House Republican questions bill to ban 'cyanide bombs'

The devices are used by federal land managers to kill wolves and other predators. Some momentum has built to outlaw them.

July 22, 2022

| A bill outlawing use of so-called cyanide bombs on public lands triggered painful memories but only a muted debate yesterday.

For Idaho resident Mark Mansfield, a family physician, a hearing on the devices that federal land managers use to kill wolves and other predators spurred thoughts of his son’s late dog. The yellow lab, Kasey, died in 2017 when Mansfield’s son accidentally set off one of the bombs. “This M-44 cyanide bomb, set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services program, stole a cherished member of my family, an irreplaceable piece of my son’s innocence and my entire community’s sense of security,” Mansfield said.

 

One member of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Oceans and Wildlife noted that the cyanide device-banning bill by Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), H.R. 4951, raises policy concerns. The panel’s top Republican, Rep. Cliff Bentz (R-Ore.) made public a letter from Jeff Crane, the chief executive officer of the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation, which opposes the bill.

 

"The employment of M-44s is highly regulated and follows stringent standards to ensure safety for humans, non-target wildlife, and pets," Crane wrote.

Neither Republican nor Democratic lawmakers, though, actively defended the use of cyanide bombs during a hearing that covered four separate bills, and the Agriculture Department did not present testimony on DeFazio’s proposal, an absence which frustrated several subcommittee members.

“We deserve to have a robust discussion with these agencies,” Bentz said. DeFazio’s bill, also dubbed "Canyon's Law" would prohibit the use of the M-44 devices — spring-activated traps that disperse cyanide granules – on lands managed by the National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service, Bureau of Reclamation and the Bureau of Land Management. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) introduced a companion yesterday.

 

'Highly effective tool'

 

Canyon Mansfield was 14 years old in in March 2017 when he accidentally set off an M-44 device on BLM property near his family’s Pocatello, Idaho-area home. Mansfield said his son suffered “excruciating headaches” for a month after being exposed to the sodium cyanide that killed his dog (Greenwire, June 8, 2017). “These devices are a threat to people, pets and wildlife,” said Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), the panel chair. DeFazio first introduced the legislation in 2017 following the Idaho incident, but the bill also cites at least 42 people involved in accidents with the devices since 1984. According to a 2017 USDA report, the Wildlife Services program "annually averaged the known take of 13,959 target [species] and 362 nontarget species" with the cyanide bombs between fiscal 2011 and fiscal 2015.

 

"The high percentage of target take represents a highly effective tool in wildlife damage management," the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service report stated.

The USDA Wildlife Services agency announced last month it would suspend the use of M-44 devices in Idaho through 2024 while it prepares an environmental impact statement. That move follows a 2020 lawsuit filed by Western Watersheds Project, WildEarth Guardians and Predator Defense (Greenwire, June 30).

“I assert that public lands managers do not need any so-called ‘tool’ that can indiscriminately poison children, kill pets and devastate families,” Mansfield said.

 

Reclamation, stamp, turtle bills

 

The subcommittee also heard testimony on three other measures, including one from Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.), H.R. 8090, that would reauthorize funding for the Bureau of Reclamation's Climate Change and Water Program. The program assesses the impacts of climate change on the water resources and develops strategies to address water shortages, conflicts and other impacts to water users across major basins.

 

The program's last authorization began in fiscal 2009 and is set to expire next year. “We can no longer deny the impacts of climate change on our water supply and must work together as one to adapt to the critical hydrological conditions in our watersheds,” said Adel Hagekhalil, general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. The subcommittee also discussed Michigan Rep. Tim Walberg's (R) H.R. 7975, which would allow the issuance of a Great Lakes Restoration Semipostal Stamp, with the proceeds going to EPA's Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

 

A fourth bill, H.R. 7918, from Rep. Bill Keating (D-Mass.), would create a $5 million-a-year Sea Turtle Rescue Assistance Grant Program in the Commerce Department.

“We believe there are four to five thousand sea turtles a year that are [becoming stranded],” said Charles Innis, director of animal health for the New England Aquarium, adding that the grant program would “improve our ability to provide care to stranded sea turtles in the U.S. and…our ability to understand the value and long-term outcome of our efforts.”


By:  Michael Doyle
Source: E&E Daily