• Chapter 20—Special Provisions [PDF or Word]: The amended rule would relax the need for individual property owner authorization when the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Maine CDC) recommends pesticide spraying due to vector-borne disease threats, such as West Nile Virus (WNV) or Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE).

• Chapter 22—Standards for Outdoor Application of Pesticides by Powered Equipment in Order to Minimize Off-Target Deposition [PDF or Word]: The amended rule would exempt wide-area, vector control programs from the entire chapter.

• Chapter 51—Notice of Aerial Pesticide Application [PDF or Word]): The amended rule would exempt government-sponsored, wide-area, vector-control programs from the entire chapter.

Friday, March 15, 2013

Submit Comments To:
Henry Jennings, Director
Board of Pesticides Control
28 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04330-0028
Telephone: 207-287-2731
E-Mail: henry.jennings@maine.gov

Legal Notice: Notice of Agency Rule-Making Proposal [PDF or Word]

Rulemaking Notice: Proposed Changes to Pesticide Rules [PDF]

Media Advisory [to come]

Public Hearing Procedures [to come]

• Explanation: Surveillance data from the last decade show that mosquito-borne viruses are on the increase in Maine. The first confirmed human case of WNV was documented in 2012. Due to the threat of a disease outbreak, the Maine CDC may recommend wide-area, mosquito-control programs in targeted areas of the state in coming years. These programs would be very difficult to conduct under current state law, since Chapter 20 requires authorization from individual land owners and Chapter 22 imposes operational standards that would be impractical for wide-area programs conducted in residential areas.

The proposed amendments would facilitate government-sponsored, wide-area, vector-control programs without the need to obtain consent from each individual landowner. Instead, property owners could request to be excluded from ground-based spraying and be provided advance notice for aerial-control programs. In addition, certain sensitive sites would be excluded from aerial programs. Government-sponsored, aerial-vector-control programs would also be exempted from the requirements of Chapter 22, the Board’s drift rule, and Chapter 51, the Board’s rule about notice for aerial spraying, since public notification would be required for such programs under Chapter 20.

Chapter 31

Chapter 40

Chapter 41