FACT: Agent Orange is not in use, or being considered. Nalcor Energy was considering using Tordon 101 and Sylgard 309 for vegetation control along its new power lines, but has since reconsidered. The company has yet to settle on herbicides for use.
The comment made by economist Jim Feehan while at the Muskrat Falls Inquiry was qualified by saying the herbicides he thought were being used were something “related to” Agent Orange, and he wasn't sure. However, Agent Orange has been mentioned in other forums in relation to the project's powerlines, and the comment could be alarming.
Agent Orange is a herbicide and famously about 20 million gallons of it was reportedly dumped in Southeast Asia from 1962 to 1971, as part of U.S. efforts to defoliate the countryside in Vietnam during the war. It is a mix of two chemical acids known as 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid (2,4-d) and 2,4,5,-Tricholophenoxyacetic Acid (2,4,5-t), plus 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-P-Dioxin (TCDD) — a toxic dioxin. The chemical’s use resulted in cancers, birth defects and otherwise devastated the health of individuals around the world exposed to the plant killer.
Agent Orange was just one of a collection of “rainbow herbicides” associated with the Vietnam War. Agent White is another, with a different chemical makeup from Agent Orange.
Agent White is a mix of 2,4-d and picloram. These two chemicals are still used in North America in the herbicide mix sold commercially as Tordon 101 – one of two herbicides originally proposed to keep brush back from power towers along the Labrador-Island Transmission Link, part of the Muskrat Falls project.
The two herbicides named in 2010 in the environmental assessment for the transmission line were Tordon 101 and Sylgard 309. Their usage was and is regulated by Health Canada.
As The Telegram reported, the use of 2,4-d herbicides (Tordon 101 includes 2,4-d) became the focus of some controversy, with accusations of increased risk of cancers, ultimately resulting in Health Canada stepping in. But a subsequent decision in 2016 stated 2,4-d does not increase the risk of cancer under the conditions of use, and “there are no reasonable grounds to believe that 2,4-d may cause an unacceptable health risk under the current conditions of use in Canada.” It went on to also state there are no reasonable grounds to believe the environmental risks are unacceptable under their conditions of use. Similar confidence had been previously expressed by the United States Environmental Protection Administration.
Regardless, the Labrador-Island Transmission Link plans are changing, with The Telegram told new herbicides are being considered and no final decision made.
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Nalcor Energy has said herbicides are expected to be used about once every seven to 10 years in the different areas of the transmission line corridor — less frequently in areas with slower growth. Herbicides are used in conjunction with mechanical clearing. The environmental review described spraying by hand as workers moved from one area to another along the line by truck.
The use of chemicals to keep back vegetation from power lines is highly regulated, under provincial and federal legislation. The corporation also requires notification to municipalities for any application of herbicides within town boundaries.
Not managing plant life and letting it approach the lines increases the risk of things like power arcing from the line to the ground, being a safety risk for both line workers and the public.
More recently in the news there has been a great deal of coverage related to common at-home herbicides. A focus is RoundUp and the weed killer’s active ingredient glyphosate. Apart from legal cases, a flurry of news coverage in August followed a report from the U.S.-based Environmental Working Group on the discovery of the active ingredient in popular breakfast cereals. It's worth noting, there are differences in the form and function of the rainbow herbicides versus glyphosate herbicides.