Coronavirus budget hit nixes chlorpyrifos review in Washington

By DON JENKINS

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has vetoed a bill directing the state Department of Agriculture to spend $299,000 to evaluate the pesticide chlorpyrifos and adopt rules limiting its use.

In a veto message, Inslee cited the need to trim state spending, anticipating a decline in taxes as the coronavirus shuts down swaths of the economy. The money was in the recently adopted operating budget, but the governor's veto of Senate Bill 6518 cancels the department's authority to conduct the study.

"We won't be doing anything directly related to chlorpyrifos," agriculture department policy adviser Kelly McLain said Wednesday.

The veto also cancels $280,000 that Washington State University was to spend on helping farmers find alternatives to chlorpyrifos.

Chlorpyrifos is an ingredient in 46 products and registered for 96 uses in Washington, according to the agriculture department. Under the bill, the department would have been charged with studying whether the pesticide causes or contributes to significant health problems. The bill set a deadline of Jan. 1, 2022, for adopting rules.

The bill originally proposed to ban chlorpyrifos except for use on three crops especially reliant on the pesticide. The bill was reworked to let the department decide when chlorpyrifos can be used.

McLain said the department will continue to review complaints and new information about pesticides. The department has not received data indicating that chlorpyrifos poses a threat that needs immediate action, she said.

The Environmental Protection Agency phased out, eliminated or modified most homeowner uses of chlorpyrifos in 2000 over concerns that household exposure harmed the mental development of young and unborn children.

The EPA is fighting federal lawsuits filed in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to ban the chemical's use in agriculture.

One lawsuit was filed by attorneys general from eight states, including Washington, Oregon and California. The EPA is asking the court to wait for the agency to complete a safety review of chlorpyrifos. The review is due by October 2022.

California, Hawaii and New York have enacted bans of varying strictness.

Anticipating a deficit, Inslee vetoed $235 million of the $839 million that legislators passed this year in new spending from the operating budget. The vetoes did not cut current government programs.

The agriculture department's study was to be funded from taxes on hazardous substances.