Committee considers bill to limit pesticide remediation obligations for former Sunflower Army property

The Senate Commerce Committee heard testimony on House Bill 2340, which would amend KSA 65‑34‑53 to narrow state authority to require remediation or recover costs for certain commercial pesticides applied by the U.S. Army before February 2005 on nonresidential property in Johnson County previously owned by the Army.

John Peterson, representing Sunflower Redevelopment LLC (SRL), described two decades of work to redevelop the former Army facility and said SRL negotiated cleanup responsibilities with the Army and state agencies as part of the property transfer. Peterson said the bill would add a subsection prohibiting state agencies from issuing cleanup orders, seeking cost recovery, promulgating regulations, or otherwise making owners of affected nonresidential parcels responsible for investigation or remediation of soil, groundwater, or surface water where legally registered pesticidal commercial chemical products were applied by the Army prior to 02/2005. The bill would apply retroactively, Peterson said, and would be removed if the property…