CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / SACRAMENTO
Public health groups have filed suit against the California Department of Pesticide Regulation to force stricter rules against fumigants that contribute to air pollution.
The suit, filed last week in Sacramento County Superior Court, says state regulators failed to analyze reasonable alternatives to the chemicals or to minimize the effect of volatile organic compounds from treating strawberries and other crops.
“Pesticides rank among the largest contributors to California’s notoriously smoggy air,” said Brent Newell, legal director of the San Francisco-based Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment, which filed the suit on behalf of affected residents in Ventura County and the Central Valley.
Residents are pushing for steeper emissions cuts than what the department deems necessary to meet federal air quality standards.
-- Margot Roosevelt
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