Latest news with #HouseEnvironmentandAgricultureCommittee
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
New Hampshire House defeats proposal to ban rodent glue traps
The bill would have made New Hampshire the first state in the nation to ban adhesive-based rodent traps. (Photo by Dave Cummings/New Hampshire Bulletin) The House voted to indefinitely postpone a bill that would've made New Hampshire the first state in the nation to ban adhesive-based rodent traps. Members voted, 190-140, to indefinitely postpone House Bill 152, which means the topic can't be raised again this year or next. The motion was made by Rep. Judy Aron, the South Acworth Republican who chairs the House Environment and Agriculture Committee, which had recommended, 9-5, that the chamber kill the bill. She argued that glue traps were a nonpoisonous, effective tool used in food storage facilities and in places where there are children and senior citizens, and that banning them would be problematic and easy to circumvent. Meanwhile, those in favor of the bill argued that the traps resulted in slow, painful deaths for rodents and other creatures that they catch unintentionally. Rep. Nicholas Germana, a Keene Democrat, argued that the traps were 'a very primitive form of pest control,' and that better options existed. He said the bill continuously came up because constituents want it. Last year, a similar measure was referred to interim study; a committee voted this fall not to recommend it for future legislation.
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Glue traps called '19th-century solution' as lawmakers push for NH to become first state to ban them
The bill, which would prohibit the sale and use of glue traps, is backed by five Democratic and two Republican sponsors. (Photo by) A proposal would make New Hampshire the first state in the nation to ban adhesive-based rodent traps. Proponents of House Bill 152 say the traps result in slow, immensely painful deaths caused by starving or dehydration, not just for rodents, but also for other creatures they unintentionally catch. Meanwhile, opponents say the ban would be difficult to enforce, and that the traps, when used appropriately, are important tools in preventing rodents from spreading disease. The bill, which would prohibit the sale and use of the traps, is backed by five Democratic and two Republican sponsors. A similar measure was raised last year and referred to interim study, where a committee voted in the fall, 8-5, not to recommend it for future legislation. Rep. Linda Haskins, an Exeter Democrat, told fellow lawmakers on the House Environment and Agriculture Committee in a hearing this month that the traps represent 'a 19th-century solution when 21st-century mitigations are available.' She said supporters of the bill believe it's 'inaccurate' that there are not viable alternatives. 'Today, we have evidence that rodents and other animals caught in glue traps face a slow, painful, and extremely drawn-out death until they die of starvation,' Haskins said. 'In a panic to escape, they often rip off patches of skin fur and even chew off body parts in a vain attempt to free themselves.' She pointed to major retailers — such as Target, Dollar General, Dollar Tree, Rite Aid, and Walgreens — that have stopped carrying the traps, and countries — including Ireland, England, Scotland, Iceland, and New Zealand — that have outlawed them. Haskins said the bill would not affect insect control. Several supporters of the bill — including concerned residents and a representative from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals — testified in Concord in favor of the ban, with 295 people logging their support online, compared to 10 in opposition. But the proposal faced blowback from those within the pest-control industry, the New Hampshire Farm Bureau Federation, and from the head of the state's Department of Agriculture, Markets, and Food. The agency's commissioner, Shawn Jasper, said the traps have been the only effective method in getting squirrels out of his home. 'I have tried virtually every method that has been talked about; they don't work on squirrels,' Jasper said. 'The biggest problem that we have in many of our buildings — my house, with four big, three big maples now — is squirrels. Generally, they spring the (other) traps without getting caught.' He said he would support a ban on using the traps outside — which is an off-label use — and argued that glue traps aren't the only traps that can lead to slow, painful deaths if not checked regularly. Jasper also said the bill would add language under the statute related to the department's authority on pesticide control — but 'this is not a pesticide,' he said. 'If you do nothing else, you need to take this out of (section) 430,' he said in reference to the statute. Tyler Hawkins, a board member of the New England Pest Management Association, said glue traps are important tools used in food facilities, grocery stores, and other places to prevent rodents from spreading disease. Rodents are often root causes in salmonella poisoning and vegetable recalls, he said. Hawkins argued a ban in New Hampshire would 'do us no good,' as the traps could still be purchased in neighboring states. Hawkins and others pointed, instead, to a need to educate people on how to use the traps properly, such as checking them regularly and not placing them outside. He also said there's a way to remove animals that have been unintentionally caught by the traps 'quite easily and effectively,' using vegetable oil, for example, to release the glue. Rob Johnson, the policy director for the New Hampshire Farm Bureau Federation, said the agriculture group opposed the legislation. He said those who use the traps have expressed that they are effective, economical, a better alternative to poison, and that other options don't work as well. Asked by a lawmaker whether he believed the bill would be detrimental to the agriculture community in the state, he said: 'We do.' Rep. Will Darby, a Nashua Democrat and one of the bill's sponsors, said that with an old home, he goes through more snap traps on a yearly basis than he'd like to admit. But he supports the measure because of his concerns about the impacts the traps have on non-target species, and a belief that the glue traps are inhumane. Better solutions exist, he said. Some proponents of banning glue traps said the focus should be on eliminating the route through which rodents are entering a building in the first place, and then capturing rodents within the building and releasing them elsewhere. Haskins provided a long list of alternatives, including innovations like fertility control and ultrasonic devices that sound off alarms that humans can't hear but that drive animals from buildings. 'I think that one of the reasons people buy these, opposed to snap traps, is because they believe that they're easier to use than snap traps are,' Darby said. 'But I think that's deceptive. If you just do a little bit of research, you'll find that, as it's been testified, people don't know what to do with the mice.' Those that use glue traps may find themselves with a live mouse and not know what to do, he said, leading to them getting bitten — possibly furthering the spread of disease — or having to 'smash' the mouse. 'I got no problem smashing a mouse, but most people that are trying to catch these … that's not really their forte,' Darby said. 'So they just walk away and leave them, you know, to ultimately, to starve and die due to lack of water.'
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Bill calling for ability to own gray squirrels, raccoons as pets sparks debate
Feb. 19—The fate of P'Nut the gray squirrel and Fred the raccoon — wild animals that became illegal domestic pets in upstate New York — moved 11 Republican lawmakers who want to make New Hampshire a state that would allow them to become "companion" animals. In October, New York officials confiscated and euthanized both animals after the squirrel bit a wildlife investigator who responded to anonymous complaints. Mark Longo had kept the squirrel for seven years in his rural Pine City home along the Pennsylvania border, and he said it returned after he tried to release it back into the wild. Both animals tested negative for rabies after they were euthanized. P'Nut and Fred had become viral hits on social media with 911,000 followers on Instagram that raised more than $230,000 on a GoFundMe page to try to save them. New Hampshire state Rep. James Spillane, R-Deerfield, said his bill (HB 251) would require that such animals be vaccinated and kept as pets only if a licensed wildlife rehabilitator judged them unable to survive in the wild. "It's very possible someone could have these pets and move here, and being illegal, the authorities here would have to come there and kill them. We don't want the same black eye New York has," Spillane told the House Environment and Agriculture Committee. State wildlife and disease control experts opposed the bill, as did some animal-rights advocates who warned it would upend the natural order and put unwitting citizens at risk of significant health risks. "This bill threatens public health and safety and continues the dangerous trend of keeping wild animals as domestic pets," said Kurt Ehrenberg, state director of the New Hampshire Humane Society. "Keeping wild animals as pets is cruel to the animals themselves." Legal in some states According to the World Population Review, you can own a squirrel as a pet without any paperwork in 13 states, mostly in the far West and South. Massachusetts allows residents to own flying squirrels, not regular squirrels, while Maine and Rhode Island allow them to be owned if the person gets a state permit. Vermont and Rhode Island are among 19 states that allow citizens to own a raccoon. Spillane's bill would let someone moving to New Hampshire to bring a gray squirrel or a raccoon from a state where they were legal without interference as long as the pet is up to date on vaccines. Don Bergeron, a natural sciences manager in the wildlife program at N.H. Fish and Game, said the agency believes these animals should be euthanized if they can't be released back into the wild. In rare cases, Bergeron said, the state has let a wildlife rehabilitator keep a wild animal as a pet for exhibit or educational purposes. For example, Fish and Game confiscated a wild fawn that became so domesticated it would walk into its private owner's garage. That deer now lives at the Squam Lake Education Center in Holderness, Bergeron said. Colleen Smith, chief of the state Bureau of Infectious Disease Control, said there are no approved vaccines for raccoons so, even if given a rabies shot meant for a cat, the animals still could infect their owners or other pets. "Once a human or animal develops rabies symptoms, there is no cure and no treatment, resulting in death nearly 100% of the time," Smith wrote in testimony against the bill. Spillane noted that 15 years ago many state officials opposed a law that allowed the public to keep ferrets as pets, and residents can own rats as pets without a permit. "I don't think it would be much of a problem," Spillane said. The bill would not allow residents to take a red squirrel as a pet. "Red squirrels do not adapt to becoming pets at all," Spillane added. "They are very wild unlike the gray squirrel that can be domesticated." klandrigan@
Yahoo
17-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
To give a boost to homestead kitchens, New Hampshire lawmakers eye changes to regulations
Homestead kitchens can only sell foods that are low risk, meaning they are safe to store at room temperature. (Photo) Business isn't always a piece of cake for homestead sellers. These are residents who bake bread, decorate cookies, can jams, and produce other similar foods for sale straight from their own kitchens. Some feel certain state requirements have made running their small-scale operations more difficult, sapping their time with repetitive labeling changes, limiting where in the home they can prepare their goods, and precluding them from offering food service on a weekly basis without a license. A group of bills backed by bipartisan sponsors would allow for QR code or website ingredient lists in some circumstances, permit once-weekly food service without needing a food service license, open up the opportunity for production spaces outside the home kitchen, and make other tweaks aimed at reducing barriers for home-based food producers. The House Environment and Agriculture Committee heard these bills Tuesday, and has already voted to recommend several of them for passage by the full Legislature. Homestead kitchens can only sell foods that are low risk, meaning they are safe to store at room temperature. This includes breads, cookies, candies, jams and jellies, fudge, double-crusted fruit pies, and other goods, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. They cannot sell things like cheesecakes, soups, pumpkin pies, 'low acid foods such as canned gravies or some canned vegetables,' or other potentially hazardous foods. What makes the difference in whether operators need to be licensed is where they want to sell their goods. You don't need a license if you're selling from your residence, your farmstand, a farmers market, or a retail food store, according to DHHS. But if you want to sell 'to restaurants, other food establishments excluding retail food stores, over the Internet, by mail order or to wholesalers, brokers or other food distributors,' you need a license, the department says. DHHS currently licenses 140 homestead operations, and does not have an estimate for the total number of operators in the state because of the licensure exemptions, according to Maddie Miller, a public health public information officer for the department. The agency has received an increase in inquiries about homestead food operations in the past several years, she said. There are also 15 'self-inspecting' towns and cities where the department advises potential sellers to check to see if they are required to have a license to operate. Some farmers markets may require sellers to be licensed even though it's not required by the state, the department noted. Here are the measures lawmakers are considering to support home-based food production. Often, home-based food producers change their offerings with the season. Even the weekly variance of what they harvest from their gardens may result in a slight change in recipes, such as swapping out the type of berries they use in their muffins. But every changed ingredient necessitates a new label, which is required of both licensed and unlicensed homestead operations. These labels, much like food labels you'd find in a grocery store, require a list of ingredients in descending order by weight, as well as a list of major food allergens. They also require information identifying the seller, the name of the product, and whether they are an exempt operation or licensed by DHHS, and other details. House Bill 304, led by Dover Democratic Rep. Peter Bixby, would make it so that the list of ingredients on the good's packaging can be replaced with a QR code or website where customers can find the list, still organized by weight. It still must include other standard labeling information, including the list of allergens, on the physical packaging of the food. This option to streamline labeling could only be used by those selling out of their homes or their own farm stands. Those selling goods in other ways – at farmers markets or online, for instance – must still have the ingredients listed out on the physical packaging. The bill also makes explicit in law that producers may list either a physical or email address on their labeling, which Bixby said was an important safety element. It also cleans up language in the statute that makes reference to the sales cap that was previously on homestead food operations, which lawmakers did away with in recent years. Addie Leader-Zavos, who runs a small market farm and farm store with her husband in Dunbarton, said the bill would save them time and money. They sell five items, but because they rotate ingredients seasonally, that amounts to 'hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of labels,' Leader-Zavos said. 'I don't know if any of you have ever had a screaming fight with your printer when you are under pressure, but it is not fun, and it is a huge barrier to be able to do business efficiently,' she said. She said the bill would make a significant difference for producers, while still keeping consumers safe and featuring allergens on the physical packaging of goods. The committee voted, 13-0, to recommend the bill for passage. Another measure, House Bill 371, would change the parameters of what qualifies as an 'occasional food service establishment' so that these producers could operate once a week. That definition is important because those that fall under it are not required to obtain a food service license. 'We want our food producers to offer clear messaging about when their product will be available, and this allows for more consistent offering of the product on an occasional basis,' said Rep. Judy Aron, a South Acworth Republican who chairs the committee and is sponsoring the measure. Under current law, this term is defined as an establishment where food is served on premises no more than four days in a 30-day period. The bill would change that to four days in a 28-day period, which would allow for a once-weekly operation, and alter the language to specify that the food may be consumed off the premises. Leader-Zavos said changing the wording of the current law to allow for take-away food would help lower barriers for home operators who don't have the furnishings, parking spaces, or physical space to accommodate customers consuming their food on premises. The committee recommended, 13-0, that the Legislature pass this bill. One lucrative niche in home-based food production is intricately decorated sugar cookies, said Leader-Zavos. These bakers may wish to use another room in their home to sit down and decorate, but under New Hampshire law, they can produce homestead food only from the home kitchen of their residence. House Bill 307, also led by Bixby, would change that to also allow food to be produced in 'a food production area in the person's primary residence that meets the water supply and sanitary requirements established in rules adopted under RSA 541-A,' the administrative procedure act. The bill would help address a simple, human reality for many home-based food producers, a large portion of whom are women with children earning supplemental income for their families, Leader-Zavos said. 'One of the the things that I hear over and over and over and over again from this this type of producer is, 'I can't keep my kids out of the things that I'm making for my customers, and I can't keep my husband out of the things that I'm making for my customers,'' Leader-Zavos said to laughs from lawmakers. She argued it could improve food safety by allowing home food producers to have a separate space in their home where they can close off their ingredients or production process. DHHS officials raised some concerns about food safety, since the safety regulations are designed for kitchens. 'We just want to make sure that if we remove 'kitchen' that we're not unintentionally allowing for these spaces to be used without meeting those sanitary requirements,' said Erica Davis, the administrator for the food protection section within DHHS' public health services division. Leader-Zavos said home food producers are highly incentivized to follow proper food safety procedures. 'New Hampshire is a lot of small towns where people know each other, and they know the practices of what people are doing,' she said. 'And so I think that if there was a question about someone's sanitation or a product being moldy or something like that, I think the word would absolutely get out quickly.' That kind of bad local publicity 'would kill our business before DHHS found out about it,' said her husband, Michael Williams. He also argued that by making business easier for home-based food producers, the state will attract more operators like them, who have background in professional kitchens and are therefore better informed about proper food safety practices. The committee did not vote on a recommendation for this bill Tuesday. It also heard, but has not yet voted on, House Bill 150, which would make it explicit in law that home food producers can use commercial kitchen equipment, provided it can be properly cleaned in the processing area. It also unanimously recommended for passage House Bill 279, which would establish a study committee for recipe and process approval for homestead foods.
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bill elevates soil type in debate over how far NH landfills should be from water sources
Rochester Republican Rep. Kelley Potenza, right, presents her bill to establish site-specific setback requirements for landfills. (Photo by Claire Sullivan/New Hampshire Bulletin) Concerned advocates and lawmakers have said the state's recently updated regulations would allow a landfill to be built almost anywhere in the state. A bipartisan bill is trying to change that. House Bill 707, led by Rochester Republican Rep. Kelley Potenza, is based on a simple idea: Different types of soil are more permeable than others. For that reason, proponents of the bill argue, how close a landfill can be built to a water source should be based on the specific characteristics of that site, not one fixed distance that is applied to all facilities. A landfill must be a set minimum distance from certain types of water sources under the state's regulations. For wetlands and certain types of streams, it can be no closer than 200 feet; for others, it's 500 feet. It also cannot be within 1,000 feet of a 'surface water reservoir or intake used for a community drinking water supply.' This legislation would base a landfill's setback from water on time, not distance. It would make it so new landfills are sited only in areas where it would take at least five years for pollution, in the event of a leak, to reach a water source. It also strengthens a number of other requirements related to permitting landfills in the state. 'The real New Hampshire advantage is to have clean drinking water and wonderful, clean spaces,' Potenza told her fellow lawmakers on the House Environment and Agriculture Committee at a hearing Tuesday. 'We have nothing if we don't have that.' The bill is a response to the recently approved updates to the state's landfill regulations – which Potenza described as, 'from one criteria alone, the weakest rules in the world.' A legislative panel greenlit those rules for adoption in December. Though lawmakers on the committee expressed concerns that the rules were not adequately protective, all but one voted in favor of approving them, arguing the critiques were policy issues for the Legislature to take up and outside the purview of the oversight panel. The action comes as one crucial landfill battle in the state appears close to an end. Gov. Kelly Ayotte said in her inaugural address last month that a new landfill proposed by the Vermont-based company Casella Waste Systems in the tiny, northern town of Dalton near Forest Lake would not go forward. But, as a host of landfill bills up for debate this legislative session signal, the yearslong fight of advocates and lawmakers dedicated to waste issues doesn't end with the Dalton landfill. 'It's not about one project,' Potenza said. 'Right now, the rules will allow a landfill to be put pretty much anywhere. So if the rules are not rewritten, some company could come in – could come to Nashua, could come to Keene, Concord, wherever – and find another terrible tract of land and claim that the rules entitle them to build there.' Her bill aims to change that. It would require the Department of Environmental Services to establish a site-specific setback distance for new landfills, which must 'be sufficient to prevent any contaminated groundwater at any part of the landfill footprint or leachate storage or piping infrastructure from reaching any perennial river, lake, or coastal water of New Hampshire within 5 years.' It would require permit applicants, at their own expense, to hire a hydrogeologist – one that 'has never worked with or been contracted through a third party with any applicant's current or previous projects' – to help assess the site. The bill provides a method for calculating the five-year setback distance. It also seeks to address another point of contention in the rules: the standard for 'hydraulic conductivity,' which essentially describes the rate at which pollution would move through the ground in the event of a leak. The state's regulations require that the soil 5 feet below the footprint of a landfill have a representative saturated hydraulic conductivity of 0.001 centimeters per second or less. Alternatively, it can import a 2-foot base of soil that could be permeable enough that pollution could pass through it in just eight days. Amy Manzelli, an attorney with BCM Environmental & Land Law representing the citizen group North Country Alliance for Balanced Change, called the imported soil rule 'a loophole so big you can drive a Mack truck through it.' She told lawmakers, in response to a question, that she believes it effectively allows a landfill to be sited anywhere in the state. The bill would ax the imported soil loophole and provide a stricter hydraulic conductivity standard of 0.00001 centimeters per second or less. (The slower the rate, the slower the pollution moves through the ground in the event of a leak.) That would apply to soils 20 feet below the landfill footprint, as well as underneath 'all leachate storage and transfer infrastructure.' It would also require landfill permit applicants to plan for 200-year storm events 'in relation to design, maintenance, leachate management, etc.,' a more serious weather event than the regulations currently require they prepare for. There were a few parts of the bill where Potenza said she 'got a little aggressive, and those are up for some changes.' She pointed to a part of the bill that would prohibit the department from issuing a permit to operate a landfill 'to any applicant who has been found in violation of any federal, state, or local environmental laws, regulations, or permit conditions anywhere in the United States.' Perhaps, she suggested, this could be changed to repeated violations. She also suggested changing part of the legislation that would prevent a landfill from being permitted within 10 miles of another landfill or a 'groundwater contamination active Superfund site.' Both those requirements would pose practical challenges, said Michael Wimsatt, director of the solid waste management division of DES. He said, because of the number of landfill requirements, 'there's always going to be violations.' And because of the state's 22 Superfund sites, its number of active landfills, and its 300 unlined landfills, he said he wasn't sure 'any of the state would be left' if a 10-mile radius was drawn around each of those facilities. Wimsatt also raised the question of whether the bill should include expansions of existing facilities. 'It's not clear to the department why the members of a community where the facility exists deserve less protective conditions than the members of a community where a new facility is being proposed,' he said. Wimsatt made a number of other technical comments on the bill, on which he said the department was taking no position. He said the agency would be available to assist the committee as it did further work on the bill. Wayne Morrison, the president of the North Country Alliance for Balanced Change, a solid waste advocacy group run by volunteers, said the site-specific setback for landfills would be essential in buying time to protect water sources in case of an accident. 'We should assume at some point the landfill is going to fail,' Morrison told lawmakers. 'And when it does, the only thing protecting us is that siting criteria that sets it back far enough to prevent the problem from becoming irreversible.'
