SANTA CRUZ -- City and county leaders are stumped as to how they can legally stop the state from spraying Santa Cruz County with a pesticide aimed at eradicating the light brown apple moth. Spraying is set to begin Nov. 4.
A Monterey County judge said Thursday he's poised to lift a temporary ban on spraying there, dashing hopes of many in the region who want to halt the eradication program until the health risks of the pesticides being used are further studied.
Still, local officials say they're undeterred and anxious to take action. Finding a legal avenue, though, could prove challenging.
"Quite honestly, I don't know if we have a case or not," Deputy City Attorney Tony Condotti said Thursday. "We have a serious uphill battle in front of us."
The City Council agreed at its Oct. 9 meeting to either file an injunction in Santa Cruz County Superior Court or join a similar lawsuit in Monterey County by environmental group HOPE, Helping Our Peninsula's Environment. Council members share concern about the safety of the pesticides.
The city has considered teaming with other local jurisdictions to bolster its legal argument, but so far no deal has been struck with the county Board of Supervisors or other cities.
State Department of Agriculture officials contend the pesticide, known as CheckMate LBAM-F, made by the Bend, Ore.-based Suterra LLC, is safe and necessary to prevent local crops from being destroyed by the light brown apple moth.
But Councilman Ed Porter, unwilling to give up the fight to stop spraying, said he doesn't believe the light brown apple moth poses a legitimate threat to area crops. The real scare, he said, is putting the pesticide in the "mix of air we breathe.
"I'm not satisfied the state has made a case that there's an emergency here," Porter said. "I've sat through two meetings and haven't seen one picture of damage. Why is this necessary? No one's told us that."
Mayor Emily Reilly said the council will hear a recommendation from Condotti at Tuesday's meeting and decide what course to take.
Like Porter, she's unsure whether a real emergency with the pest exists in Santa Cruz County.
"We don't know if the chemicals are safe, we don't know what the ingredients are and we don't know if there's really an emergency," Reilly said. "It's important to me that we do everything we can to protect the public's health and safety."
Meanwhile, county supervisors Mark Stone and Neal Coonerty will propose a resolution at the board meeting Tuesday to oppose aerial spraying of CheckMate until the state does a better job of addressing public concerns.
Stone and Coonerty criticized the state for failing to perform an adequate environmental review of CheckMate, too much secrecy around the ingredients, lack of long-term studies on the health effects and failure to respond to public questions.
"I want to see them [state agriculture authorities] slow down so they can justify their actions," Stone said. "There's been a lack of direction and a lot of misinformation from the state. I certainly don't trust the conclusions they've reached."
The state has said the moth presents an emergency and therefore an environmental impact report isn't required before spraying.
So far, neither the city nor county has taken formal legal action against the scheduled spraying.
Contact Shanna McCord at smccord@santacruzsentinel.com.