News Release
Sept. 9, 2016
Contact:
•Tim Camisa, lake advocate, Colchester resident, St. Albans businessman: 802-528-8512 (office), 802-373-2025 (cell), timc@vermontorganics.com
•Leon Thompson, communications specialist, Vermont Organics Reclamation (St. Albans, VT): 802-528-8512, leont@vermontorganics.com
ST. ALBANS, Vt. –– A Vermont lake advocate has sent a letter to three top state environmental officials, urging them to study whether increased use of herbicides in Vermont has contributed to lake pollution.
In his letter dated Sept. 8, Tim Camisa, a Colchester resident and St. Albans business owner, asks the state to look more closely at possible ties between algae blooms in Lake Champlain and their possible ties to the agricultural herbicide Roundup and similar products, which have increased in usage on Vermont farm fields by tenfold in the last decade. Homeowners and utilities also use Roundup and other herbicides for weeds.
Research by Dr. Chris Spiese from Ohio Northern University has shown that Roundup’s active ingredient, glyphosate, has likely contributed to phosphorous pollution and algae blooms in Lake Erie. In his letter, Camisa said that Spiese has offered to assist Vermont with comparable research on Lake Champlain. Camisa requested that state officials study the issue and identify people that can help Spiese in Vermont.
Studies show that cyanobacteria can use the phosphonate in glyphosate as a nutrient. Glyphosate breaks down to phosphorous. “Given that, why isn’t glyphosate application incorporated into Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plans?” Camisa says.
According to the Vermont Agency of Agriculture Food & Markets, farmers have applied 2,638 pounds of Roundup in 2003 and 20,850 pounds in 2013. Camisa’s letter went to the VAAAFM Secretary Chuck Ross; Agency of Natural Resources Secretary Deb Markowtiz; and Alysaa Schuren, commissioner of the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation.
“While on the surface this might raise some questions for farmers, homeowners and utilities that use any product containing glyphosate, this is actually good news for everyone,” Camisa said in his letter. “If our research here proves true, as it has out West, we could certainly address this issue head-on and eliminate the need for expensive farm infrastructure improvements. So this is also good news for taxpayers. If we can make a change this big, we could change a balance, so we should see this as something positive — a place to really start being ‘all in,’ as state officials have asked all taxpayers to do, regarding Lake Champlain.”
Camisa, president and co-founder of Vermont Organics Reclamation, in St. Albans, believes it is incumbent upon state officials to start looking at this issue — “in weeks and months, not years” — so that perhaps an answer might arise before the next spring planting season begins.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Vermont Lake Advocate Asks State: Does Herbicidal Use Help Create Blue Green Algae Blooms?.
