Court Order Requires 'Buffer Zone' Between Pesticide Use and Oregon Streams

OREGON – A federal court order ruling that applies to streams and rivers in Western Oregon, Washington and California, forbidding the use of pesticides near certain waterways, still needs some sorting out.

The implications of the ruling are still unclear to many of the affected nurseries near the orders’ “buffer zone.” The decision requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to review the effects on salmon and steelhead of 54 pesticide ingredients used in landscaping and agricultural applications. In general, the use of the listed pesticide ingredients is prohibited within 60 feet of waterways when applied to the ground and 300 feet when applied by air.

Even though the EPA considerably shortened the list since January, it still includes 2, 4-D, coumaphos, malathion, dimethoate and methomyl.

The order stems from a lawsuit against the EPA by the Washington Toxics Coalition, a nonprofit group that charged the agency with failing to protect fish from potentially harmful pesticides as required by the Endangered Species Act.

As studies on pesticide ingredients continue, the Toxics Coalition asked the court to implement the buffer zones and issue warning notifications. The court agreed in January.