RailRoad Application Notice

This was information in a Boston Globe "notice" -- June 2010.
Did anyone notice this notice?

Approved herbicide applications will be accomplished by either back-pack or on-track vehicles, and will be with Roundup-Pro or Razor-Pro, alone or in combination with Arsenal, Escort XP, Oust Extra or Oust XP. Products to be used are approved for use by the Massachusetts Departments of Agricultural Resources and Environmental Protection Agency. (MGL c. 132B sec. 6B)

Schedule 2010 Herbicide Applications:

20 June - 4 July and 30 August -10 September 2010
4 -18 July 2010
27 June - 11 July 2010
31 May -11 June and 30 August - 10 September 2010
7 - 31 July and 9 - 30 September 2010
27 June - 11 July and 30 August - 10 September 2010
5 - 16 July 2010
21 June - 2 July 2010
14 - 25 June and 2 - 13 August 2010
31 May - 11 June 2010

Amtrak
Bay Colony Railroad
Fore River Transportation
Housatonic Railroad

MBTA Rapid Transit

Mass Bay Commuter Railroad
Mass Coastal Railroad
Mass Central Railroad
Pioneer Valley Railroad
Providence & Worcester Railroad

Questions or comments regarding railroad vegetation control
should be addressed to:
Kyle Fair
TEC Associates
46 Sawyer Street
South Portland, ME 04106
(207) 653-6206

RAILROAD RIGHTS-OF-WAY ARE PRIVATE PROPERTY AND TRESPASSING IS
PROHIBITED BY LAW (MGL c. 160, sections 218 and 220)

Complete text: here

Comments received:

Amazing the total lack of transparency here. Kudos to you for sticking with it.

Great work as usual, Ellie.The difficulty of getting information is scandalous, and indeed prosecutable I should think.   

Updates about 2010 Herbicide Application

Update from Michael McClean, Michael.Mcclean@state.ma.us
Pesticide Bureau as of 4/13/2011

CSX Railroad

20’ spray pattern (10’ off center of track)

Application Rate: 30 gallons of mixture/acre

2.42 acres/mile

7 miles of track in Newton

Pesticides applied on ballast (tracks):

Razor Pro – 2quarts of concentrate/30 gallons

Oust XP – 4 ounces of concentrate/30 gallons

Escort – 2 ounces of concentrate/ 30 gallons

Total usage of pesticides concentrates in Newton:

Razor Pro – 33.9 quarts or 4.84 quarts/mile

Oust XP – 67.9 ounces or 9.7 ounces/mile

Escort – 33.9 ounces or 4.84 ounces/mile

Mass Pike

1’-3’ spray pattern to shoulder and medians

Application Rate: average 3.21 gallons of mixture/mile

10.4 miles of treated in Newton (5.2 east bound, 5.2 west bound)

Pesticides applied on Mass Pike:

Accord Concentrate- 2.5 gallons of concentrate/100 gallons

Oust- 2 ounces of concentrate/100 gallons

Total usage of pesticide concentrates in Newton:

Accord Concentrate – 0.835 gallons or 0.080 gallons/mile

Oust – 0.668 ounces or 0.064 ounces /mile

Updates as of 4/20/2011 regarding pesticide applications 2010.

Let me know if these links don't work for you.

[ ] NOTICE MBTA CFPA Advertiesment.pdf (application/pdf) 42K

[ ] CSX RWC App Records AR-M257_20110319_033430.pdf (application/pdf) 2365K

[ ] DCR Application Record.pdf (application/pdf) 294K

[ ] Mass Pike 2010 spray notice 6-5-10.pdf (application/pdf) 269K

[ ] Mass Pike Application Records.pdf (application/pdf) 1482K

[ ] MBTA Application Records.pdf (application/pdf) 587K

"I am waiting on a couple of other piece of info to calculate the use in Newton for MBTA and DCR." MMcClean.

"I am still hoping to obtain the information in a simple format that shows what, where and when." Ellie

“Legally Poisoned: How the Law Puts Us at Risk from Toxicants” CHE call 4/20/2011

Carl Cranor, PhD, author of the recently published book, “Legally Poisoned: How the Law Puts Us at Risk from Toxicants”, is the Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Riverside.

Based on his broad understanding about the harm toxic chemicals can cause to human and ecosystem health, Dr. Cranor has analyzed the current legal structures designed to prevent such harm and has found them ineffective and often by design, inadequate to the  public health challenge at hand. In addition to his most recent book, he has written numerous other books and articles.

In these, Dr. Cranor offers suggestions about what kinds of legal initiatives might  work, making the case that individual actions will not be sufficient to prevent harm and that only pragmatic, thorough and far-reaching reforms will  give us world reasonably safe from toxic chemical harm. Dr. Cranor will discuss some of his ideas on a CHE Café call, hosted by CHE staffer, Sharyle Patton, on Wednesday April 20, 2011 at 10 a.m. Pacific / 1:00 p.m. Eastern.

http://www.healthandenvironment.org/partnership_calls/8974