The Vermont House Committee on Environment and Energy is considering a bill that places a temporary moratorium on the use of pesticides to eradicate aquatic nuisances in Vermont’s waters.

Current law allows the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) to permit the use of pesticides to control nuisance species such as erasian milfoil. Concerns have been raised that the statute that allows the use of pesticides is outdated and needs updating to ensure that pesticides are used in Vermont waters only in extreme circumstances.

H.31 would call a timeout on the use of potentially dangerous toxic chemicals in public waters until a committee made up of Legislators and ANR staff develop recommendations to update the program in a manner that will ensure the health of aquatic ecosystems and human health.

The Representatives on the House Environment & Energy Committee need to hear from you – please ask them to support H.31.

House Environment & Energy Committee Members:

Representative Amy Sheldon (Addison-1): asheldon@leg.state.vt.us

Representative Laura Sibilia (Windham-2): lsibilia@leg.state.vt.us

Representative Seth Bongartz (Bennington-4): sbongartz@leg.state.vt.us

Representative Paul Clifford (Rutland-4): pclifford@leg.state.vt.us

Representative Kate Logan (Chittenden-16): klogan@leg.state.vt.us

Representative Kristi Morris (Windsor-3): kmorris2@leg.state.vt.us

Representative Avram Patt (Lamoille-Washington): apatt@leg.state.vt.us

Representative Larry Satcowitz (Orange-Washington-Addison): lsatcowitz@leg.state.vt.us

Representative Gabrielle Stebbins (Chittenden-13): gstebbins@leg.state.vt.us

Representative Brian Smith (Orleans-1): BSmith@leg.state.vt.us

Representative Dara Torre (Washington-2): dtorre@leg.state.vt.us

(If you don’t know your district, you can find it by searching by town here.)

With the committee voting on H.31 this week, please don’t hesitate to reach out today.