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States sue feds over tree-eating beetles
Issue date: 9/19/05 Section: News Briefs
Four states sued the Bush administration Thursday over an invasive beetle that has stowed away on overseas freighters and gnawed away trees in New York City, Chicago and on Long Island.
The Asian long-horned beetle, the emerald ash borer and the pine shoot beetle are the culprits named in the lawsuit by attorneys general from New York, California, Connecticut and Illinois. The states seek a court order to require the U.S. Department of Agriculture to examine more effective and less environmentally harmful ways to prevent the insects from entering the country, said New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, the lead official.
State officials say the insects would create extensive economic and environmental damage if they move from cities to working forests.
The pests enter the country in wooden pallets and wood-based packaging. The state officials contend that federal officials have chosen a "marginally effective" pesticide, which is being phased out as unsafe to people under an international treaty. One option would be to replace raw wood pallets with pallets made from plywood, processed wood or recycled plastic, a potentially expensive measure.
The state officials say that instead of examining safe and effective alternatives, the federal department is following a new rule that requires wooden shipping pallets and other wood packaging material carrying imports to be treated with heat or sprayed with methyl bromide, a chemical the state officials say depletes the ozone and could be a cancer risk.
The Asian long-horned beetle, the emerald ash borer and the pine shoot beetle are the culprits named in the lawsuit by attorneys general from New York, California, Connecticut and Illinois. The states seek a court order to require the U.S. Department of Agriculture to examine more effective and less environmentally harmful ways to prevent the insects from entering the country, said New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, the lead official.
State officials say the insects would create extensive economic and environmental damage if they move from cities to working forests.
The pests enter the country in wooden pallets and wood-based packaging. The state officials contend that federal officials have chosen a "marginally effective" pesticide, which is being phased out as unsafe to people under an international treaty. One option would be to replace raw wood pallets with pallets made from plywood, processed wood or recycled plastic, a potentially expensive measure.
The state officials say that instead of examining safe and effective alternatives, the federal department is following a new rule that requires wooden shipping pallets and other wood packaging material carrying imports to be treated with heat or sprayed with methyl bromide, a chemical the state officials say depletes the ozone and could be a cancer risk.