A proposed Kauai ordinance that would strictly regulate pesticide use by farmers is scheduled to be heard by the County Council on Wednesday.
Councilman Gary Hooser introduced Bill 2491, which would prohibit pesticide use near schools, hospitals and rivers. The measure was prompted by community concerns about the effects of pesticides in neighborhoods, he said.
But agricultural companies on Kauai and the state have raised legal questions about the bill.
Scott McFarland, vice president of the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation, said, "We now have a county government starting to become involved in an area that has traditionally been federal and state matters."
Tom Matsuda, pesticides program manager of the state Department of Agriculture, questioned how Kauai County will regulate pesticide use. "We’re talking about overregulation," he said.
Federal law governs the state’s pesticide use by controlling instructions on the label. "If you follow the label, that is the law. Now the county is saying you got to do more than that," he said.
Agricultural research company Syngenta Hawaii doesn’t support the Kauai bill. "We are reviewing the ordinance and the potential impacts it would have on our Kauai operations," spokesman Mark Phillipson said. "Company officials plan to testify against the bill at the hearing."
McFarland said, "You’re almost taking away tools for farmers both large and small to improve the quality and performance of the crop they are growing."
Those covered by the proposed ordinance are all commercial agricultural businesses that purchase or use in excess of five pounds or 15 gallons of restricted-use and/or experimental pesticides annually.
The bill calls for commercial agricultural farms to disclose the type and amount of pesticides they use.
"The community is entitled to know what’s being sprayed and used and what the impacts are," Hooser said. "Right now the law doesn’t require disclosure."
Under the draft bill a buffer zone will also be created to prohibit use of experimental and restricted pesticides within 500 feet — the distance of almost two football fields — of any school, hospital, residential area, public roadway, stream, river or shoreline.
It also calls for a ban on open-air testing of experimental pesticides and a temporary moratorium on experimental use and commercial production of genetically modified organisms until the county conducts an environmental impact statement.
Violators would face penalties of up to a $1,000 fine and up to a year in jail. Violators also could face a civil fine of $10,000 to $25,000 per day, per violation.
