SAN JOSE - A federal judge denied a request for a temporary restraining order Monday that would have halted spraying for the light brown apple moth over Santa Cruz County.
Three Santa Cruz County women sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the state Department of Food and Agriculture last week, saying their civil rights had been violated and they did not receive due process when the state declared the moth an emergency and decided to spray.
But U.S. District Court Judge James Ware denied the claim of Edna Williams, Aubrey Belgard and Marilyn Garett saying he wasn’t convinced that the pesticide being used to fight the moth — CheckMate LBAM-F — is harmful.
“I don’t feel that I should act just because it’s been presented to me at the last minute,” Ware said Monday from his 9th District Court bench.
He did set an evidentiary hearing for Nov. 21 though that will be after the state has sprayed for the moth.
State airplanes were scheduled to spray portions of Santa Cruz County tonight. That has been pushed back at least a day. Cloud cover grounded planes Sunday night. They had planned to spray Salinas, Prunedale and Las Lomas. That spraying was set to take place Monday night, weather permitting.
Contact Tom Ragan at tragan@santacruzsentinel.com.