Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
“LGA Breaking News: Controversial Herbicide Proposal is Back,” headlined a “Call To Action” press release Tuesday from the Lake George Association.
The LGA elaborated: “Despite the opposition of more than 4,500 concerned citizens last summer, and a pending Feb. 17 hearing in New York State Supreme Court in Warren County, the Lake George Park Commission is once again submitting an application to the Adirondack Park Agency and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to use the herbicide ProcellaCOR in the Lake for the treatment of Eurasian watermilfoil.”
Reached for comment, Park Commission Executive Director Dave Wick dismissed the release as “an LGA non-event…because there’s really nothing new that hasn’t been known for many months.”
Mr. Wick said that while awaiting the Feb. 17 hearing, “the applications that we have in front of the DEC and the APA both expired,” so they had to reapply.
The LGA alert said, “The Park Commission announced its intentions last week in a notice to property owners near the proposed herbicide treatment areas in ‘Blairs Bay, Glenburnie, and Sheep Meadow Bay, Huletts Landing’.”
The LGPC’s Mr. Wick says the chemical is vetted. The LGA questions its safety.
The LGA said its suit alleges, in part, that “the APA undertook a rushed process to approve the herbicide use despite the considerable technical and scientific concerns that were raised…”
The LGA urged the APA to require “a Lake George-specific analysis of potential environmental and public health risks before putting the herbicide in the water.”
Mr. Wick dismissed the LGA’s assertions as “misinformation.” He contends Tuesday’s press release was an attempt “to rile up the public with less than accurate information.”
He said ProcellaCOR has been approved in 49 of 49 states, and is used in other lakes used for drinking water.
He said the LGA’s claims are, “not based on an understanding of the level of scrutiny and review that any aquatic herbicide would go through to the federal government and through the New York state government.”
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