HILO — A bill to ban the county’s use of toxic herbicides will be considered again Tuesday after bogging down last week amid questions about suitable alternatives.
Bill 245, by Kohala Councilwoman Margaret Wille, would prohibit the application of herbicides carrying labels of “dangerous,” “warning,” “toxic to fish,” “toxic to fish and wildlife” or that indicate a risk of groundwater contamination. The bill recommends alternatives such as manual or mechanized removal, nontoxic alternatives or planting of cover crops.
It would apply to county-owned or -maintained public parks and along all county-owned or -maintained roads, bikeways, sidewalks, trails and waterways. It would not apply to private property.
The bill will be discussed at Hilo Council Chambers at 1 p.m. Tuesday, but public comment will not be taken, as the meeting is a continuation of the Oct. 18 one.
Wille said she modeled the bill after a Boulder, Colorado, ordinance. She said more than 80 local governments have adopted similar laws on the mainland.
“All of this has to do with the health and welfare of us as human beings,” Wille said at the Oct. 18 meeting of the council Environmental Management Committee.
Marcy Montgomery, founder and education program director of Kohala Green School, agreed. In testimony, she cited a survey from a recent health and wellness forum where pesticides were listed as an important issue.
“There was unanimous concern (about) pesticides being used in our community,” Montgomery said. “We need to look at both the human and environmental impacts.”
Not everyone is on the same page, however.
Lorie Farrell, a spokeswoman for Hawaii Farmers & Ranchers United, called the bill “flawed and confusing at best.”
“This bill will result in far greater risk and also dramatically increase the cost at a time when most are pressed for financial resources,” Farrell said. “Anything and everything is toxic; it all depends on the dosage. … the average table salt is more toxic than Roundup.”
Last summer, Wille sponsored, then withdrew, a similar measure that would have banned usage of glyphosate, which is used in the herbicide Roundup , 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, atrazine, dioxin, picloram, bipyridinium, diphenyl ether and tyrosine breakdown products from thoroughfares, waterways and parks owned or maintained by the county. She yanked the bill when it became apparent she didn’t have the votes to pass it.
In 2015, the term “Roundup” was stricken from all parts of the county budget and replaced with “vegetation control,” in a victory of words, if not deeds, for the opponents.
The move followed hours of testimony during an earlier budget reading where almost 50 people asked the county to quit using the herbicide that they say is a known carcinogen and harmful to land and water. The $30,000 for herbicide spraying accounted for a scant one one-hundredth of 1 percent of the county’s budget that year.
Deputy Public Works Director Brandon Gonzalez thinks the proposed ordinance would be difficult to enforce, especially because it pulls in three different county departments: Public Works, Parks and Recreation and Environmental Management. He suggested perhaps the council should pass a nonbinding resolution, instead, which would express the council’s concerns.
“We already employ … multiple methods of vegetation control,” Gonzales said. “But the reality is in certain areas we work, for the safety of the workers and the public, mechanical vegetation control is not feasible. If all our chemical alternatives are going to be excluded, that is what has to be looked at, I think.”