Local Governments Must Take Action to Protect the Public from Toxic Pesticides and Fertilizers in Massachusetts

Residents of Massachusetts seeking to protect their families and the environment from pesticides are facing an obstacle in the state legislature. Four towns—Orleans, Wellfleet, Truro, and Eastham— have passed local ordinances; however, the home rule petition process prevents these common-sense protections from going into effect until both chambers of the legislature approve the measures.

From Hawai'i to Maine and Maryland, local towns and municipalities across the United States have taken steps to protect the public from hazardous pesticide drift, runoff, and exposure by passing pesticide and fertilizer ordinances.

For this reason, Bay Staters are calling on their local governments to take action, including calling on town or city Managers/Administrators/Mayors to urge town or city councils/Select Boards to put pesticide and fertilizer ordinances to a vote for local approval prior to authorization by the state legislature.

>> Ask your town/city council/Select Board and town/city Manager, Administrator, or Mayor to take leadership on environmental and public health protections from toxic pesticides and fertilizers! [If your town does not show up on the next page, please see here and here for sample messages to the executive branch and see here and here for the legislative branch. Please see here for a list of all municipalities in Massachusetts to confirm the appropriate targeted message.]

During the first Trump Administration, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) waived a requirement that Syngenta, a chemical company, monitor Midwest waterways for the presence of atrazine. This weakening of policies is consistent with the establishment of the Navigable Waters Protection Rule by the first Trump Administration, a precursor to the eventual U.S. Supreme Court decision in Sackett v. EPA (2023) in which Clean Water Act (CWA) protections are only applied to contiguous “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS), excluding groundwater, ephemeral streams, and critical wetland ecosystems not directly connected to waterbodies clearly defined under the WOTUS definition. The broad goals of CWA can be met only if agencies adopt a consistent “broadest possible constitutional interpretation” of WOTUS.

[Unfortunately, the saga of deregulation continues as Congress weighs voting on the PERMIT Act, or Promoting Efficient Review for Modern Infrastructure Today Act, which would make sweeping changes to CWA with serious consequences that will undermine water quality, pesticide oversight, and community right-to-know.]

Bodies of surface water do not exist as independent entities. Intermittent streams flow into rivers and lakes. Ponds, ditches, and wetlands may feed lakes and streams either directly or through groundwater. Contaminants of intermittent or ephemeral water bodies can affect wildlife dependent on them, as well as the waters to which they are connected. The toxic soup in many U.S. waterways is unsustainable and threatens the foundation of many food chains. Imbalances in aquatic environments can ripple throughout the food web, creating trophic cascades that further exacerbate health and environmental damage. Studies of major rivers and streams find that 90% of fish, 100% of surface water samples, and 41% of major aquifers contain one or more pesticides at detectable levels. Almost 90% of water samples contain at least five or more different pesticides. Furthermore, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reports at least 143 pesticides and 21 pesticide transformation/breakdown products (metabolites) in the groundwater of over 43 states. In addition, research conducted by Yale University and the University of Massachusetts determined that the Sackett decision “endangered the drinking water sources of at least 117 million Americans by stripping protections from over half of the nation's wetlands, as well as up to nearly 5 million miles of rain-dependent and seasonal streams that feed into rivers, lakes, and estuaries.”

This issue is not adequately addressed in the Commonwealth. Various state agencies and independent reports in recent years, from Wisconsin to Connecticut, emphasize the degree to which pesticides leach into private water wells and move into public waterways. Approximately four in ten private wells in the state of Wisconsin contain toxic pesticides and pesticide metabolites, according to findings released last year from a 2023 survey, entitled Wisconsin Agricultural Chemicals in Wisconsin Groundwater, conducted by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection (DATCP) in partnership with U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). Meanwhile, in the neighboring state of Connecticut, based on data collected from USGS, EPA, and independent monitoring, a multidisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Connecticut finds that 46% of Connecticut waterway samples are contaminated with levels of the neonicotinoid insecticide, imidacloprid—one of the most widely used insecticides in the United States on lawn and golf courses.

In an era of federal deregulation under legacy environmental statutes, with funding under threat, it is imperative for local governments to take up the responsibility to provide baseline protections that are consistent with scientific understanding of the natural world. There are numerous other ways to take action as well, including voting with your dollar by making the swap to organic when feasible through Eating with a Conscience and signing up to become an advocate by creating a movement in your community to move to alternative pest management strategies through the Parks for a Sustainable Future program.

The Targets for this Action are local city/town councils, select boards, and/or town administrators, managers, and mayors in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Thank you for your active participation and engagement! The Action is a multi-step process, so please click submit below to proceed to step two, where you will be able to personalize comments before final submission. The comment maximum limit is 4,000 characters, so it may be necessary to delete some of our prepared message text if editing.

For more information, please see the Orleans town webpage for the model ordinance and Daily News here to learn more about the home rule petition process in Massachusetts.

Local Legislative Branch that Opted Out of SRMCB, town/city Council or Select Board [Original text from February 5, 2026]

Please hold a hearing, put up for a vote, and pass a pesticide and fertilizer ordinance, modeled on ordinances proposed in the towns of Wellfleet, Orleans, Truro, and Eastham.

The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), which authorizes the registration of pesticides, was written to allow local jurisdictions in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and in every state, to restrict the use of pesticides. The federal law established pesticide restrictions as a floor, not a ceiling. The intent and spirit of FIFRA was tested in the Supreme Court in the 1991 case of Wisconsin v. Mortier, when the court upheld the right of localities to adopt more stringent standards than the federal government.

Our municipality already embraces the precautionary approach in our choice to either opt out of the unnecessary state mosquito spraying program before its expiration date in 2022 or oversee its own mosquito management outside of a mosquito control project or district. While this is a start to protect ecological stability and public health, it is not enough. Since Massachusetts relies on the federal government and FIFRA for regulating pesticide use in the state, it seems illogical, in our view, to take away a local democratic authority embedded in that very same federal law.

Congress recognized, and the Supreme Court upheld, the right of local jurisdictions to regulate the use of pesticides more stringently than the state and federal governments, recognizing the hazardous nature of these substances alongside a need to protect residents’ health, safety, general welfare, and the local ecosystem. Zoning bylaws, which establish allowable land use, should include the authority over pesticide and fertilizer use in the community.

In a climate of severe deregulation, with the elimination of federal programs affecting pesticide regulation and monies provided to states, it is even more critical that local governments act on behalf of their residents. Our petition for local authority to the state legislature represents the will of local communities and their elected officials to engage in decisions that affect the short- and long-term human health consequences of chemical-intensive pest management.

In this spirit, please hold a hearing and vote in favor of a local home rule petition to put in place a pesticide and fertilizer ordinance that protects the public well-being of children, families, and our local communities, while balancing economic and public health emergencies!

Thank you!

Local Executive Branch that Opted Out of SRMCB, Mayor, town/city Manager, or Administrator [Original text from February 5, 2026]

Please hold a hearing, put up for a vote, and pass a pesticide and fertilizer ordinance, modeled on ordinances proposed in the towns of Wellfleet, Orleans, Truro, and Eastham. And once it is passed by your town/city council, I urge you to vote in favor of this provision so it can move forward to the Commonwealth legislature.

Thank you!

Local Legislative Branch that DID NOT Opt Out of SRMCB, town/city Council or Select Board [Original text from February 5, 2026]

Please hold a hearing, put up for a vote, and pass a pesticide and fertilizer ordinance, modeled on ordinances proposed in the towns of Wellfleet, Orleans, Truro, and Eastham.

Since Massachusetts relies on the federal government and FIFRA for regulating pesticide use in the state, it seems illogical, in our view, to take away a local democratic authority embedded in that very same federal law.

Thank you!

Local Executive Branch that DID NOT Opt-Out of SRMCB, Mayor, town/city Manager, or Administrator [Original text from February 5, 2026]

Thank you!