BANGOR
- Environmentalists squared off against some of the state's largest
blueberry growers Thursday over whether the Board of Pesticides Control
should ban aerial spraying and prohibit the use of some particularly
powerful pesticides.
"I
just feel like it's shooting a fruit fly with a cannon," said Joan
McMurray, an organic blueberry farmer in Columbia who testified in
favor of both restrictions, which together would mark a major change in
the way many commercial growers operate in Maine.
Some
farmers view the chemicals in question, known as organophosphates, as
an effective line of defense against infestation or disease. At the
crowded hearing Tuesday, some testified they need to have the chemicals
available.
"We
need this option ... and it's the best option available at this time,"
said Ivan Hanscom, a wild blueberry farmer from Marshfield. "Our
customers will not tolerate any bugs in their fruit."
In
January, Environment Maine and the Toxics Action Center submitted about
600 signatures to trigger the hearings, which began Thursday at the
Bangor Motor Inn.
The
hearings, which will continue today beginning at 8:30 a.m., will focus
on three potential rule changes - the aerial spraying ban, the
prohibition of certain pesticides, and increased public access to
spraying schedules.
Will
Everitt of the Toxics Action Center began the testimony with an appeal
to the board to end aerial spraying, a practice he said causes
dangerous pesticides to drift for up to a mile into neighboring fields
and streams.
"Most
of us in this room believe that no one should be exposed to pesticides
who don't want to be and that our environment and health should be
protected," Everitt said.
But,
based on the testimony, there was little common ground in the room,
particularly on how to best manage the state's blueberry crops.
Aerial
spraying, some farmers said, is a safe and necessary option to prevent
ground equipment from doing major damage to the soft fields.
Among
those farmers was Ed Flanagan, president of Jasper Wyman and Sons - one
of the state's largest blueberry growers. He asked the board to reject
the proposed rule changes, calling them "a naive and hysterical
approach petitioned for by environmental extremists."
Federal
law generally regulates the use of pesticides, and the board, which
could change the rules without legislative action, has been hesitant to
place additional burdens on farmers and other applicators who are
following state and federal laws.
The
debate actually began hours before Tuesday's hearing when
representatives from three groups - Environment Maine, the Maine
Environmental Policy Institute and Toxics Action Center - released a
report on the effects of pesticides on already declining Atlantic
salmon populations in Down East rivers.
"For
their survival and recovery it is essential we make these changes,"
said MEPI director Will Sugg, one of the authors of the report, which
calls for an outright ban on aerial spraying as well as certain older -
and more toxic - pesticides.
But
the 30-page report acknowledges a lack of data on the industry's impact
on the salmon, and calls for more extensive testing of pesticide
toxicity.
"We
are left to speculate about possible dangers without having the
information to accurately assess these threats," the report states,
before concluding: "Regardless, the blueberry industry has a legal
obligation, along with other industries and agencies, to help protect
the endangered Atlantic salmon."
