CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS BALLOT MEASURES : ‘Big Green’ Proponents Come Out Swinging on Santa Monica’s Beach

Proponents of the most sweeping environmental initiative in the state’s history formally kicked off their general election campaign Tuesday on a wind-swept beach in Santa Monica, stationing themselves at the foot of a storm drain whose foul effluent has repeatedly forced the beach’s closure.

Representatives of some of the 40 environmental groups that have endorsed the comprehensive document they call “Big Green” said the campaign would empower Californians over “special interests” who have quashed legislation to protect the environment.

“It is a beginning of a four-month fight to save California’s future,” said Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp, one of the initiative’s authors. Simultaneous celebratory kickoffs were sponsored in seven other cities across California.

The measure, known as the Environmental Protection Act of 1990, addresses a wide range of concerns voiced by the environmental community. It would cut, over time, the use of known cancer-causing pesticides, ban the sale in California of foods grown elsewhere with those chemicals, forbid the clear-cutting of forests, order the reduction of chlorofluorocarbons that harm the Earth’s ozone layer, and outlaw oil drilling off the coast, among other things.

But as much as fighting for their own initiative, which will be Proposition 128 on the November ballot, the proponents declared war on its opponents.

Sierra Club regional spokesman Bob Hattoy accused opponents of a “diabolical and criminal attempt . . . to confuse the voters” by suggesting that its passage would markedly effect California’s agriculture industry. Opponents say the initiative would be costly and would make it impossible for farmers to produce the range of fruits and vegetables now available.

“Who are the opponents? I guess they are the old standbys, the usual suspects” who opposed Proposition 65, the 1986 anti-toxics measure, Van de Kamp said.

The proponents also argued that 93% of the financial backing to oppose Big Green came from the chemical industry, which is worried about losing an estimated 19 pesticides that ultimately would be banned by the initiative.

Don Schrack, a spokesman for the campaign against the initiative, said his group’s directors have not looked into the funding sources as a matter of policy.

“I don’t know what those figures are,” he said. Schrack also noted that politically prominent individuals such as Kirk West, president of the state Chamber of Commerce, and William Campbell, a former state senator and now president of the California Manufacturers Assn., also have come out against Big Green.

“The Hayden initiative tries to do too much,” Schrack said. “It may cause more problems that it would solve.”

Assemblyman Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica) is one of the initiative’s authors and is considered likely to run for environmental advocate, an elective position that would be created under the initiative to enforce the new law.

Hayden, who has drawn fire from initiative opponents, was noticeably absent from the kickoff press conference. An aide said the assemblyman and his son, Troy, were on a long-planned fishing trip to Alaska.

The Big Green campaign is positioning itself as a grass-roots effort. As if to underscore its low-key beginnings, the pro-Big Green signs decorating the press conference were hand-painted. Van de Kamp, casually dressed, talked over the occasional disruption of bicyclists and roller-skaters on the bike path just off the beach.

The site, at the foot of Pico Boulevard, was chosen because of its proximity to the storm drain. Earlier this month, Santa Monica officials banned swimming within 100 yards of the drain because testing showed storm runoff had been contaminated.

The initiative’s proponents are hoping to capitalize on the environmentalist fervor revved up by April’s Earth Day celebrations. They have been heartened by recent internal polls showing voters approving of the measure by a 2-1 margin, even after the arguments against it were explained in detail.

“In the last 10 years we’ve seen a change,” said the Sierra Club’s Hattoy. “We’ve seen California become a place where the good life . . . means more than driving a BMW and owning a condominium.”

David Bunn, research director for the group Pesticide Watch and a member of the initiative’s steering committee, said proponents are planning to spend $2 million in television advertising pushing Big Green.