BY MEG HASKELL

Bangor Daily News

Rainy weather has left Maine's 55,000 acres of potato fields sodden, creating a perfect environment for a virulent fungal disease known as potato late blight.

At an emergency meeting Wednesday in Orono, members of the state's Board of Pesticides Control voted to temporarily override existing regulations and issue licenses quickly to out-of-state aerial pesticide applicators.

It can take a month or more for aerial sprayers from other states to go through the process of getting licensed in Maine. By then, the opportunity may have passed to prevent late blight from decimating Maine's $125 million potato crop, said Henry Jennings, director of the pesticides board.

Potato late blight was responsible for crop failures in Ireland of the 1840s.

Leaves of plants infected with the fungus turn black and the potatoes rot in the soil. Those tubers that appear sound enough to harvest typically rot in storage.

Russell Libby, of Mount Vernon, director of the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, raised concerns about the proposal.

Maine's regulations regarding aerial pesticide applications are protective, he said, and bypassing the more intensive training required by law could result in violations of rules regarding notification of neighbors and chemical drift.

The vote was 5-0, with two absences, to support the emergency rulemaking.

The changes likely will go into effect for 90 days beginning today.