A pesticides case that could have statewide reverberations
What responsibilities does a county agricultural commissioner have in determining whether to grant the use of certain restricted pesticides?
That question forms the core of a court case heard Monday in Monterey County, in which the Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers, the nonprofit advocacy organization Safe Ag Safe Schools and others are suing the California Department of Pesticide Regulation and the Monterey County agricultural commissioner for what they say was an abuse of discretion in permitting the use of restricted pesticides on berry farms near Ohlone Elementary School, Pajaro Middle School and Hall District Elementary School in 2022.
The main pesticides at issue include the highly toxic chloropicrin and 1,3-dichloropropene. Because the California Department of Pesticide Regulation lists them as restricted materials, they can be applied only after receiving an annual permit from the county ag commissioner. The application of the chemicals must occur behind buffer zones and within specific time restrictions to minimize the risk of exposure.
However, the argument is not whether the farms followed those rules. The Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers and Safe Ag Safe Schools instead claim the Monterey County ag commissioner didn’t properly vet the environmental and health impacts of the pesticides, nor meaningfully consider alternatives to the use of the pesticides, before greenlighting farms’ use of them. The state’s Department of Pesticides Regulation also faulted, they say, in approving the commissioner’s decision despite the commissioner not providing written evidence that he looked at alternatives.
The state says, whether or not there was a record, the commissioner considered the cumulative impact of the pesticides and also found no feasible alternatives to their use for these specific berry farms.
“Rather than starting from a neutral position — of let’s figure out whether or not these permits can be issued in light of what we are seeing about how those permits have been used, what levels of air pollution we’re seeing in the community, what levels of permits are being issued in a small vicinity — the program is essentially proceeding as if we know issuance of the permits is a foregone conclusion,” plaintiff’s attorney Elizabeth Fisher told Judge Thomas Wills on Monday.
Local pesticide activist Woody Rehanek told me during a break that he sees the case as an effort to legally compel growers and agricultural commissioners to have documented discussions about the harms of certain pesticides.
Fisher said the decision in the case would have statewide implications for the responsibilities of county ag commissioners and the thoroughness of their reviews. Wills made those broader implications clear during Monday’s hearing.
“If this doesn’t get resolved now, it’s going to keep coming back,” Wills told the court. “We need to address this for once and for all, and if it happens to be on my watch, so be it.”
The sides did not expect a decision to come Monday, but Wills said he would work to get a decision as soon as possible.
OF NOTE
A controversial license plate reader might be working to break local law enforcement’s promise to not engage with ICE: As my colleague William S. Woodhams reports, police in Santa Cruz, Capitola and Watsonville scan thousands of license plates daily thanks to a surveillance network that is used by hundreds of law enforcement agencies across the state, including at least one that has been found to be searching on behalf of federal authorities. The technology raises new questions about the cities’ promises to safeguard their immigrant communities.
ICE has visited Watsonville at least eight times since President Trump took office: The Watsonville Police Department has on eight occasions this year received courtesy notifications from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers that they are operating within city limits, according to records provided by the department. My colleague Tania Ortiz has the receipts.
Assemblymember Dawn Addis’ ambitious Polluters Pay bill on ice, for now: The Central Coast assemblymember called me last week to say that although she still sees the bill as “viable,” her effort to make fossil fuel companies pay for climate disasters has stalled for now amid heavy industry lobbying and opposition.
Santa Cruz-specific projects get $6 million in the state budget: In a tough budget year that saw the state pulling back in many services, state Sen. John Laird announced Monday that the budget includes $4.5 million for infrastructure improvements in the Santa Cruz Public Libraries system, and $1.5 million for a program between UC Davis and UC Santa Cruz to train medical students for work in rural and underserved communities.
POINTS FOR PARTICIPATION
About that property dispute between the RTC and Mid-County mobile home parks … : On Thursday, the county’s Mobile and Manufactured Home Commission will meet at 11:30 a.m. to get an update on how the Regional Transportation Commission is handling a property dispute with the Castle Mobile Estates and Blue & Gold Star Mobile Home parks, in which the agency claims the parks are encroaching onto its property, impeding plans to break ground on trail section of the long-sought Coastal Rail Trail project. You can find an agenda here and more details on that issue here.
Another major multifamily project in Santa Cruz from Workbench: Also on Thursday, the City of Santa Cruz’s planning commission will vote on a proposal from local developer Workbench to demolish the single-story homes at 1811, 1815 and 1819 Mission St. and construct a six-story, 67-home development with ground floor commercial space. The commission will meet at 7 p.m.
ONE GREAT READ
“The River House broke. We rushed in the river.” By Aaron Parsley for Texas Monthly
By last count, the Texas floods have claimed at least 131 lives and have permanently altered many more.
I spent five years in Central Texas before moving to California, and the fondness I have for that part of the country has led me to try to limit the amount of news I consume and share about this tragedy.
However, this section of the newsletter is often reserved for great journalism, great writing, and great insights. And Aaron Parsely’s firsthand account of getting swallowed by the floodwaters with his family is all of those things. It is also incredibly heartbreaking in a way that so few pieces of writing can be. I urge you to read it, but I also warn that it will move you into uncomfortable places.