21 Feb Palm Beach pushes for right to regulate pesticide use
Protecting environment, safety cited in resolution
By Carol Rose
Courtesy of Palm Beach Daily News
Citing the harm to human and environmental health from the over-application of toxic pesticides, herbicides and fungicides on the island, the Town Council has approved a resolution to push for the right to regulate the use of these chemicals.
The resolution, which passed Feb. 8, says that consistent with Gov. Ron De-Santis’ commitment to water quality, environmental protection, and public safety, “the Town of Palm Beach respectfully requests it be exempted from preemptive laws controlling the applications of pesticides in order that the town might effectively manage the unnecessary over exposure of these chemicals to its population, wildlife and waterways.”
The resolution was crafted by Council President Pro Tem Bobbie Lindsay and environmental attorney Lisa Interlandi, who is executive director of the Everglades Law Center. The resolution said state preemption “has caused unintended consequences to non-agricultural, small, barrier island towns such as Palm Beach and has resulted in unnecessary exposure to harmful, synthetic pesticides that migrate onto its public walkways and into its waterways.”
“There is no agriculture on the island. Why did the state pass a preemptive law that says small towns can’t manage their own application of chemicals?” Lindsay told the Daily News. “It’s not relevant to us.”
Lindsay, who has been at the forefront of the town’s Green Initiative, said 41 residents wrote to her in support of the resolution. “I think that’s the most I’ve received in a long time and they were thoughtful,” she told the meeting.
Lindsay told the Daily News she wanted the resolution “because I havenoticed over the past decade that since whitefly became prevalent … particularly on ficus, the use of chemicals on our little barrier island has skyrocketed. And because we are an island, when you apply chemicals to your tree, hedge or grass, it ends up in the waterway.”
Pointing out that people are sometimes inadvertently sprayed with pesticide — walking on the sidewalk, on the Lake Trail or in their back yard — Lindsay she was sprayed while walking on the Lake Trail by someone on the other side of a hedge.
She added that she stopped using pesticides eight or nine years ago.
“It takes work but it’s not a lot of work,” Lindsay said, adding that the keys to her success were removing exotic vegetation such as Ficus benjamina, that require synthetic chemicals to stay green, and adding more native vegetation, that require no chemicals and little fertilizer to thrive, and whose fruits and flowers support pollinators, birds and wildlife.
Interlandi, who attended the council meeting to explain the resolution, said oftentimes people and pets get exposed to chemicals before they end up in the water. No one wants to be exposed to toxic chemicals and that is why so many people are supporting this, she said.
The preemption of pesticide regulation is one of many the state had enacted, Interlandi said, citing preemptions for local action on guns, sober homes, vacation rentals and plastic bags.
“I’m not sure if it’s going to have a major effect on the Legislature … but I think it sends a message that the town really cares about the issue of pesticides and that preemption is inappropriate,” she said.
Council member Lew Crampton said it was important for the town to find other communities with which it could collaborate in pushing to lift the preemption on pesticide application.
Interlandi agreed with his point about reaching out to other municipalities and added that she thought Palm Beach would be in a leadership role, but “we’re not going to get there overnight. … Passing resolutions is OK but it doesn’t get the job done.”
The resolution noted that DeSantis’ budget for 2022-23 allocates more than $2.2 billion for key environmental priorities, including $972 million to Everglades and water quality protection. The funding, the resolution said, would expedite Everglades restoration “and implement clean water projects to reduce nutrients in our waterways, as well as assist communities with water supply projects and combat blue-green algae and red tide that have harmful environmental and economic impacts on our communities.”
The most important powers a Florida city has are its home rule powers, the resolution said, noting that the Legislature “has continued to unnecessarily erode municipalities’ ability to enact Home Rule, to the detriment of local residential communities’ ability to protect the health, safety and welfare of its residents, visitors, pets and wildlife.”
Lindsay said home rule exists because local leaders know what is best for their small towns and municipalities.
This is not the town’s first attempt to buck state preemption. In June 2019, the town banned the use of plastic bags and polystyrene containers but had to rescind the ban that August after an appellate court upheld the Legislature’s preemption against such bans at the local level.
In April 2021, the council voted unanimously to adopt a resolution urging members of the Legislature to oppose “unwarranted or overly broad preemptions” of municipal home rule powers over concerns about bills that would allow the governor or Legislature to invalidate a city’s emergency orders if they believe them to be too restrictive.
In an executive order issued May 3, DeSantis invalidated local COVID-19 emergency orders, which the town had used earlier in the pandemic to close beaches, institute a local mask mandate and enact a curfew.
So, what happens next? Acknowledging that it may take a while to get action taken on the resolution, Lindsay said the town “has to figure out which of our representatives we contact to carry this for us. … We might reach out to other small towns that feel the same way.
“The League of Cities has been trying to help stem the erosion of home rule. We are hoping that if a bunch of cities unite and went to Tallahassee, then maybe we can get movement.”
Lindsay added: “Protecting residents is in the realm of local governments.”