The Colorado Horse Council has joined a Pitkin County rancher in challenging an ordinance enacted by the Town of Carbondale that prohibits the use of all fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides on any land located with five miles of the Town’s water intake. The ordinance impacts land located outside the Town’s boundaries and bans the use of fertilizers whose application is legal under state and federal law. The prohibition is absolute. The ordinance requires no inquiry into whether the use of particular chemicals actually represents a risk to human health or, for that matter, whether the use of chemicals within five miles of the Town’s watershed has affected or will affect the Town’s water supply.

The case arises out of a rancher’s efforts to control weeds, including noxious weeds that must be controlled under county law, on a 55-acre parcel located in Pitkin County. The rancher used chemical products to control weeds on his property. There was no evidence that use of chemicals exposed anyone to health risks. Nor was there any evidence of chemical contamination or possible chemical contamination of the Town’s water supply as a result of the chemicals’ application to the rancher’s land. Nevertheless, the Town sought and obtained an injunction barring their application.

The rancher appealed, arguing that the Town’s watershed protection ordinance is limited, or preempted, by state statutes that recognize the need to balance the rights of municipalities to protect their water supplies against the rights of landowners to engage in the safe application of widely-used chemicals in compliance with state and federal law. The Colorado Court of Appeals agreed with the rancher and ruled that the trial court had abused its discretion in granting the injunction without considering whether the Town’s watershed protection ordinance conflicted with several state statutes.

The Town appealed to the Colorado Supreme Court seeking to overturn the Court of Appeals decision. At the request of the rancher and others, the Colorado Horse Council has joined with the Colorado Farm Bureau in filing an amicus (friend of the court) brief in the Colorado Supreme Court urging the Court to affirm the Court of Appeals’ decision.

We will keep our members posted on the status of the case in our newsletter and on the Colorado Horse Council web site (www.coloradohorsecouncil.com).