Aerial Spraying over Urban Areas Stopped -- Sterile Moths to be Used Instead

Good news!

The Dept of Food and Agriculture has announced that it will not proceed with its plans for aerial spraying over urban areas to eradicate the light brown apple moth.

Instead, the CDFA will use sterile moths to prevent the spread of the LBAM. I have been briefed on this development today by CDFA Secretary A.G. Kawamura and Assemblymember Jared Huffman (separately). More information will be forthcoming about the state’s plans, which will involve some aerial spraying in rural areas and some ground applications of registered pesticides. But this is a big victory for the community activists who opposed the spraying. We also thank the governor and Secretary Kawamura for ordering the alternative treatment, and Assemblymembers Huffman, Laird, Leno, Hancock and Swanson, and Senator Migden, for leading legislative opposition to the aerial spraying.

Sierra Club California will continue to support legislation that would require comprehensive planning and assessment of alternatives in the future to better deal with invasive pests without aerial spraying.

Bill Magavern, Director, Sierra Club California

Read The News Today? Oh Boy!

California’s budget deadline passed over the weekend, but today’s newspaper brought worse budget news.

Republican lawmakers told the Los Angeles Times they want to put off California’s efforts to control the pollution that causes global warming, and to stop harmful diesel emissions from choking Californians, Times reporter Evan Halper wrote today. Because California must obtain GOP votes to pass the annual budget, this proposal must be dealt with before our state’s financial plan can move forward.

None of these proposed rollbacks will have an immediate effect on the more-than-$15-billion revenue gap faced by the state, Halper’s story states.

These regulations don’t just mean cleaner air, they also save lives. Air pollution causes some 24,000 early deaths each year in California, and particulate matter from diesel emissions contributes to those deaths.

California’s Global Warming Solutions Act, on the other hand, stimulates our state’s economic survival. For Californians affected by the recent economic downturn, the Global Warming Solutions Act also could mean new jobs. Venture capitalists poured $1.79 billion into the Golden State's green companies last year, accounting for 45 percent of all green investments in North America.

If this proposal sounds familiar, it’s something the Republicans first proposed in April, and we’ve been speaking out about it all this spring. Our allies in the health and labor communities have joined us in a simple message to the Legislature and governor: Don't allow our quality of life to be held hostage or traded away in budget negotiations.

-Bill Magavern, Director, Sierra Club California


See what Sierra Club California had to say about the budget plan in May

Read the California Air Resources Board’s report on the early deaths

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Don't Build It, Dam It

Recently, the Los Angeles Times wrote that new Assembly Speaker Karen Bass and next year’s Senate President pro tempore Darrell Steinberg might consider building new dams as one way of getting water to the people.

California’s in the middle of two dry years, so it’s no surprise that California’s Assembly and Senate leadership want real solutions to provide water for homes, businesses and farms. But building more dams won’t solve today’s problem, tomorrow’s problem – or the problems that could arise five years from now.

Dams cost a lot of money to build, and we can’t be sure that they’ll even work the way they’re supposed to. We’re still several millions of dollars away from completed studies on the dams that special interests want us to build in the Central Valley – and we already have 1,400 dams in the state of California.

Instead, California’s leaders can act on other parts of the Governor’s proposal, supporting existing legislation that would require 20 percent reductions in water use, AB 2175 (Laird and Feuer). And we can continue to progress toward a solution in the delta that provides for the best use of water while protecting the delta’s natural resources.

Twenty percent isn’t much to ask. Think about it: It’s the difference between your kid throwing four water balloons and five at his birthday party – or between some new toilets and their predecessors.

If we apply conservation measures now, California won’t come up dry now, tomorrow and in the near future.

Light Brown Apple Moth Bills Flutter Forward

As part of Sierra Club California’s support of a moratorium on the aerial spraying of the Light Brown Apple Moth until the chemical’s health effects are known, we are proud to report the successes of several bills within the California Legislature.
If all goes well, pesticide spraying WILL NOT occur until we know just how harmful the pesticide is to people – and to our air, water and livelihoods.

Assembly Bills 2760, 2763, and 2765 all passed the California Assembly within the past weeks.

AB 2760 (Leno) triumphed in the Assembly and will head to the Senate.

This measure responds directly to the planned central coast spraying of a manmade pheromone containing synthetic chemicals and nanoparticles.

Although it doesn’t take effect until 2009, AB 2760 would require the completion of an environmental impact report before the aerial spraying of pesticides could commence. This report would assess the pesticide’s impact on our people and environment. The state never completed a report it initially began in 2007.

AB 2763 (Laird) and AB 2765 (Huffman) also recently swept through the California Assembly.

Assemblymember Laird’s bill would require the state to plan, well in advance, a method of control for invasive pest species that threaten our environment and economy.
Huffman’s bill goes further, requiring full disclosure of all pesticide ingredients, examination of alternatives to aerial spraying and a public hearing to consider all alternatives before eradication projects in urban areas could begin.

Even Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has acquiesced to the public outrage regarding the urban pesticide spraying.

On April 24, he announced the state will postpone aerial pesticide application until acute testing of the pesticide’s potential to harm eyes, inhalation, respiratory systems and other human systems, known as the “six-pack” toxicology test, is completed.


-- Compiled by Collin Fisher, Sierra Club California Researcher

Sierra Club California's Previous Comments On Light Brown Apple Moth

Water For Tomorrow

Today, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s declared a “State of Emergency” for the state’s dwindling water supply.

He's also called for Californians to cut back on the water they use. Right now, the California Legislature works to advance SB 2175 (Laird and Feuer), a Sierra Club California priority bill that would cut water use by 20 percent across the state via conservation.

But building more dams – the other part of his proposed solution– isn’t the most cost-effective, sustainable way to address the state’s shrunken snowpack and dwindling runoff reserves. And it's not the best way to make sure there's enough water for future generations.

We don’t even know exactly how much the dams the governor wants to build will cost, how much water they will produce, who will receive and pay for the water and how they will affect our environment.

Governor Schwarzenegger said he wants to revive last year’s water bond proposal, which focuses on expensive water projects that would serve agribusiness and accommodate big growth in the Central Valley. Since the multi-million-dollar studies of the proposed dams aren’t done yet, Californians can’t be sure whether the multi-billion-dollar dams will safely serve California’s communities without harming our precious natural heritage.

Conservation is still the cheapest, most certain water supply available to California.

We must focus state money on forward-thinking water conservation programs, water recycling and cleanup of polluted underground stores. The state also must adopt a holistic, long-term strategy for protecting the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta before making major investments there or for new dams upstream of the Delta.

The governor has said he doesn’t want to make water into a political issue, and neither do we. We can address the state’s water shortage with low-cost, smart solutions available to us right now.

We need to embrace tomorrow’s solutions, instead of building yesterday’s monoliths.

SIERRA CLUB PRESENTS DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT AWARD TO SPEAKER FABIAN NUÑEZ FOR HIS WORK ON GLOBAL WARMING

Sierra Club California was honored today to present the national Sierra Club’s Distinguished Achievement Award for 2007 to Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez for his work leading to passage of the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, AB 32. This award recognizes a single act of particular importance to the environment by a person in government.

Assemblymember John Laird joined Sierra Club California’s Bill Allayaud and Bill Magavern in presenting the award to Speaker Núñez in front of an appreciative crowd of dozens of Sierra Club volunteer activists. The volunteers from around the state were in the Capitol for Sierra Club California’s annual Lobby Day.

More pictures from Lobby Day.