Success Story: ACAT

AYEA students are provided hands on training before lobbying the Legislature.

Organization: Alaska Community Action on Toxics

ACF Support in 2005: $50,721

Project: HB 19: The Pesticide Right to Know Bill

On June 7, 2005, Governor Murkowski signed HB 19 into law. This new law requires registration of pesticides and other broadcast chemicals in the state of Alaska through the Department of Environmental Conservation and includes an onsite public notification requirement when pesticides are applied in public areas.

Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT) took the statewide lead on HB 19, putting pressure on legislators and working with numerous partners, including ACF grantees Alaska Youth for Environmental Action (AYEA), Alaska Center for the Environment (ACE) and Alaska Conservation Voters (ACV).

Representative Kevin Meyers (R-Anchorage) was the sponsor of the bill. As an asthmatic, he came from a personal connection to pesticides as possible allergens or asthma triggers. This bill is a good first step forward in protecting the public from exposure to harmful chemicals, and puts Alaska up to speed with the rest of the states in imposing. Alaska Youth for Environmental Action students take to the Capitol to lobby for the pesticide right-to-know.

In a related success story, ACAT helped to pressure Klukwan Inc to relinquish their aerial pesticide permit issued in March by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). ACAT worked with federally recognized tribal councils, commercial fishing groups, subsistence users and health care experts to point out the defects in the permit. Scientific evidence provided by the partners proved that aerial application of the pesticides proposed by Klukwan Inc would have adverse effects on aquatic ecosystems, subsistence foods and human health.

In the coming year, ACAT will continue to support ongoing efforts to convince elected officials to ban aerial spraying for forestry management purposes. ACAT is also attempting to put a citizen’s initiative on the 2006 ballot that will protect children in schools and childcare facilities from the harmful use of pesticides under the Children’s Health Protection Act.

ACAT’s mission is: to assure justice by advocating for environmental and community health, believing that everyone has the right to clean air, clean water, and toxic-free food. ACAT works to eliminate the production and release of harmful chemicals by industry and military sources; ensure community right-to-know; achieve policies based on the precautionary principle; and support the rights and sovereignty of Indigenous peoples. The Alaska Conservation Foundation has provided $289,643 of support to ACAT since 2000.