The Hawaii Department of Agriculture has agreed to take specific steps to better enforce the use of pesticides in response to a civil rights complaint filed
three years ago with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Under the agreement, the department will offer information on its website at hdoa.hawaii.gov Opens in a new tab on the application of “restricted-use pesticides” in the state, with a county-by-county summary that includes amounts, permit numbers, commercial product names, active ingredients and other details. Restricted-use
pesticides can be used only by certified applicators
and are not available to the general public.
The agreement, however, does not mean the department has admitted any wrongdoing.
Earthjustice attorney
Kylie Wager Cruz called
the EPA’s response a good start but said the Agriculture Department, despite having broad powers, has made very little effort to limit communities’ pesticide exposure.
“We think this is a really good next step in our ongoing battle to make sure our communities are safe and protected from the effects of pesticide exposure,” Cruz said. “Basically, for years, we’ve been calling
on government agencies to instill basic protective measures to protect the public against pesticides.”
The nonprofit environmental law group filed the complaint Opens in a new tab with the EPA in 2016, alleging the Agriculture Department failed to adequately and equally protect Native Hawaiians in West Kauai and Molokai from the heavy use of pesticides near their communities. Pesticide spraying of thousands of acres of seed crops sent fieldworkers, teachers and students to the hospital, said Earthjustice, and schoolchildren suffered from coughing, sporadic nosebleeds and
allergy attacks.
Earthjustice said the department and the Hawaii Agribusiness Development Corp. failed to comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits governmental bodies that
receive federal funds from polluting in ways that have an unjustified, unequal impact on the basis of color, national origin, gender, disability or age.
The complaint against the Hawaii Agribusiness Development Corp., which is attached to the Agriculture Department, is still pending, Cruz said.
The suit was filed on behalf of two community groups: Moms on a Mission Hui, a grassroots group that started on Molokai, and Po‘ai Wai Ola, a group concerned about West Kauai watershed issues.
According to the Agriculture Department, EPA made no finding of discrimination following a preliminary inquiry and did not require the state agency to engage in any substantive corrective actions. The department agreed to continue complying with existing
federal and state laws
and to ensure proper notices regarding discrimination are posted and accessible.
“We appreciate EPA’s
cooperation and professionalism in working with us to find an amicable and fair resolution,” said Phyllis Shimabukuro-Geiser, chairwoman of the Hawaii Board of Agriculture, in a statement.
The department also pointed out that with
the Good Neighbor Program Opens in a new tab, set up in 2013, agricultural companies have already been voluntarily reporting the usage of restricted-use pesticides on a monthly basis.
Many of the steps are
already required under Act 45 Opens in a new tab, which Gov. David Ige signed into law last June.
The new law bans chlorpyrifos Opens in a new tab, among the world’s most widely used pesticides, starting in 2023, and requires more rigorous disclosures of pesticide use in Hawaii. Use of pesticides with chlorpyrifos will be allowed with a temporary permit until Dec. 31, 2022.
Under the law, all users
of restricted-use pesticides must submit an annual report to the Agriculture
Department on a standardized form, listing quantities, permit numbers, commercial product names, active ingredients, dates applied and location, including
at a minimum the tax map key number.
Additionally, the law
establishes a 100-foot
buffer zone for all schools during normal school hours. Under the EPA agreement, the department will post maps to its website showing which schools have buffer zones to
help with enforcement
efforts.
Additionally, the department must conduct a
pesticide-drift monitoring study for Waimea Canyon Middle School in West Kauai and one school each from Maui and Oahu to
be submitted to the state Legislature before the start of 2020 session.
The department also must notify the public
of the upcoming ban of
pesticides containing chlorpyrifos in 2023.
“We hope HDOA will make good on its commitments under the agreement and take further steps
well within its current
powers, such as placing buffer zones around
medical facilities and residential and commercial
areas where pesticide applications can expose innocent people to toxic substances,” Cruz said.
