A sign warning about potential pesticide exposure.

Eversource criticized for continued herbicide use

By Christine Legere
Posted Oct 23, 2019

Eversource was only able to complete its yearly treatment of weeds and brush under power lines in eight Barnstable County towns this fall before “the window” for getting the task done closed, Reid Lamberty, the utility’s spokesman, said Wednesday.

Treatment in Barnstable, Harwich, Chatham, Bourne, Sandwich, Dennis, Yarmouth and Falmouth wrapped up on Monday.

With all the wind and rain, trees were too stripped of their leaves to continue vegetation management in this year’s remaining five target towns: Eastham, Truro, Wellfleet, Mashpee and Orleans.

Glyphosate, a principal ingredient in the herbicide Rodeo and one historically applied to the utility’s rights of way, was not used on the Cape this year.

That was not due to the years of considerable pushback over the compound from the region’s environmentalists and officials, but simply because other herbicides were more effective for the foliage being targeted, Lamberty said.

“We didn’t do much herbicide application,” Lamberty said. “They did very specific application. It’s very targeted.”

An inspector from the state Department of Agricultural Resources was there to oversee the process, he said.

Eversource stopped boom spraying on its rights of way some time ago in response to substantial outcry from the public. Only backpack sprayers are used to treat weeds and overgrowth, but there remains ongoing concern among Cape Codders over herbicide use.

Eversource uses a combination of mowing, pruning and herbicide application to control growth, and the company lays out its treatment method in a yearly operational plan that requires state approval. Weeds and brush must be managed to prevent disruption in the power supply, the utility says.

Herbicides used this year were Krenite S, with fosamine ammonium as its active ingredient; Escort XP, with metsulfuron methyl; and Powerline, with isopropylamine salt of imazapyr.

The Association to Preserve Cape Cod argued against the use of all herbicides earlier this year when commenting on Eversource’s yearly operational plan.

“The utilities continue to ignore the stated desires of the majority of the Cape towns, who do not want herbicides sprayed on their rights of way,” Andrew Gottlieb, executive director of The Association to Preserve Cape Cod, said Wednesday. “The utilities, with the full backing of the state, refuse to adopt more ecologically friendly and effective brush management practices.”

Laura Kelley, president of Cape Cod-based group Protect Our Cape Cod Aquifer (POCCA), pointed out the Cape’s water supply is provided by a sole source aquifer.

“I’m glad to hear Eversource didn’t use glyphosate on any of the towns on Cape Cod this year, but many of the other herbicides are even more harmful to the environment,” Kelley said.

She went on to criticize both the state Pesticide Board and Eversource for failing to notify her when the utility’s yearly operational plan for the region was approved.

“Despite all the communication from POCCA — Cape Cod, we didn’t get any notification,” Kelley said. “In my mind, this is beyond disappointing.”

Kelley’s organization supports the use of manual pruning and mowing, and even the use of goats, which were tried in both Harwich and Barnstable during the last year.

At POCCA’s urging, officials in several Barnstable County towns instituted policies or considered regulations to prohibit application of herbicides containing glyphosate on town-owned properties over the last year.

A handful of bills related to restrictions on glyphosate and other pesticides are also pending before the state Legislature.

State Sen. Julian Cyr, D-Truro, has sponsored a bill that would give cities and towns authority to restrict the use of harmful pesticides in their communities, including glyphosate.

The herbicide bills are currently before the Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture, which will hold a hearing on them Nov. 12.

Susan Phelan, director of GreenCAPE, said her group submits concerns over herbicide use by Eversource every year.

“You have to wonder why the state still approves what is basically hazardous waste being applied over a sole source aquifer,” Phelan said. “There’s something irregular that this is still allowed to happen. We’ve been working on it for 10 years now.”

NStar's herbicide use approved

NStar's herbicide use approved

 

By Patrick Cassidy

pcassidy@capecodonline.com

November 18, 2013

Despite fierce opposition, state regulators have approved NStar's use of herbicides beneath the utility's transmission rights of way on Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard in 2013.

 

The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources approved the annual vegetation management plan Friday, according to an email from the department's spokeswoman Mary-Leah Assad.

NStar vegetation management plan 2013

For more information on NStar's vegetation management plan go to http://1.usa.gov/1ajyvXP. Here are the towns

on Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard affected by herbicide

use under the plan:

• Barnstable
• Bourne
• Brewster
• Chatham
• Edgartown
• Falmouth
• Harwich
• Oak Bluffs
• Orleans
• Sandwich
• Tisbury

Plans are approved for the calendar year so the current plan will expire Jan. 1, Assad wrote. Eight Cape towns and three Vineyard towns will be affected by the use of herbicides, according to the 15-page plan.

 

NStar has not used herbicides on Cape Cod for the past four years as part of a voluntary moratorium prompted by local concerns about the chemicals.

 

"We're very pleased to have received approval from the (Department of Agricultural Resources) so that we can continue with this very important electric service reliability program," NStar spokesman Michael Durand said Sunday.

 

NStar uses a vegetation-management program similar to programs across the country, Durand said.

 

These have consistently been shown to be not only the best way to maintain reliable service but also to promote the growth of a self-sustaining meadowland environment requiring less and less use of herbicides, he said.

 

Herbicides are applied to target species by workers using backpack sprayers as part of a plan that includes mechanical controls and the encouragement of low-growing plants in lieu of high-growing species, according to NStar officials.

 

The exact time and location of herbicide applications under the current plan will depend on a variety of factors, including scheduling with the company's vendor, Durand said.

 

The utility uses only herbicides approved for environmentally sensitive areas, Durand has said previously. NStar has repeatedly defended itself as being heavily regulated and accountable for less than 1 percent of the Cape's herbicide use.

 

In 2011, a Barnstable County panel reviewing NStar's use of herbicides voted in favor of the utility's plan.

 

Opponents of the practice, however, argue that NStar's use of the chemicals poses a danger to public health and the environment.

 

"The adventure continues," said Sue Phelan, director of GreenCAPE, a nonprofit organization that has led the opposition to NStar's herbicide use.

 

Phelan said NStar has avoided discussing the group's health concerns.

 

"I guess we'll just have to meet them where we meet them," she said.

 

Most recently that strategy included demonstrations Friday at NStar's office on Willow Street in West Yarmouth and in Boston at the end of October with Cape legislators. Last week, opponents staked out the Osterville home of Northeast Utilities CEO Tom May. Northeast Utilities is NStar's parent company.

 

Although all 15 Cape towns have passed resolutions calling on NStar to stop the practice, the company announced in August that it would resume the use of herbicides.

 

NStar submitted a vegetation management plan for 2014 on Thursday, according to Assad.

 

That plan will be published for public notice on Wednesday, followed by a 45-day comment period, she wrote.

 

http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20131118/NEWS/311180303/-1/NEWSLETTER100