Residents Heading to Hartford to Support School Pesticide Ban Bill

Middletown Recycling Coordinator Kim O'Rourke and resident and Project Green Lawn member Rebecca MacLachlan are headed to Hartford Tuesday to speak at the Children's Committee in support of extending the school pesticide ban to include high schools.

In an email, MacLachlan asks residents to contact their legislators, including Sen. Dante Bartolomeo, co-chair of the children's committee if they support S.B. No. 981, which extends the pesticide ban on school grounds, now only applicable to kindergarten through eighth grade.

Last March, MacLachlan testified in front of the Legislative Environment Committee:

"Mayor Daniel Drew of Middletown is another mayor that has formally asked for thelawncare pesticide exemption to be removed. We are situated along the CT River in Middletown, like a number of other towns and cities in Connecticut. We should have theright to protect the waterways around us. Drinking water from wells are polluted fromthe toxins in lawncare pesticides. Towns and cities need to be able to protect their drinking water," she said.

Last March, MacLachlan was recognized for her leadership in the 2002 effort to protect the environment and the safety of people in Connecticut as part of the successful “Sooty Six” campaign. She and others were selected from more than 100 nominees to receive one of Toxics Action Center’s 25 Years of Victories Awards. 

Sen. Bartolomeo can be reached at 860-240-0441 or 800-842-1420 or email here.

To join O'Rourke and MacLachlan, email rebmac@cshore.com or kimorourke3@gmail.com.

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