Lake George Parks Commission reponds to concerns about ProCella Cor treatment for asian milfoil

Jeff Green | Sep 11, 2024

The Mazinaw Lake Property Owners Association (MPOA) has sparked many conversations by appealing for support from Addington Highlands and North Frontenac Township. But the debate about whether ProcellaCOR, the herbicide that MPOA is advocating for the most impacted sections of the lake, is also the subject of much debate in the United States as well.

The herbicide was approved for use in the United States in 2018, and in Canada only last year. This past June 29th, it was applied in a pilot project in small sections of Lake George, in New York State. But in Vermont it is not being used, and the Department of Agriculture in Minnesota has classified Florpyrauxifen-benzyl, the active ingredient in ProcellaCOR, as a forever chemical.

This has led to controversy in the Lake George area, where local groups such as the Lake George Waterkeeper and others, called for the pilot project to be abandoned.

In a detailed report regarding the results of the ProcellaCOR application in parts of Lake George, which was in part a response to the controversy surrounding the pilot project, the Lake George Parks commission said that the Minnesota definition is the “broadest definition in regulatory use”, broader than the definition used by the US National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA), or the European Chemicals agency.

The commission report adds that the Minnesota department acknowledges that it makes no distinction between chemicals “that have long persistence in the environment, and pesticide active ingredients that have been through many years of development and rigorous regulatory review by NEPA to ensure safety for humans, wildlife, and the environment.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) stated that its “experts’ review of ProcellaCOR’s active ingredient, florpyrauxifen-benzyl, with Department of Health, and EPA have not identified any concerns regarding the toxicity or persistence of florpyrauxifen-benzyl when used as labeled in the ProcellaCOR EC product.”

The June 29th application was limited to two areas, a 3.6 acre area and a 4 acre, and a total of 9 gallons of ProcellaCOR was applied. There were no drinking water, swimming, fishing or lawn irrigation restrictions associated with the application in or around the locations where the Procella was applied.

The Parks Commission published the results of water sampling that was done an hour after the application, and at other times over three days, and underwater videos taken at the two locations, Sheep Meadow Bay and Blairs Bay, taken one month after the herbicide application.

“In the post-treatment videos of Sheep Meadow Bay, you will note the brown and deteriorating Eurasian Water Milfoil (EWM) plants laying prostrate on the sediment, with a variety of native plants remaining green and erect in the treatment area. “Sections of the treatment site, prior to the application, approached nearly 100% EWM coverage, while other sections had widely scattered to moderate/dense native plant populations.

“In the Blairs Bay video, the EWM bed in the northern part of the bay is starting to deteriorate and collapse, turning brown and curling at the top of the plants. The EWM bed in the southern part of Blairs Bay is prostrate down on the sediment with significant deterioration of the EWM plants.”