Agriculture Chief Faces New Round of Criticism

Already in hot water with the Board of Supervisors, Ventura County’s top farm official now faces criticism from state regulators who say the pesticide control program he runs is woefully inadequate.

The state Department of Pesticide Regulation contends the county program suffers from shoddy investigations, lax enforcement and poor record-keeping of pesticide violations at farms for at least six years.

The allegations, contained in letters from state authorities and echoed by environmentalists and a farm labor group, add to mounting criticism of Agricultural Commissioner Earl McPhail and have triggered renewed calls for his ouster.

The state findings, critics say, suggest McPhail takes a kid-glove approach with farmers who misuse dangerous chemicals to kill pests and they indicate the commissioner has become too cozy with growers.

Douglas Y. Okumura, acting assistant director for enforcement at the state pesticide department, said his office has urged McPhail for years to take stronger action against violators. The response from McPhail’s office, he said, has been short-lived diligence followed by backsliding as soon as pressure from the state eased.

“It’s rare that we get into a situation with this much documentation of difficulties in a county,” Okumura said this week.

McPhail acknowledges that his agency “has some problems” and faces difficulty meeting demands to get tough on growers. Only two of his six pesticide inspectors work full time and he said he prefers they stay in the field helping farmers comply with regulations. He said his agency is becoming more responsive to concerns raised by the public and the county Board of Supervisors.

McPhail said none of the state’s allegations indicate public health is endangered.

“My main concern is people in this county are safe,” McPhail said. “I can guarantee the people and their children are safe.”

Accusations of shortcomings in the county’s pesticide protection program come at a time when the 52-year-old agricultural commissioner is fighting to save his job, which he has held for 20 years.

When McPhail’s term expired in January, the Board of Supervisors placed him on probation for six months. The board also instructed him to prepare a list of goals to satisfy concerns he is out of touch with the public and fails to communicate his department’s activities to the board.

McPhail was criticized for alleged foot-dragging on disaster relief aid for farmers after the December freeze, which wiped out much of the county’s citrus crop.

“I question what he’s doing,” said Supervisor Frank Schillo.

Controversy escalated with the recent release of a report by San Francisco-based California Public Interest Research Group that identified Ventura County residents as among the most at risk from airborne pesticides, though state officials dispute those findings.

Problems in the county’s pesticide protection programs have been evident since at least 1993, Okumura said, when state inspectors began pursuing reports of illnesses. Routine tests at the time showed pesticide residues on produce from Ventura County farms.

In some instances, investigators at the county agriculture office carried out inquiries slowly and incompletely, Okumura said. When results of investigations indicated penalties were in order, the county issued violation notices instead of fines, he added.

“There’s more than one occasion when we’ve asked them to follow up with an appropriate enforcement action and it was not done,” Okumura said.

Other deficiencies identified by state inspectors involve incomplete investigations, lax enforcement and poor record-keeping, Okumura said. For example:

* Reports of an illness led investigators to Oxnard Pest Control in March 1994, where they discovered workers were not properly equipped with safety gloves and goggles. No enforcement action was taken.

* An employee of Aspen Helicopters allegedly dumped pesticides on a dirt road in September 1995. A fire department crew witnessed the incident, collected samples and reported it to the agricultural commissioner. No enforcement action was taken.

* Twice in February 1996, supervisors at Higashi Farms reportedly sent workers into strawberry fields during restricted periods after pesticide applications. A county inspector stopped the operation. No enforcement action was taken.

* In May 1996, Western Farm Service allegedly violated methyl bromide regulations by spraying too close to the Glenview Mobile Home Park.

The records also describe how illegal pesticide residues detected on produce were not investigated for up to 20 months. Reports about people who became ill from pesticide exposure were not properly completed. And the county was California’s only major agricultural county that failed to take action against a single pesticide violator in fiscal 1995-96, records show.

The deficiencies are costing the county money. Between 1994 and 1997, about $11,000 was withheld in payments from the California Environmental Protection Agency to the county for its pesticide control programs. It represents a minor part of the county agency’s $1.9-million annual budget.

Nearly 6 million pounds of pesticides are sprayed in Ventura County each year. Forty-two cases of illness, principally among farm workers, were reported to physicians in 1996, the most recent year for which data are available, according to the state pesticide department. About 200,000 Ventura County residents live within one mile of farms where pesticides are used.

Outraged by the findings, an environmental leader said McPhail should be removed, and a farm labor group said the commissioner’s office appears soft on growers and is not doing enough to protect farm workers.

“Mr. McPhail hasn’t been doing his job. He isn’t upholding his responsibilities. His enforcement record is very inactive,” said Lori Schiraga, pesticide program director at the Environmental Defense Center.

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“The record in Ventura County suggests that the agricultural commissioner has been friendlier to growers than is necessary to protect the public health and safety of farm workers,” said Santos Gomez, attorney for California Rural Legal Assistance Inc. “The record of the last six years shows enforcement is not up to speed.”

McPhail said he is working on correcting the problems.

Some new equipment and funding for four additional employees would go a long way to improving the program, he said. In particular, McPhail said he is concentrating on improving outreach and communications with the public and the Board of Supervisors, including providing weekly reports, a video and a bimonthly newsletter set to be published in April.

“The situation will be corrected,” McPhail said.