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H.31 Herbicide Bill Clears Committee

By Keith Whitcomb Jr
THE RUTLAND HERALD
A bill that would have placed a moratorium on using herbicides in Vermont’s lakes has left the House committee from where it originated, but minus the moratorium.

H.31, “An act relating to aquatic nuisance control” passed out of the House Committee on Environment and Energy Friday with an 8-2 vote.

House Rep. Paul Clifford, R-Rutland, and Rep. Brian Smith, R-Derby, were the two “no” votes.

Rep. Amy Sheldon, D-Middlebury, chair of the committee, wasn’t present. The meeting was run by Rep. Laura Sibilia, I-West Dover, the committee’s vice chair.

Sibilia said Friday that the bill will now go to the House Committee on Appropriations, which has another week to vote it out. This was the last week before crossover, when the House and Senate exchange the bills they’ve been working on.

The bill was introduced by Rep. Seth Bongartz, D-Manchester, the committee’s ranking member. He was asked to do so by people opposed to the Lake Bomoseen Association’s application to the Department of Environmental Conservation for a permit to use ProcellaCOR, an herbicide, to help control milfoil on Lake Bomoseen.

The application was filed about a year ago, leading to prolonged and intense debate within the community, with the opponents being particularly vocal.

The permit application can be viewed at bit.ly/0317App online.

Sibilia said that the Department of Environmental Conservation testified that it already has a great deal of data on herbicide use in Vermont lakes, which is why the committee was comfortable asking it to produce and analyze that information. The department also argued that it’s already undertaking a rule-making process for the application of herbicides in such a manner.

Specifically, the administration had started a pre-rulemaking process with a website of its own to log its activities. That can be found at bit.ly/0310Rules online.

Bongartz said he wanted the moratorium and understands why others do as well, but feels the study and analysis are the key to solving the issue long-term. The committee heard a lot of testimony surrounding public notices and the processes involved.

“From my vantage point, I would have liked the moratorium because I think it’s dangerous to be dumping chemicals in lakes, but I’m 75% satisfied,” he said. “We had a lot of conflicting testimony, so the process worked the way it’s supposed to work and the committee felt comfortable with the study, but enough people were not comfortable with the notion of a moratorium that we landed where we landed, and that’s just the way the process works.”

Several folks testified before the committee on Friday.

Jennifer Decker, of Hinesburg, said she’s a swimmer and supports H.31 since she believes there isn’t enough known about ProcellaCOR’s impacts on non-target organisms yet, and it’s better to be cautious.

Sylvia Knight, Earth Community Advocate and Researcher, from Burlington, said she’s been studying pesticides and herbicides for years and there’s evidence that they cause problems for organisms other than the ones they target. She said the state needs to be looking at using fewer of these chemicals, not more.

Jeff Schumann, president of the Lake Dunmore/Fern Lake Association, said his group opposes H.31. It has used herbicides in the past, including ProcellaCOR on 78 acres in 2021. Prior to the treatment, people living near the treatment were notified in advance. He said current research shows ProcellaCOR doesn’t harm humans, animals or plants that aren’t milfoil. He claimed that it’s gone from the water within a 24-hour period and that his group’s data shows it helps reduce milfoil.

Other lake associations testified, saying that a moratorium would hurt the progress they’ve made with milfoil control.

Bob Stannard, who owns property on Lake Bomoseen and advocated for H.31’s introduction, said Friday he’s disappointed that the moratorium wasn’t included and is hopeful the Senate will put it back. The current process for issuing lake herbicide permits heavily favors groups like lake associations and people in favor of seeing the permit granted, he said.

keith.whitcomb @rutlandherald.com

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