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ORLANDO, FLA. – In an impassioned “call to action” to more than 500 chemical company executives, Stacey Pine, grassroots issues manager for the trade group Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment (RISE), urged those attending the organization’s annual meeting – held in conjunction with CropLife America – to speak out on behalf of the specialty chemicals industry, particularly at the state and local level where anti-industry advocates have made inroads in recent years.
“We need to tell our story. We need to have our voices heard. We need to start speaking with a unified voice,” she said. “RISE is monitoring (local) issues across the country, but we can’t do it alone. We need your help.”
Pine, who joined RISE earlier this year to pro-actively address a range of grassroots issues, urged those in attendance to:
- Monitor local news papers and news media and alert RISE to issues
- Scan agendas for city and county level meetings
- Make yourself and your business known to local elected officials
- Be willing to submit a letter to the editor defending our industry
- Be willing to speak at local meetings
- Resist sacrificing other segments of the industry to defend your own. Speak on behalf of all product users
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It was a theme repeated several times throughout the first full day of the RISE Annual Meeting, held at the Ritz-Carlton Grande Lakes Resort in Orlando, Fla. Karen Reardon, director of communications and public relations, said in the past ”grassroots issue management has been conducted on an ad-hoc basis” at RISE. However, this past year the RISE Governing Board recognized the importance of dedicating more resources to state and local issues, which resulted in the hiring of a full-time grassroots issues manager.
“Local towns move very quickly (to pass ordinances),” she said. “We can make a difference if we’re there in time … but we have to know where these things are happening. We’ve got to have information feeding into the organization so we can get out there and get everyone engaged.”
If the specialty chemicals industry doesn’t become more adept at rapidly responding to local threats, it could find itself facing an onslaught of anti-pesticide and anti-fertilizer ordinances. “Local politics are going to have more of an impact on your bottom line than any other level of government,” Pine predicted. “This past year alone we had 57 pieces of (anti-industry) legislation introduced in 27 different states around this country. Legislation passed at the local level … may be the most dangerous to our industry,” she warned. “Activists see power at the local levels of government. They realize they can use grassroots advocacy to push their agendas forward.”
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That’s one of the reasons RISE and CropLife America decided to join forces for their annual meeting, the second time in the organizations’ history they’ve held such an event. “Many of the issues at the federal level are the same as at the local level, so we think it’s good to bring both groups together for industry unity,” said RISE President Allen James. “We wanted people to know about our grassroots effort to engage not only management, but their field force. Their field people are critical to our success and we wanted to get that message across to our members.”
The four-day conference continues today with presentations by James Gulliford, assistant administrator, Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances, EPA, and an election update by David Crow, president of D.C. Legislative and Regulatory Services.
