Mills vetoes bill banning aerial herbicides on forestland

ASSOCIATED PRESS • June 26, 2021

Gov. Janet Mills has vetoed a bill to ban aerial spraying of some herbicides in forestland in the nation’s most heavily wooded state, but vowed to issue an executive order with stricter rules on spraying. Democratic Senate President Troy Jackson, a fifth-generation logger from Allagash who introduced the legislation, said he was deeply disappointed by the governor’s action on Friday. He asked how much longer the state will tolerate “large landowners” being allowed to spray “poison” to help their bottom line.