PORTLAND, Maine - South Portland's City Council voted yes Wednesday on a ban on certain landscape pesticides.
The new ordinance doesn't carry any financial penalties, but it asks residents not to use - and retailers not to sell - an array of products, including Roundup and a class of pesticides called neonicitinoids, linked to a decline in the honeybee population.
Since violating the ban won’t bring fines or public notice of individual violators, some have characterized it as being largely symbolic – but South Portland Sustainability Coordinator Julie Rosenbach says that’s not the case: “What the ordinance says is the sustainability coordinator will work with them through outreach and education to bring them into compliance. My joke is, hey, it’s worse than fines, I’m going to be working with you until you get into compliance.”
Six of the city's seven council members voted for the ordinance; Linda Cohen was the dissenting vote. Cohen says, especially after the education the council has had on this issue, she's in favor of taking action against the use of many chemical pesticides, but she feels it should be done on the federal, or at least state, level.
"Unless you've got everyone around you following the same ordinances, the impact that you’re looking for is not going to be there," Cohen says. "With us, we're worried about Casco Bay, and I get that, and that's a serious concern for me. But unless every community around us falls in line and does this, it doesn't make a difference."
Cohen also says she doesn't see the point in legislation that can't be enforced.
The ordinance that was first proposed did provide a framework of fines for violators; but it’s since been revised, and Rosenbach says the city doesn’t want to impose the rule in a punitive way; rather she says it sets a new community standard that she expects most people will follow, particularly with benefit of education. Even so, she says, “It isn’t perfect, but it’s working toward the standard that we want to set.”
The ban will apply to city property starting May 1 of next year and broaden to private property in 2018. It would expand to cover two privately-owned golf clubs in 2019.
Ogunquit passed a similar measure last year. This ban could be significant because it could be seen as a model by other larger communities in the state, including Portland.
Editor's Note: This story contains a correction. It originally characterized the ban as “largely symbolic.” That characterization has been removed, and clarifying comments from South Portland Sustainability Coordinator Julie Rosenbach have been added.
