Environmentalists Call on Cellucci to Enforce Executive Order

Boston- Several environmental groups today called upon Governor Cellucci to halt a Massachusetts Highway Department roadside herbicide spraying program that threatens to contaminate rivers and streams, as well as public drinking water supplies and agricultural areas. The program, which relies on herbicide application as a cheaper alternative to mechanical mowing to control vegetation under guardrails and along roadways, is slated for implementation this summer in over 100 towns throughout the Commonwealth. The groups claimed that not only would the spraying risk contaminating water resources with chemicals, but that the practice also violates the official policy of the Commonwealth as adopted by Governor Paul Cellucci this spring.

In many location, roads targeted under the Highway Department’s spraying program are located extremely close to sensitive waterways and wetlands areas, areas which are protected under the state’s Wetlands Protection and Rivers Protection Acts. Such spraying is contrary to the instructions of one of the herbicides being used (known by the brand name Roundup), which specifically warn against using the product near open water. Contamination concerns from proximity are compounded by wind drift and roadway runoff, both of which could bring the herbicides in direct contact with water resources. Chemical migration from drift and runoff extend the substances’ toxic impacts far beyond the spray area itself, a problem which does not seem to have been considered in the formulation of the Highway Department plan.

"The need for caution is greater than ever in this year of relentless rain," said Dr. Sally Zielinski, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions. "Chemicals will more rapidly enter drinking water wells and be carried long distances by swollen rivers and streams."

"It’s just madness to be spreading herbicides all over the state like this," added Ted Merrill of Deerfield River Watershed Association.

The environmental groups noted that the spraying program violates Governor Cellucci’s April, 1998, Executive Order 403, which adopted an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach in the maintenance of all state-owned and operated building and facilities. This policy mandates the use, whenever possible, of low impact, non-chemical techniques of pest and vegetation management. Far from adhering to the IPM policy adopted by the Governor, the Highway Department’s extensive spraying plan relies heavily on a high impact strategy of chemical spraying, said the Environmental League of Massachusetts (ELM).

In a recent letter to the Governor (attached), Namrita Kapur, ELM’s legislative director, strongly urged Cellucci to stop the program and force a reconsideration of its methods in light of his own IPM executive order. "This spraying program completely contradicts the low impact policy endorsed by the Governor just two months ago," said Kapur. "The use of herbicides to control vegetation is an unacceptable option where it poses such a serious threat to the state’s public and environmental health."

The widespread nature of this spraying program, combined with the mobility of the chemicals involved, has raised serious concerns about the human and environmental impacts of the resulting contamination. Although the herbicides are legal for use in Massachusetts, the active ingredient in Roundup (glyphosate) has only been tested for toxicity in isolation. Since the approval of this chemical for use in the state, it has been acknowledged by the scientific community that the combination of chemicals found in the actual spray produce higher toxicity levels than those of the active ingredient alone. "Roundup’s true toxicity and harmful effects remain unknown to the Highway Department. Nevertheless, they continue to use this product," said Kapur.

As a result, spraying techniques that allow herbicides to drift or run off into areas adjacent to roadways raise the specter of public drinking water and well contamination, particularly in areas where wells are poorly marked. This possibility has already led one citizens organization, the Mid-Connecticut Valley Anti-Herbicide Coalition, to announce its intent to sue both the Highway Department and the Pesticide Bureau of the Department of Food and Agriculture. In addition, the Massachusetts Association of Health Boards has requested a review and/or moratorium on the Highway Department’s spraying activities until their effects can be fully investigated.

The Highway Department’s spraying program also poses a direct threat to agricultural areas along targeted roadways. Another of the substances employed by the Department (sold under the brand name Oust), which is one of a new class of herbicides known as sulfonylureas, has been the source of multiple suits by Washington farmers because of crop damage resulting from herbicide drift into non-target areas.

The Highway Department recently announced that it was discontinuing its spraying program in the western part of the state, with the exceptions of Routes I-91 and I-291. Herbicide use on I-91 still threatens to impact stretches of the Green, Mill and Deerfield Rivers where they pass under the highway. Furthermore, the Highway Department is still spraying or plans to spray in over 100 towns in the central and eastern portions of the state, from Worcester to Newburyport.

Attachment: ELM letter to Governor Cellucci

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