Advocacy

2022 Legislative Bills We Supported that Passed

SB 120 AN ACT CONCERNING THE USE OF CHLORPYRIFOS ON GOLF COURSES AND NEONICOTINOIDS FOR NONAGRICULTURAL USE. 

This bill passed but the neonic protections were stripped from the language at the last minute. In 2023 we hope there will be a CT bill to ban neonics.  

Neonicotinoids or “neonics” are neurotoxic pesticides linked to massive bee and insect losses around the globe and, increasingly, to vast water and soil contamination, ecosystem-wide harms, and human health concerns. Cornell University research reveals that the neonic uses that pose the greatest threats to bees are also those that provide little-to-no benefits to users or are easily replaceable with safer alternatives. SB 120 strengthens CT’s 2016 Pollinator Protection Act by prohibiting these wasteful uses on residential landscapes such as lawns and golf courses. READ MORE ABOUT NEONICS HERE.

Dow’s nerve gas pesticide chlorpyrifos has devastating impacts on our health, children’s developing brains, and our environment. The federal government has banned chlorpyrifos on food crops, but 90% of chlorpyrifos usage in CT is on golf courses for cosmetic purposes. READ MORE ABOUT CHLORPYRIFOS HERE.

Here is our letter of support for this bill.

Please call or e-mail your State Representative and State Senator TODAY! Below are their phone numbers and a link to find out who your elected officials are and how to contact them via e-mail.

House Democrats – 860-240-8500

House Republicans – 860-240-8700

Senate Democrats – 860-240-8600

Senate Republicans – 860-240-8800

Not sure who your elected officials are, CLICK HERE 

SB 240  AAC THE USE OF SODIUM CHLORIDE TO MITIGATE SNOW AND ICE ACCUMULATIONS 

High salt concentrations due to winter de-icing efforts are an increasing threat to the public water supply and private wells. Rising chloride concentrations are a real and increasing threat to aquatic life in the Norwalk River and to plants and wildlife throughout the watershed. Data shows chloride levels rising dramatically in the Norwalk River as measured in the rate of conductivity documented by Harbor Watch with decades of water monitoring.  Click HERE for an overview. 

An important transportation corridor (US Rte 7) follows the little Norwalk River. There is extensive commercial development adjacent to Rte 7. Large parking lots and other impervious surfaces, both public and privately owned may be heavily treated with de-icing salts that drain directly into the River. 

Green Snow Pro Certification is a real win-win, allowing municipalities and private contractors to save thousands of dollars in reduced salt expenditures while saving our environment and drinking water! 

Please ask your representatives to support passage of SB 240, whose purpose is to provide training, certification and protection from liability for applicators of sodium chloride who use best practices when applying sodium chloride.  Please also ask that the language pertaining to drinking water be broadened generally to include both surface and groundwater.

Here is our letter of support for this bill. 

 HB 5143 AN ACT ESTABLISHING AN OFFICE OF AQUATIC INVASIVE SPECIES is another bill important bill for protecting our rivers. Pictured right is the hugely problematic invasive plant hydrilla in the Connecticut River.

A letter of support for this bill from our friends at Rivers Alliance. 

SB 117 AN ACT CONCERNING TREE REMOVAL ON PROPERTIES UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION. To improve transparency and establish standards for the removal of trees and shrubs that constitute an immediate public hazard at state parks and campgrounds. Important testimony. 

BILLS WE SUPPORTED THAT DID NOT PASS

HB 5140 AN ACT CONCERNING THE HAND-HARVESTING OF HORSESHOE CRABS IN THE STATE. To prohibit the hand-harvesting of horseshoe crabs from the waters and shoreline of the state in order to protect the horseshoe crab population. Important testimony about the bill. 

SB 239 AN ACT PROHIBITING THE USE OF CERTAIN RODENTICIDES FOR THE PROTECTION OF HAWKS, RAPTORS AND OTHER WILDLIFE. To prohibit the use of certain rodenticides in locations such as state parks and forests for the protection of hawks, raptors and other wildlife that feed upon such rodents. Testimony from the Humane Society. 

NRWA’s Goals for Policy Protecting Water

2. Keep plastic out of our rivers and Long Island Sound.

In 2021 CT updated the decades-old Bottle Bill to help keep plastic out of the ocean.   We will now keep millions of bottles and cans out of Connecticut’s parks, beaches, and streets every year at no cost to taxpayers by adding perfectly recyclable juice, sports, and energy drinks, as well as tea containers, to our current bottle bill. We also increased the container deposit, a change that will boost Connecticut’s bottle redemption rate, which is the lowest in the country. 

With our recycling system broken and plastic pollution a growing problem worldwide, it is important that we updated our bottle bill. 

Group Letter NRWA has signed on to.

NRWA’s letter from 2020

We Still Need to Limit the Use of Polystyrene. Anyone who has joined us at our annual river cleanup at Oyster Shell Park has seen the millions of bits of styrofoam, mainly from discarded food packaging, that cover the banks. Enough is enough. NRWA’s letter from 2020

3. Pass Pesticide Legislation to Protect People & Pollinators

BAN CHLORPYRIFOS IN CT and Digitalize Pesticide Permit Applications at DEEP. Dow’s pesticide chlorpyrifos has devastating impacts on our health, children’s developing brains, and our environment. The pesticide, part of a class of chemicals developed for nerve gas by Nazi Germany, has also been linked to Parkinson’s disease and lung cancer. Chlorpyrifos was banned for home use in 2000. After years of study, the EPA determined that there are no safe levels of exposure and was set to ban all uses of this pesticide in 2015. However, our current administration reversed the decision. Read More… 

According to CT DEEP’s data, farms only account for 10.8% of chlorpyrifos used. Golf courses account for 86% of chlorpyrifos use in CT, totaling more than 590 gallons in 2019—here’s a list of where it was used in 2018 and 2019.  (Tara Cook-Littman, a concerned mom and member of the Fairfield Pollinator Pathway, filed a request through the Freedom of Information Act to gain access to the boxes of pesticide applications in Hartford, and that is how we have this list.

Tara’s work revealed the desperate need for digitizing the state’s pesticide applications 

SUPPORT A BILL TO END PESTICIDE PREEMPTION IN CT and allow  municipalities the right to make decisions about pesticide applications in their own towns. Currently municipal restrictions are preempted by State requirements, a law the pesticide industry has worked to keep in place. If your town would like to restrict a toxic pesticide, but the state allows its use, your town restriction would be preempted. More info here.   

This letter went to your town leaders. Ask them to join this action to overturn preemption. 

The sample letters below refer to the 2019 bill that was not called for a vote. We will update the bill numbers when they are set for the 2020 session.