March 29, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Board must act on bid to ban aerial spraying> Group petitions pesticides panel

AUGUSTA — An assistant attorney general has told the Maine Board of Pesticides Control it must take action on a petition to ban aerial spraying of pesticides.

Environmental activists led by Nancy Oden of Jonesboro collected about 400 signatures on the petition. They want the board to adopt a rule that bans the spraying of pesticides from airplanes or helicopters.

At a meeting of the board last month, an attorney for blueberry growers said the request should be thrown out because the regulators did not have the authority to impose the rule as it was written by Oden. State law specifically allows aerial spraying if the applicator has a license, according to the growers.

On Wednesday, however, the board’s legal counsel rejected the growers’ argument.

“I have advised the board … that they should go ahead with rule-making,” said Thomas Harnett, an assistant attorney general. “The Legislature has said that, when this number of people are interested, they have a right to be heard.”

Harnett said there is no way of knowing what action, if any, the board will take. If the ban is adopted, growers can still mount a legal challenge.

“One can argue whether the board have the authority (to ban aerial spraying),” Harnett said. “One can’t argue they have the authority to regulate pesticides and their application.”

Oden was pleased that Harnett supported the public’s right to be involved in the regulatory process, but she was dismayed that the issue was raised.

“There is a problem here, in the fact that we even had to (wait while the board sought Harnett’s opinion),” she said. “Businessmen — both Democrats and Republicans alike — are fighting hard to eliminate people’s participation in the decision-making process.”

Under state law, the board is required to start its rule-making process within 60 days of receiving a petition. Regulators have yet to decide how they will handle the request, but Oden wants three public hearings in areas where apples, blueberries and potatoes are grown.

Oden said aerial spraying should be banned because applicators can’t prevent the chemcials from drifting onto other people’s property. “I hope they will make a decision based on the public interest and on good common sense,” she said.


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