In his monthly column, Tom Delaney, director of government affairs for the Professional Landcare Network (PLANET), outlines some of the initiatives and legislation that can have in impact on the green industry. This month's update includes a gamut of issues including pesticide regulations, sustainability standards and human resource regulations.
New kinds of state legislation issues we are seeing:
Green Roofs
In New York, Bill No. A01803, introduced Jan. 12, would amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to pre-installation, review, and certification of green roof materials; and the tax law to establish a green roof installation credit.
Reclaimed Water
IL HB 235 lists requirements for reclaimed water for use in landscape irrigation. Reclaimed water is water collected from a combination of harvested storm (raw) water, domestic potable water, and condensed water from air-conditioning systems.
Cranes
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We are tracking any state crane legislation that may affect tree or landscape companies. Some states are establishing Crane Operators License and Safety Acts that include defining terms; requiring a license to operate certain cranes; providing exceptions; providing qualifications for license; providing qualifications for trainee license; providing for application of license; providing for testing; providing for renewal of license, and other provisions. Last year Maryland, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and New York were examples of states with legislation proposed.
Sustainable Sites Initiative
PLANET has submitted comments on a Sustainable Sites Initiative report that is the product of more than two years of work by a diverse group of experts in soils, hydrology, vegetation, materials, and human health and well-being. The Sustainable Sites Initiative is an interdisciplinary effort by the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, and the U.S. Botanical Garden to create voluntary national guidelines and performance benchmarks for sustainable land design, construction, and maintenance practices. The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), a stakeholder in the initiative, anticipates incorporating the report’s guidelines and performance benchmarks into future iterations of the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Guide Rating System.
Animal Pesticide Poisoning Reporting
Veterinarians are being asked to report pesticide poisoning incidents on a new Web site, designed to help them track pet-related pesticide poisoning incidents. The incident reporting site is part of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Web site. It was developed by the National Pesticide Information Center (NPIC) with input from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Pesticide Program, AVMA’s Clinical Practitioners Advisory Committee, and the Council on Biologic and Therapeutic Agents “to capture the optimal amount of relevant information using a form that is quick for busy practitioners to fill out.” The data is to be evaluated by the EPA. Unfortunately, many reports may get listed with no reference to the real cause, as is the case with many incident reports filed with poison control centers. Unless proper investigation and laboratory testing is done, many pesticide poisoning symptoms are the same as for other illnesses (such as the flu) and are counted as being caused by pesticide when they may not be.
EPA:
Video Shows Green Practices to Manage Stormwater Runoff
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Botanic Garden produced an online video, “Reduce Runoff: Slow It Down, Spread It Out, Soak It In,” that highlights green techniques, such as rain gardens, green roofs, and rain barrels, to help manage stormwater runoff.
The techniques are innovative stormwater management practices that manage urban stormwater runoff at its source and are very effective at reducing the volume of stormwater runoff and capturing harmful pollutants. Using vegetated areas that capture runoff also improves air quality, mitigates the effects of urban heat islands, and reduces a community’s overall carbon footprint.
The video highlights green techniques displayed in 2008 at the U.S. Botanic Garden’s “One Planet — Ours” Exhibit and a stormwater management demonstration project that includes the installation of several cisterns at the EPA headquarters in Washington, D.C. For more information, go to http://www.epa.gov/nps/lid.
WaterSense Program
A group of turfgrass scientists will meet with the EPA to advise the agency about the real-world science of evapotranspiration (ET) rates for landscape and ornamental plants in an effort to help the EPA understand the diversity of plant needs around the country. The ET rate, a calculation of how much water is needed for optimum plant health, is based on the site’s environmental and climatic factors, such as temperature, amount of sunlight, humidity, and wind. We hope the result brings more science and common sense to the EPA’s proposed landscape guidelines in the WaterSense program.
EPA Insights
A former EPA Assistant Administrator for the Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances during the Clinton administration predicted there would be a renewed emphasis by the incoming administration on reducing pesticide exposure in schools and on scrutinizing uses of cosmetic pesticides — those used for lawns and decorative plants — and pesticides used in public places.
Others within the EPA think a pesticide drift draft notice by the agency could happen early in 2009. It would include guidance to applicants and registrants concerning revising pesticide labeling statements intended to protect people, nontarget organisms, and sites from potential adverse effects that may be caused by pesticide drift from applications on nearby agricultural fields, but could also include other pesticide labels used by the green industry.
2,4-D
The National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is requesting that the EPA revoke all tolerances (maximum legal residue limits) and cancel all registrations for the pesticide 2,4-D. The petitioner, NRDC, claims that the EPA cannot make a finding that there is a reasonable certainty of no harm from dietary residues of 2,4-D and, therefore, that the agency must revoke all tolerances established under section 408 of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, as amended by the Food Quality Protection Act.
We suggest you send your comments about the value of 2,4-D to you company’s pest control program to the EPA at the site listed below. Direct your comments to docket ID number EPA-HQ-OPP-2008-0877 on or before Feb. 23. The EPA’s policy is that all comments received will be included in the docket without change and may be made available online at http://www.regulations.gov.
MSMA:
It appears that MSMA herbicide will only be available for use as a residential weed control in 2009 and 2010. On Dec. 31, 2010, all uses of the product on residential turf will be discontinued; however, some remaining uses for products with MSMA will have label uses that will continue until 2013 or as otherwise indicated. As great as the need is for this product, the industry is stuck with the registrants having to live with the EPA’s Jan. 16 agreement. More information will soon be available.
OSHA:
PLANET continues to work with the Tree Care Industry (TCIA) as OSHA gathers data on how best to inspect those green industry companies that do tree work. OSHA has finally realized that trying to group the green industry with the tree logging industry is not a good fit and can potentially be unsafe for green industry workers. PLANET also continues to work with company members to train and alert employees on how to avoid injury on the job. The number of employees being injured in the green industry is too high, and PLANET partners with OSHA to help lower that number and improve the industry’s safety record.
Paid Sick Leave:
In 2008, Milwaukee became the third city in the United States, following San Francisco and Washington, D.C., to pass a law mandating that employers provide paid sick leave to employees. Washington, D.C.’s law was passed in March 2008 and has been in effect since Nov. 13, 2008. San Francisco’s law has been in effect since February 2007.
These recent municipal paid sick leave laws show a trend at both the state and municipal level towards heightened obligations on the part of employers to provide paid time off (PTO) to employees, whether in the form of sick leave or paid family leave. Currently, California, New Jersey, Maine, and Maryland have laws requiring that employers provide paid family leave or requiring that employers who otherwise provide PTO make such leave available for use under specified circumstances. The state of Washington passed a similar paid family leave law but has delayed implementation because of budget constraints. Several other states have introduced paid sick leave laws, but none have passed. While there currently is no federal legislation mandating paid sick leave, such legislation has been introduced by Sen. Ted Kennedy, and the prospects for passing such laws have increased in light of the recent election results. President Obama already has signaled his support for worker-friendly legislation, particularly in the area of sick leave.
Form I-9:
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently issued a new Form I-9 and List of Acceptable Documents that are mandatory as of Feb. 2. Click here for a copy of the new Form I-9. Please be sure to familiarize yourself with the current List of Acceptable Documents, which differs from the previous one: no expired documents will be acceptable, some Employment Authorization Cards will no longer be acceptable, and U.S. Passport Cards will be added to List A.
