bill 61 would prohibit farmers in northwestern Ohio from spreading manure and fertilizer on their fields if the ground is frozen or saturated with water, or if the forecast calls for a greater than 50 percent chance of precipitation exceeding 1 inch in a 12-hour period.