Delaware Department of Agriculture s1

Delaware Department of Agriculture Pesticide Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes for June 13, 2006

Attendees:  John Barndt – Department of Natural Resource and Environmental Conservation (DNREC)  Jeff Hastings – Bethel Area Farmer  Susan King – University of Delaware, Extension Cooperative  Gerald Llewelyn – Division of Public Health (DPH)  Thom May – DPH  Tim McPherson – DuPont Crop Protection  Laura Mensch – Delaware Department of Agriculture (DDA)  Bill Meredith – DNREC  Joe Reardon – Delaware Pest Control  Grier Stayton – DDA  Larry Towle – DDA  Jake Vukich – DuPont Crop Protection

Introduction of Members:  Members introduced themselves and their affiliations

Call to Order and Acceptance of March 2006 Minutes:  Dr. Susan King, Chair, welcomed all the members and started the meeting.  The PAC meeting minutes were approved for March 2006.

Update from University of Delaware Cooperative Extension:  Susan King reviewed the streamlining of the quarterly training for pesticide certification. A new national core manual will soon be adopted. Sales of the manual will begin in January 2007, dependent in part on the depletion of inventory of the old manual. The new core manual is currently available on-line through a link on the NASDA web page.  North Carolina just signed on to join New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland in participating in the Watermelon PMSP workshop. Virginia is currently not planning to participate. The workshop will take place in February of 2007 through interactive television, making it the first workshop to utilize this technology. Local participants will gather in Georgetown to interact with the other locations.  November, 2006 the Pesticide Information Network Advisory Committee will be meeting in Georgetown.  Brian Kunkle started June 1 as the new Ornamental and Turf Integrated Pest Management (IPM) specialist.  Larry Towle announced that a second Termite workshop will take place in July of 2006 in Dover, potentially at the Del Tech Terry Campus. The workshop will focus on soil application technology and pricing of termiticide treatments. Scott Sickora, from Bayer Crop Science will present a demonstration of soil application technology. Larry will edit a power point presentation that was sent to us by Virginia Department of Ag and present that to the group.

Plastic Recycling Status Report:  Grier Stayton reviewed some new developments within the DDA pesticide container recycling program. The program recently acquired a new trailer and a Fleet Services pickup to pull it. The compactor is being shared with DNREC for their marine plastics recycling program. A high proportion of the state’s aerial applicators, large commercial operators, and golf courses are currently participating in the program. Four thousand containers have been collected since the beginning of this calendar year, and ten thousand have been collected in the fiscal year.  Blue Ridge Plastics is the probable buyer of the plastic and they specializes in plastic drain tile production; this company would offer 20 cents per pound.  There are 26 bales currently in storage. Once there are 35-40 bales in storage there will be enough for a tractor trailer pick-up.

Lawn Care and Structural Pest Control Issues:  Grier Stayton reviewed some recent problems with lawn care companies. These include misapplications of granules, failure to post DE identification numbers on company vehicles, inaccurate records, and the presence of unlicensed, uncertified, and/or unregistered operators.  Recent enforcement activities for lawn care operators include: 3 Lawn Doctor warnings (one of which was a 2nd offense for granules in the street), 1 warning for Tru-Green, and 1 warning for Johnny Nichols.  Recent problems with structural pest control operators include failure to post DE identification numbers on company vehicles, failure to trench, insufficient or inaccurate pre-treatment services, insufficient records and employee registrations.  Larry Towle reviewed some changes in MD requirements. Maryland will be undergoing some cosmetic changes in the categories for each type of application. Virginia’s fees are increasing.

Legislative Update:  House Bill 276, which permits aerial applicators to begin spraying at dawn, has passed the House. Grier Stayton expressed concern over the language in the bill, stating that the language needs more clarification.  House Bill 347 requires licensing for home inspectors. As pest inspections are exempted from the Bill, however, it is not a concern for the Committee.  Bill Meredith reviewed the status of federal legislation that would require aquatic pesticide applicators to obtain a Clean Water Act permit to apply water-specific pesticides.

EPA Grants Update:  Grier Stayton reviewed changes in the EPA grants for the DDA Pesticides programs. Grants will remain the same as last year for the following programs: water quality monitoring, certification, worker protection, and endangered species. The status of the enforcement grant is not yet known.  Changes in performance measures will require modifications in reporting techniques.

DDA Water Quality Update:  Laura Mensch reviewed the available results of the Spring groundwater monitoring. Water samples are being analyzed for five different pesticides – Alachlor, Atrazine, Chlorthalonil, Glyphosate, and Metolachlor. Of these, Atrazine was detected most frequently and at higher levels than any of the other compounds. Twenty-six wells had elevated residue levels for Atrazine, the highest level was 3.93 ppb. Overall, pesticide residue levels are steadily declining.  Twenty domestic wells were also sampled this year. Most samples did not have detectable levels of pesticides; the highest level was from a residence near Dover with 0.35 ppb for Atrazine.

Next meeting is: Tuesday, September 19, 2006 at 10 AM

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