02/12/2009
OBAMA
ADMINISTRATION ASKS COURT TO SUPPRESS IDENTITY OF HARMFUL CHEMICALS USED IN APPLE
MOTH SPRAY - EPA has requested Judge Armstrong to prevent disclosure of the chemicals
in the spray, claiming the manufacturer’s proprietary interest outweighs the public’s
right to know.
Press
Release
EPA's
Administrative Motion to File Under Seal
COMPLAINT
11/25/08
Lawsuit filed challenging EPA's unlawful exemption of the CheckMate pesticides
from registration under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act.
PRESS
RELEASE / COMPLAINT
Now
the EPA has been served they will have 60 days to respond to the lawsuit.
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List
of Resolutions Passed By Cities/ Counties
Laws
Violated by the LBAM Eradication Program
Legislation
Calif.
Senate OKs checks ahead of aerial spraying
"The California Senate
has approved legislation that would require a public health and public health
evaluation before the state could order aerial spraying to control agricultural
pests....The state would also have to evaluate the public health risks and reveal
each ingredient in the pesticide to be sprayed. Friday's 23-12 vote sent the bill
back to the Assembly to approve Senate amendments." 8/22/08
Support
AB 977 - Contact members of the CA Senate Environmental Quality Committee,
Ask them to support AB 977. Sample
letter 7/27/08
A very important bill, AB 977 authored by Assemblymember
Fiona Ma, is being heard in a Senate committee this Wednesday, August 6th, in
Sacramento. This bill strips away the State's right to pre-empt any local ordinances
regulating pesticide use, returning control of pesticides to cities and counties.
Several of us from various Stop the Spray groups will be attending the committee
hearing, where the bill is likely to pass. It faces its biggest hurdle thereafter
when it is sent to the Senate Agriculture Committee for approval.
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State
Moves Closer To Banning Moth Spraying
The state Senate’s Agriculture Committee
Tuesday approved Senator Migden’s resolution, SCR
87, a ban on spraying for the light brown apple moth statewide. The committee
passed the proposal on a 4-0 vote. 6/18/08
Statement
of Decision in an agricultural emergency case against California Department of
Pesticide Regulation (CDPR). Although the facts and the particular emergency were
slightly different, it does provide something of a road map for arguing against
the LBAM as an emergency. Case
no: CFP-06-506744
HR667
Early Plant Pest Detection and Surveillance Improvement Act - Sam Farr; cosponsor
1/24/07
S949 Early Plant
Pest Detection and Surveillance Improvement Act - Boxer, Feinstein, Levin; 3/21/07
Bills HR667 & S949, creates funding To amend the Plant Protection Act to
authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to enter into cooperative agreements with
States to augment the efforts of the States to conduct early detection and surveillance
to prevent the establishment or spread of plant pests that endanger agriculture,
the environment, and the economy of the United States, and for other purposes.
California bill paves the way for emergency SB556
Light Brown Apple Moth Act of 2007 -Wiggins 5/15/07
Farm bill of 2007,
provides pest detection and surveillance funding Specialty Crops: 2007 Farm
Bill Issues Updated 02/01/2008
Current Status. Title X of the House-passed
farm bill establishes a cooperative federal-state program for early pest detection
and surveillance and for threat identification and mitigation. The bill provides
$10 million in mandatory funds for the program in FY2008, $25 million in FY2009,
$40 million in FY2010, $55 million in FY2011, and $70 million in FY2012. The Senate
bill contains the same provision, with some technical differences, and provides
the same level of mandatory funds as the House provision in FY2008-FY2010, $50
million in FY2011, and $64 million in FY2012.
Specialty
Crops: 2007 Farm Bill Policy Recommendations With economic damages from invasive
pests and disease now exceeding $120 billion annually, the specialty crop industry
supports expedited and aggressive actions by the Federal government in cooperation
with the industry and stakeholders at the state and local levels to eradicate,
research, and protect the domestic market from increasing threat of exotic pests
and diseases entering the U.S. through international commercial shipments of products
as well as the importation of agricultural contraband by vacationing travelers
and commercial smugglers.
NAFTA
Technical Working Group on Pesticides Development and marketing of alternative
Biopesticides. Buzz words: Harmonization, Collaboration, Streamlining The North
American Initiative Milestone Report Development and marketing of alternative
Biopesticides. Buzz words: Harmonization, Collaboration, Streamlining
PDF
Includes:
1) HR667
2) S949
3) SB556
4) Specialty Crops: 2007
Farm Bill Issues
5) Specialty Crops: 2007 Farm Bill Policy Recommendations
5) NAFTA Technical Working Group on Pesticides
6) The North American Initiative
Milestone Report
Specialty
Crop Farm Bill Alliance- Priorities for the 2007 Farm Bill
Specialty
Crop Farm Bill Alliance:
American Mushroom Institute
/Blue Diamond Growers/ California Association of Wine Grape Grower /California
Citrus Mutual California Grape and Tree Fruit League/ California Table Grape Commission
/Cherry Marketing Institute /Florida Citrus Mutual /Florida Fruit and Vegetable
Association /Florida Tomato Exchange/ Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Grower Association/
Grower-Shipper Association of Central California/ Idaho Grower Shippers Association/
Incorporated National Berry Crop Initiative/ National Potato Council/ National
Watermelon Association /Northwest Horticultural Council /Sunkist Growers/ Incorporated
Texas Citrus /Mutual Texas Produce Association/ The National Grape and Wine Initiative/
United Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Association /U.S. Apple Association /Western Growers
Association/ WineAmerica/
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Since
DHS have taken over inspections there has been problems with quality inspections.
This is why Senators Feinstein
and Durbin Introduce Bill to Transfer Responsibility for Agriculture Inspections
from DHS back to USDA. Bill
text S.887
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Santa
Cruz City Resolution
NS-27,783 Passed 02/12/2008
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California
Senate Bill 556 - Documents associated
with SB 556
Senate
Biill - 556 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 21, 2007
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Assemblymember
John Laird LBAM Communications
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Santa
Cruz City Resolution Opposing the Light Brown Apple Moth Spraying
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SC
Board of Supervisors Resolution
The
Santa Cruz County resolution ordering "BE
IT FURTHER RESOLVED AND ORDERED that no County department shall take any action
that would facilitate the aerial application..."
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SC
Light Brown Apple Moth Community & Environmental Advisory Task Force request
---------------------------------
FOOD
AND AGRICULTURAL CODE SECTION 14001-14015
"This
article does not relieve any person from liability for any damage to the person
or property of another person which is caused by the use of any restricted material.
"
--------------------------------
The
actual permit the SC County Agriculture Department signed permit to give approval
to the aerial spraying of biochemical pesticides. page 1
page 2
page 3
page 4
page 5
page 6
page 7
page 8
page 9
page 10
page 11
page12
page 13
page 14
page 15
page 16
page 17
The
process (sec. 14009.)
to have the County Agriculture refusing, revoking, suspend the aerial spray permit.
(source)
--------------------------------
ACR
117 Assembly
Budget Committee Chair John Laird (D-Santa Cruz) introduced
an
Assembly Concurrent Resolution that calls on the California Department
of
Food and Agriculture (CDFA), the Department of Pesticide Regulation, the Office
of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment and other relevant state departments
to address unresolved health, scientific and efficacy issues surrounding the CDFA’s
Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM) eradication plans. March
13, 2008
Passed
4/16/08
This
bill transfers the burden of proof of safety to the government, requires addressing
the health, scientific, environment and efficacy issues, requires a plan on monitoring
and tracking, requires air sampling and analysis of health outcomes, requires
determining how to respond to the 600+ health complaints and an independent analysis
of impacts on health and the environment. All of these are valuable and necessary
actions which the CDFA should have already been doing. However, all of the elements
of the bill still assume that the state has the right to inflict these chemicals
on private citizens and their property without their consent.
AB
2892 (Swanson) Pests: eradication: aerial spraying of pesticide: voter
consent. This bill would require the secretary, if the secretary determines that
it is necessary to apply a pesticide aerially in a proclaimed pest eradication
area that includes an urban area, to first obtain the consent of 2/3 of the registered
voters of the affected cities and counties.
This
bill includes public participation but still violates the rights of the individual
as written in the CA and US Constitutions, to have their safety, property and
privacy protected. Additional problems with the bill:
1. It is a one time vote
per campaign and the CDFA LBAM campaign is planed to go on for years and years
and you only get a one time vote. 2. Voting process can be by mail which is a
very unsafe voting process with little to no possible recount. 3. Can and will
pit parts of the county that are in the spray zone against parts of the county
that are not in the spray zone. We can be sure a city would vote to approve spraying
in another city if they were led to think that would save them from being sprayed.
AB
2765, by Assemblymember Huffman, sets new limits on the emergency
powers of the Department of Agriculture. It requires a public hearing to receive
testimony and examine alternatives to aerial spraying prior to any decision to
spray. It further bars emergency spraying in an urban area unless there is full
disclosure of all elements in any pesticide product, and a certification of the
safety of the product by state health officials.
February 27, 2008
A
public hearing is a step in the right direction, as is exploring alternatives
to aerial spraying. So is full disclosure of ingredients and a certification of
safety. However all power is still left with the state to violate rights to privacy
and safety.
AB
2763 would enact the Invasive Pest Planning Act of 2008, by Assemblymember
John Laird. The bill would require the Department of Food and Agriculture to create
a list of invasive animals, plants, and insects that have a reasonable likelihood
of entering California for which an eradication program might be appropriate.
Introduced
February 27, 2008
Bill Passed 04/04/08
A list
of possible eradication targets would be useful, but the rights of the people
are not protected by this bill.
AB
2760, by Assemblyman
Leno would require that an Environmental Impact Report be completed before the
state Department of Food and Agriculture can apply pesticide in an urban area
for the eradication of the light brown apple moth.February
27, 2008
While
it seems obvious that an EIR should be required before spraying urban areas with
pesticide, this bill ignores the people's constitutional right not to be have
their property sprayed and to be immersed in toxins without their specific consent.
The power that was given to the Secretary of Agriculture needs to be rescinded
from that position or anyone else, rather than putting layers of legislation on
top of a fundamentally unconstitutional capability.
AB
2764, by Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, will prohibit
the Secretary of Food and Agriculture from approving the application of a pesticide
in an urban area, unless the Governor has proclaimed a state of emergency. Current
law allows the Secretary of Food and Agriculture, to proclaim any area in the
state an eradication area. February
27, 2008
History
This
bill would rescind the bureaucrat's ability to unilaterally inflict the spray,
and leave it solely in the hands of the Governor. It still bypasses, however,
the sovereign rights of the individual to have his privacy, property and safety
protected. These rights are more fundamental than a vote of the collective. A
lynch mob has only one dissenting vote, but that doesn't make it right, fair or
safe. As well, the government has control of the voting machines and process and
far greater access to media persuasion than the people.
February
27, 2008
SCR
87, INTRODUCED
BY Senator Migden
"Light
brown apple moth. This measure would request the Department of Food and Agriculture
to impose a moratorium on any aerial spraying that may be a part of the department's
eradication campaign of the light brown apple moth until the department can demonstrate
that the pheromone compound it intends to use is both safe to humans and effective
at eradicating the light brown apple moth."
This
bill allows the government to spray when it demonstrates that the compound is
safe and effective. It would be very easy for the CDFA or the USDA to get the
EPA to offer such assurance as they have in numerous incidents in the past. The
rights of the individual to safety, property and privacy have still been superseded.
February
22, 2008
SACRAMENTO—Assemblymembers
John Laird (D-Santa Cruz), Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley/Oakland), Mark Leno (D-San
Francisco) and Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) today introduced a 4-bill
legislative package to address the eradication effort for the Light Brown Apple
Moth and other invasive species. In addition, Assemblymember Laird released
draft language for a joint resolution to be introduced next week.