Buried in the House version of the farm bill, Section 9101 would block local governments from setting pesticide restrictions that are stricter than the federal government’s limits. Officials from 60 cities, from Maine to Maui, say the provision “is a direct assault” on their duty to protect residents, and they’ve asked the “big four” farm bill negotiators to delete it from the final version of the bill.
Section 9101, part of the horticulture chapter of the GOP-written bill, “overturns decades of precedent and Supreme Court rulings and could prevent local governments from tailoring laws to the specific needs of the community,” wrote the municipal leaders in a letter to the Republican chairmen and senior Democrats on the Senate and House Agriculture committees. Some 150 communities have policies that restrict pesticide use, most often on public land.
Environmental groups say Section 9101 is one of several provisions in the House farm bill that would weaken pesticide controls. The bill would also remove a requirement that farmers get a permit before spraying a pesticide onto water and would prohibit states from imposing their own permit requirements, says the Environmental Working Group. It would also reauthorize the EPA’s pesticide registration program without any farmworker safeguards, says the EWG. The letter from city officials about Section 9101 was organized by Friends of the Earth.
The House provision would block Minnesota cities from banning neonicotinoid pesticides, said MPR News. It listed nine cities, including Minneapolis, that have such restrictions, which are meant to protect bees. Mayor Scott Zerby of Shorewood, a Twin Cities suburb, said his community has barred the use of so-called neonics on public property for several years. It also planted clover on city parkland as a food source for bees. He told MPR that citizens deserve the right “to look at their area on a very specific level, down to the smallest details, and make the choices that they know are best for their area.”
The 2014 farm law expires on Sept. 30, although many major provisions would remain in effect. House and Senate negotiators must reach agreement if they are to meet their goal of enacting the 2018 farm bill before the end of the month. Food stamps, farm subsidy rules, and land stewardship are the salient issues.