Herbicide spraying on West Chop and near the Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road could begin as early as Friday, after the state pesticide board voted last week not to consider a one-year moratorium on spraying in the region.

The spraying plan has seen strong opposition on the Cape and Islands.

Attorney Bruce Taub had submitted the request for a moratorium on behalf of the towns of Brewster, Orleans and Eastham, in response to a plan by Eversource Energy to resume using herbicides to maintain its power lines. The request lists a number of concerns, including the potential effects on endangered species, ecosystems and aquifers.

The Tisbury board of health and the Martha’s Vineyard Commission have written letters opposing the plan. The commission also has been writing to the state Department of Agriculture, which is responsible for approving the annual operational plans for Eversource.

At its meeting last Thursday, the pesticide board voted 6-1 to take no action on the moratorium request, effectively denying it.

An adjudicatory hearing is set for Oct. 13 before the Division of Administrative Law Appeals, but the spraying will likely have already taken place by then. The appeal was filed on behalf of Chatham, Brewster and Yarmouth, along with Vineyard residents Marjorie Lau and Anne Holmes.

Mr. Taub said Thursday that he planned to seek a restraining order on behalf of the town of Brewster.

MVC administrative assistant Lucy Morrison, who attended the meeting of the state pesticide board last week, said in an email that the vote to take no action centered on the fact that an appeal was already in motion. She said the board felt there was not enough evidence that herbicides could threaten the aquifers, although she said members also acknowledged shortcomings in a state law that governs the use of herbicides.

“They didn’t deny the request, but they said: Thanks for your concern, we are not going to do anything about it,” Ms. Morrison said. Protect Our Cape Cod Aquifer, an advocacy group founded in 2013, has been rallying against the Eversource maintenance plan for some time, including with an online petition that had 1,063 signatures as of this week. State Reps. Dylan Fernandes and Sarah Peake, along with Sen. Julian Cyr, have pressed the state to resume a four-year moratorium on herbicide use by Eversource that began in response to public concern in 2009.

The Cape and Islands delegation is also pushing legislation that would give communities more local control over spraying decisions. The legislative effort has the backing of the Vineyard Conservation Society, which ran a story about it in its Sept. 12 Conservation Almanac. Eversource’s annual operational plans involve a combination of mechanical trimming and targeted herbicide application using backpack sprayers. The utility company has stated that the program promotes lower growing plants that in turn require lower amounts of herbicides to control from year to year.

Many say they felt stifled in their opposition to the plan.

Stephen Power, who lives near the power lines in Vineyard Haven and supports the one-year moratorium, said his own efforts to reach out to the state have fallen on deaf ears. “The whole undemocratic nature of this seems totally unfair,” he told the Gazette this week.

The request submitted by Mr. Taub points out that next year will mark the start of a new five-year vegetation management plan by Eversource, and that the time frame for pursuing an adjudicatory hearing will be more favorable to both parties.

Michael Moore, who cast the lone dissenting vote at the pesticide board meeting, encouraged Eversource to submit its five-year plan and future annual plans earlier to allow for a longer review process, rather than the standard 45 days, Ms. Morrison said.

The board decision came up briefly at a meeting of the Martha’s Vineyard Commission last week.

“The good part is that we did get it before them,” commission executive director Adam Turner said, noting that the commission had been writing letters every week. He said Eversource simply held too much clout for the moratorium to move forward.

Commissioner Linda Sibley and Mr. Turner both suggested looking at what powers the commission might have to limit herbicide use on the Island. But the next steps were unclear.

“We’ve just got to keep working at it,” Mr. Turner said.