Earlier in May, legal action was filed to have local authorities refrain from the use of the chemical herbicide, ProcellaCOR, in Lake George by the Lake George Association, the Lake George Waterkeeper, the town of Hague and a lakeside resident. Here is the full press release published by the national Waterkeeper Alliance.
This information is important to us in our Chautauqua-Conewango Consortium region because ProcellaCOR is the second chemical scheduled to be used in Chautauqua Lake within the coming weeks. Aquathol-K was already applied to Chautauqua Lake on May 24.
We have three main concerns with the use of this chemical.
- First, the EPA-approved label states it should be used in quiescent, slow-moving water, which we believe does not describe Chautauqua Lake. The wind moving across the lake creates currents.
- Second, the label also describes it as “a selective systemic herbicide.” This is misleading because the native species, coontail, is susceptible to the chemical and Chautauqua Lake’s coontail populations are in decline.
- Third, florpyrauxifren-benzyl, is the main chemical in ProcellaCOR. This chemical has been designed to mimic a plant hormone used for cell growth and development. The chemical has been found to be toxic to some aquatic invertebrates. This filed legal action strongly asks that florpyrauxin-benzyl be tested in a safe laboratory setting to see if it demonstrates similar endrocrine disruption, before being used in Lake George.
We believe that ProcellaCOR should be prohibited from Chautauqua Lake as well.