As a state senator, Hooser introduced legislation to regulate agricultural spraying near schools, following three incidents of possible exposure in three years. It was defeated for lack of definitive cause, but he said a voluntary ban on spraying near the Waimea schools was reached.
“That was the first indication for me that there may be some serious issues here with pesticides and herbicides from industrial agricultural operations as opposed to small family farms,” Hooser said."
“I am doing my homework right now to try to figure out what exactly is happening,” he said. “What is clear to me is that it is a combination of things happening that is a problem, but what the source of that problem is, and what the solution is I don’t know.”
At some point, the data will make it clear if more regulation is needed, he said. The concern of adjacent communities regarding health or leasing farmland is a powerful statement, he said.
Waimea resident Gordon LaBedz, M.D. of the Surfrider Foundation-Kaua‘i chapter, said the EPA statistics show that agriculture is responsible for about 50 percent of land and water pollution in the U.S. Citizens are primarily responsible for the other half through urban runoff.
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