By KIRSTEN LASKEY
Los Alamos Daily Post
kirsten@ladailypost.com

The ban on the County’s use of glyphosate on its properties remains in place.

Los Alamos County Council voted 6-1 to keep the ban, with Councilor Keith Lepsch in opposition, during the regular council meeting Tuesday night.

Lepsch proposed revising the ban, stating his concerns about the weeds that grew in the cracks in the Los Alamos County Airport’s runway, which poses safety risks to planes and helicopters such as Classic Air Medical, which Lepsch works for as a flight nurse.

“It is unrealistic, I think, to have crews walking down the runway with weed whackers, chewing weeds out of the runway so there has to be a different solution for that,” he said. “Additionally, the growth of weeds on the runway will cause premature damage and failure to the runway – plane propellers can’t run down the runway and hit weeds – that’s not OK for planes or for their propellers. It’s not environmentally friendly to replace an entire runway prematurely because we let weeds grow through it and crack and destroy it.”

He added he sees workers using gas-powered machinery to address weeds along the retaining wall by the airport, which also is not environmentally friendly, and it is a strain on County workers because the same personnel address street repairs.

Lepsch advocated for glyphosate on County-owned property where there is limited to no public access, arguing that this pesticide is considered “innocuous”, based on his research.

Los Alamos County Manager Steven Lynne said he was supportive of amending the ban, saying that a more balanced approach could be taken. However, Community Services Department Director Cory Styron pointed out that alternatives to glyphosate were being evaluated and it was too early to see the impacts of the ban.

“I think we are really early in the game,” Styron said. “I think we need another season to continue to look at and refine what we are doing.”

He added he felt whatever alternatives for glyphosate were selected, it should be an operational decision.

Environmental Sustainability Board (ESB) Chair Shannon Blair said the ESB could play a role in the decision.
“I really like to encourage you to task the ESB with that,” she said, “We are happy to work with County staff to come up with appropriate solutions to this …”

Dina Pesenson, who led the effort to ban the pesticide while serving on ESB, put her criticism of the proposed amendment to the ban bluntly: it is a waste of time.

She pointed out that there were multiple presentations that listed numerous sources regarding glyphosate and the issues Lepsch touched on had been discussed previously.

“We’re basically wasting our time right now … and I am getting tired of restating this information for the eighth year in a row,” Pesenson said.

“We are not trying to go chemical free,” she added. “We had very clear, free offers from professional organizations offering to give us guidance … why don’t we use that? Our staff is stressed, we do not want to stress our staff and part of the presentation was a discussion specifically on why we can afford to provide more resources to the department to handle this without stressing the staff ….”

Councilor Suzie Havemann made the motion to uphold the ban and supported the idea of ESB assisting in identifying alternatives to the pesticide. She pointed out that the board’s work plan is being developed and this task could be added to it.

“Why not – we need all the help we can get,” Havemann said. “…I would like to see Los Alamos as a leader on these things, on topics like this … we agreed in our strategic plan that environmental stewardship was one of our most paramount principles and that included protection of natural resources.”

In other businesses, the County Council did the following:

• Unanimously approved several resolutions related to road work projects. These include submitting applications to the New Mexico Transportation Department for funding for reconstructing Rose Street, replacing streetlights with LED lights and updating the pedestrian plan. The resolution to submit an application to the state transportation department for funds to implement Bluetooth Travel Time and Origin and Destination data collection equipment, software and platform passed 6-1 with Councilor David Reagor opposed.
• Unanimously passed a motion approving a term sheet for the Jemez Mountain Fire Protection Project. The term sheet documents understandings between the County and Pajarito Recreation LP concerning the joint pursuit for the project. The motion further approved that the County Manager should execute the term sheet and pursue and apply for grant funding for the project.
• Heard a brief update on capital improvement projects in advance of the April budget discussions. Regarding installing a shade structure for the ice rink and including pickle ball courts, Lynne said both could be considered for CIP funding; although he noted that council had prioritized maintenance over new projects.