Court paves way to herbicide use in Lake George

Lake George Park Commission has the weekend to dose lake under state permit

By Zachary Matson 

The Lake George Park Commission can move ahead with its plan to use an herbicide against invasive milfoil in Lake George, a Warren County judge ruled Friday, despite the strenuous objections of the Lake George Association and property owners along the shoreline where the herbicide is set to be used.

Supreme Court Justice Robert Muller rejected the LGA’s request for an injunction to prevent the park commission from using the herbicide until the underlying claims of a new lawsuit filed last week by the LGA and property owners could be argued.

Muller said those plaintiffs did not demonstrate they would face irreparable harm from the herbicide based on the findings by state agencies that ProcellaCOR did not pose risks to human health. 

“There are times when the court issues decisions it’s not very enthused by and this is one of those occasions,” Muller said. “I have to follow these agency determinations, and I don’t have the discretion to ignore them.”

The park commission has until the end of the weekend to apply the herbicide in a pair of bays in the lake’s northern basin, under its Adirondack Park Agency and Department of Environmental Conservation permits. 

The plan has been described as a pilot or trial of how the herbicide works against invasive Eurasian watermilfoil, which is found in over 200 locations around the lake.

The decision stunned a courtroom packed with people vehemently opposed to what would become the first planned use of a chemical on the lake to control invasive plants.  

Dave Wick, executive director of the park commission, said it was up to the commission’s contracted applicator, Solitude Lake Management, as to when conditions were satisfactory to apply the herbicide. They will be looking for calm, sunny weather.

The commission’s plan has drawn stiff opposition from the LGA, which sued to stop permits for the same plan in 2022. 

Opponents at Friday’s hearing expressed deep frustration and disappointment with the judge’s ruling and the commission’s insistence on pressing forward. Some shouted “shame” at Wick as he left the courthouse and accused him of ignoring their concerns about unknown, long-term health risks.   

Those concerns, though, proved too speculative for Muller to halt the plan.

The herbicide earned federal approval in 2017 and was registered for use in New York in 2019 after reviews found the herbicide did not threaten human health. 

“There are no drinking water restrictions associated with the use of this herbicide, because it is not toxic to people,” said Joshua Tallent, an environmental lawyer in the Attorney General’s office. 

Nevertheless, the LGA and property owners have suggested its use could lead to a parade of horribles, citing the lack of long-term studies, Lake George’s complex water movements and a Minnesota report that identified the herbicide’s active ingredient as a “forever chemical” under its broad definition. Many said they would not risk drinking water from the lake if the herbicide was used.

“It is a shot in the gut,” Lake George Waterkeeper Chris Navitsky said after the ruling. “It’s a painful, sad day for Lake George.”

Navitsky, who has opposed the plan since it was first proposed, said the Jefferson Project, a scientific monitoring program run by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, this week deployed new monitoring equipment in the bays targeted for the herbicide to collect water quality data following application.

Over 100 people turned out for the hearing, spilling into an overflow courtroom to listen in on arguments. Some waved “Not 1 Drop” signs and accused Wick and the park commission of caring more about weeds than their kids’ safety.

“Our child drinks lake water every single day,” said Kaitlyn Pote. “Eurasian watermilfoil is not an emergency and there is no reason to use a chemical that has not had long-term studies on it.” 

Wick has accused the LGA of sowing health concerns through a concerted campaign. He said he planned to continue answering all questions about the product and working to educate the public about its use.   

“We are struggling with getting past the outreach machine that existed on this for a couple years that has put forth information that isn’t accurate,” Wick said. “I have answered every email and phone call that has come in, and we are going to have to keep doing that.”

ProcellaCOR was first used in the Adirondack Park in Minerva Lake in 2020. APA has since approved permits to use it in eight total lakes, where it has proved effective at killing one of the region’s most pervasive aquatic invaders.

Some people have raised concerns about the use of chemicals on the other lakes, arguing that government agencies have approved numerous products later found to be harmful. But the fight around Lake George has been the most contentious. 

The new lawsuit filed within hours of the APA’s permit approval last week argued that DEC failed to follow its own procedures, that the herbicide’s use would infringe on the property rights of shoreline property owners and that it violated their constitutional right to “clean water and a healthful environment.” 

“The proposed pesticide treatment would affect not just Eurasian watermilfoil but also our client’s drawing water from the lake,” said attorney Robert Rosborough, who argued for the LGA and property owners. “That would deprive our clients of the rights to use that water for the purposes that they have traditionally been used for as long as they have owned their properties.” 

The treatment zones, Blairs Bay and Sheep Meadow Bay, also known as Jeliffe-Knight Bay, are each roughly 4 acres. The park commission sees them as test sites that, if proven as effective at killing off milfoil as in other lakes, could lead to broader treatments in Lake George. 

Wick said if the herbicide performed as expected the park commission was considering using it in Sunset Bay next year and would determine the most impacted bays to use the herbicide in coming years. 

He said he expected no more than 10 sites around the lake would be good candidates for the herbicide, spots where continuous hand harvesting has done little to dent the milfoil beds.