Environmental activists gathered in Lake George today to protest the proposed use of an herbicide ahead of the summer’s seasonal tourism boom.
“Not one drop, not one drop. We’ve gotta stop the madness, folks,” said Jane Carter.
Dozens of members and supporters of the Lake George Association gathered just south of the Queen of American lakes to voice their concerns about using ProcellaCOR to cull invasive Eurasian watermilfoil in the lake.
A study by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture links ProcellaCOR to PFAS chemicals. Proponents of the chemical say the study simply lowered the bar for what could be considered a so-called forever chemical.
Carol Collins is a local limnologist — she’s studied lakes, including Lake George as well as other aquatic ecosystems for decades.
“We seem to be wanting to take shortcuts in our watershed management and that’s not possible. And this is certainly not a shortcut, it’ll have far-reaching impacts that we don’t even know or many never even expect,” said Collins.
Proponents point to cost—currently, the watermilfoil is managed by hand, having cost more than $7 million since the early 2000s in Lake George.
ProcellaCOR opponents like Lucinda Bhavsar say that line of reasoning just doesn’t add up.
“The cost incentive doesn’t really hold out. They’re also underestimating the amount of costs it’s going totake to monitor the chemicals. You can’t just put the chemical in and forget about it, you actually have to monitor, if it’s growing. And then what about the costs for next year, putting the chemical in, and like Dr. Collins said, what if the plants become resistant to the chemical then you actually have to use more chemicals or different chemicals then you have a lake that’s dependent, you know almost like a drug addict, for chemicals. It’s all a downhill spiral,” said Bhavsar.
According to the Lake George Park Commission, the distribution of eight gallons of ProcellaCOR in Blairs Bay and Sheep Meadow Bay would cost just under $40,000. The LGA claims they could hand-harvest the bays in less than two weeks for a total cost of $17,000.
ProcellaCOR has been used to cut the population of Eurasian milfoil in nearby Lake Luzerne, Lake Sunnyside, and Glen Lake.
Lake Luzerne town board member Jim Niles said the chemical cut down on the invasive watermilfoil without an impact on other plants while quickly dissipating.
“This product was installed in one day, and six of those tests it was undetectable. 24 hours after the test, two more of those were undetectable. So we already couldn’t detect eight of those test points. And by the end of the week, they were all undetectable,” said Niles.
Opponents say these use cases do not prove the chemical is safe for Lake George, which is significantly larger, and that there’s no reason to use an herbicide when hand-harvesting remains effective.
LGPC Exectuvie Director Dave Wick tells WAMC it’s his responsibility to use all methods available to curb milfoil growth.
“So, as we advance this project it’s literally the smallest aquatic herbicide application using ProcellaCOR in the northeast to date. And the whole idea was to do this application on two locations that have been simply intractable, every time we’d go harvest them they’d grow right back and take a look at this new tool. So, the idea that it’s somehow rushed is simply false,” said Wick.
The use of ProcellaCOR in the north of Lake George was approved in 2022. The LGA appealed that approval on the grounds that the Adirondack Park Agency did not base its decision on a complete analysis.
Earlier in May, a New York state appellate court ruled the LGPC could seek permit approval from the APA to apply the herbicide. LGA representatives say they are appealing.
An Acceptance of Licensed Applicator was approved by the LGPC Tuesday morning with six yes votes and two abstentions.
An Adirondack Park Agency public comment period on the LGPC’s application to use ProcellaCOR runs through May 30th.