Pesticide buffer to stay in effect

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear an appeal of a ruling that banned the use of pesticides around Western salmon streams.

"We're very happy," said Patti Goldman, an attorney with the environmental law firm Earthjustice. "There have been many attempts by the chemical industry and the growers to get rid of the buffers; we now know they will remain in place."

In January 2004, two years after finding that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had failed to consider the effect of pesticides on protected salmon, U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour in Seattle imposed a 100-yard buffer for aerial spraying and a 20-yard buffer for ground application of three dozen pesticides, from agricultural sprays to household weed killers.

His injunction also required that stores selling pesticides in 500 communities in the West post warnings about the potential effect on salmon and steelhead.

The judge's conditions will remain in effect until the EPA comes up with rules governing the use of pesticides around the streams in question.

The EPA, pesticide makers and farming groups appealed Coughenour's injunction. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected their appeal last June.

Doug Nelson, general counsel of Washington-based CropLife America, which led the appeal, noted that originally, 54 pesticides were at issue when environmental groups accused the EPA of failing to consider the chemicals' effect on threatened species of salmon.

By the time Coughenour imposed the buffer zones, 18 had been cleared for use, and only 36 were affected.

Since then, "the majority of the compounds have been given a clean bill of health and are off the list," Nelson asserted. "They're not there because people enjoy throwing pesticides in the water. They're there because agriculture needs them to grow the crops."

The EPA did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Aimee Code, water-quality coordinator for the Eugene, Ore.-based Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides, said that while some of the original 54 chemicals do not appear likely to be a concern for salmon, the EPA was too quick to clear some for use.

One pesticide, carbaryl, used in flea treatments and lawn care, was cleared for use within the buffer zones even though harmful levels of it have been found in Puget Sound and some waterways such as Seattle's Thornton Creek, Code said.

She noted that the Supreme Court's decision could help species beyond salmon. For example, pesticides have been found to accumulate in endangered orcas, probably leading to their decline.

In Oregon's Willamette Valley, she said, pesticides have killed Kincaid's lupine, a plant that has a symbiotic relationship with Fender's blue butterfly. Both are endangered species.

"Across the board, the EPA has neglected its duty to determine the effect these pesticides can have," Code said. "It's going to be a lot of work to keep these chemicals out of our rivers and streams. I hope people will make the choice to use fewer of them."

Heather Hansen, executive director of Washington Friends of Farms and Forests, said the effect of Coughenour's ruling on farmers varies.

But fruit growers appear to be worst off, because many Asian countries can cut off their trade if fruit-fly or maggot larvae are detected.