Watershed panel rips DOT herbicide switch

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June 22, 2012

Watershed panel rips DOT herbicide switch

By JOE MAHONEY Staff Writer The Daily Star Fri Jun 22, 2012, 03:30 AM EDT

COOPERSTOWN -- The state Department of Transportation has switched the type of herbicide it uses to eradicate weeds along state Route 80, but the Otsego Lake Watershed Advisory Committee wants the agency to mow the vegetation instead, officials said Thursday.

"They are trying to make it sound like there is no problem at all with what they are doing now," said Win McIntyre, a chemical engineer and the lead advisor to the watershed panel. "They are trying to put a story together to justify what they are doing."

The lake is a public water supply for more than 2,000 area residents.

David Hamburg, a Binghamton-based spokesman for the DOT, told The Daily Star that the herbicide used near the lake is called Accord XRT II, which is used to eradicate poison ivy and knotweed.

"The product is a safe product," Hamburg said. "It has no adverse effect on water or vegetation."

He added: "It is pretty important to note that we are using the same kind of herbicide immediately adjacent to the New York City water supply reservoirs, and the New York City DEP (Department of Environmental Protection) has reviewed our applications that we do, and they have actually approved them."

Last month, The Daily Star reported that the watershed committee wanted the state agency to stop spraying two products -- Roundup, made by Monsanto, and OUST-XP, made by Dupont, -- near the lake out of concern that the chemicals were migrating into the lake. Subsequently, Cooperstown Mayor Jeff Katz sent a letter to the agency urging that it discontinue the applications.

In response to whether a reply to the mayor's concerns was being generated, Hamburg said Thursday that the agency stopped using OUST-XP and Roundup along Route 80 and replaced them with Accord XRT-II.

McIntyre said OUST-XP was the more powerful of the two products, and that the watershed committee had stronger objections to its use because of the environmental impacts. However, he categorized Accord XRT-II as "basically the same thing" as Roundup and argued its use is unnecessary.

He noted the Otsego County Highway Department maintains the roadside along county Route 31 on the lake's east side by mowing -- with no spraying.

McIntyre also said he was informed by a DOT official last fall -- his most recent contact with the agency -- that OUST-XP and Roundup were being used at that time.

On Thursday, after a reporter emailed Hamburg a copy of the mayor's letter, DOT officials contacted Katz and attempted to assure him the use of Accord XRT-II posed no threat to the lake. Katz said that the new information from the agency allayed some of his concern.

"They are not using OUST, which was one of the sore spots," he said. At the same time, he said he believes it is prudent for the watershed committee to evaluate the new information regarding the change in product being used near the lake.

Hamburg said his agency's herbicide applications are approved by the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

Asked why DOT does not arrange to have the vegetation near the lake mowed, Hamburg said, "It is safer, more efficient and less costly" to use the herbicide. He said the spraying spares DOT workers from having to come into possible contact with poisonous plants.