Filed Date: 3/22/1978
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/5/2016
Hon. Peter A.A. Berle Commissioner Department of Environmental Conservation
This is in response to your letter of January 17, 1978, in which you request my opinion "as to whether or not Section 33-0303.1 of the Environmental Conservation Law supersedes pesticide regulatory programs currently being conducted by the Onondaga County Health Department".
Section
Pursuant to the provisions of § 33-0303 (3) (e) of the Environmental Conservation Law, the Commissioner of Environmental Conservation has duly adopted comprehensive rules and regulations regarding the certification and standards for licensing of commercial applicators of pesticides, which rules are published in Volume 6, Part 325, of the Official Compilation of Codes, Rules and Regulations of the State of New York. The rules and regulations adopted by the Commissioner of Environmental Conservation include, inter alia: a requirement that an individual engaged in the commercial application of pesticides shall possess a valid commercial applicator certificate issued by the Commissioner (
The aforesaid rules and regulations, when read together with Article 33 of the Environmental Conservation Law, constitute a complete and comprehensive legislative plan for State licensing and regulation of commercial applicators of pesticides throughout the State of New York. The law is clear that where there is a complete and comprehensive legislative scheme for State control and regulation, regulation by local authorities is precluded and, there being no room for local regulation, any local ordinance attempting to impose additional regulation in the same field must be held to be invalid. Matter of Kress Co. v. Dept. ofHealth,
It is clear from a reading of the provisions of the Onondaga County Sanitary Code that such provisions essentially duplicate the State licensing requirements for persons who seek to engage in the business of pest control in Onondaga County.
That the Legislature intended that Article 33 of the Environmental Conservation Law occupy the entire field of pesticide control, that the Commissioner's jurisdiction over the use of pecticides is exclusive, and that the provisions of Environmental Conservation Law, Article 33 preempt the field of pesticide use and control, thus barring local regulation of the use of pesticides, has been expressly held in L.I. Pest Control v.Tn. of Huntington,
I therefore conclude that those provisions of the Onondaga County Sanitary Code which impose licensing requirements for pesticide applicators in the County of Onondaga are invalid as such provisions constitute an attempt by a local governing body to regulate the use of pesticides, which field of regulation has been preempted by the State.