Hawaii agrees to better pesticide practices By Nina Wu

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 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 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, 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, which Gov. David Ige signed into law last June.

The new law bans chlorpyrifos, 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.