State to Target Pesticide Pollution

State officials are mounting a major initiative to clean up California’s smoggy farm regions with new regulations and policies that will target hundreds of pesticides.

The Department of Pesticide Regulation -- long criticized for failing to act as air quality deteriorated in the San Joaquin Valley -- has developed a strategy to eliminate tons of smog-forming gases that waft daily from fields treated with fumigants and other agricultural chemicals.

The agency has asked manufacturers to begin reformulating more than 700 insecticides, herbicides and other pest-killing chemicals, and it plans to impose stricter rules next year on the use of soil fumigants, which are highly polluting gases that by weight account for about one-quarter of all pesticide applied on California crops.

The state initiative would establish the only air pollution standards for pesticides in the nation. The aim is to begin cleaning up emissions soon, reducing air pollution from pesticides at least 20% by 2008.

“For years, there have been complaints that we dragged our feet as air quality declined,” said Mary-Ann Warmerdam, director of the pesticide agency. “That is history. This administration is committed to cleaning up our air, and DPR will do its part to achieve that goal.”

Most pest-killing chemicals contain volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, which evaporate from fields and are a key component of ozone, California’s most abundant air pollutant.

Bakersfield, Fresno and the rest of the San Joaquin Valley experience some of the unhealthiest smog conditions in the United States, rivaling the Los Angeles Basin. Pesticides are responsible for 27 tons per day of the region’s smog-forming fumes -- only about 7% of its total but enough to rank among the top five sources. In Ventura County, pesticides create about 8 tons per day, almost all from fumigants used on strawberry fields.

“What I really like about this move by DPR is that for the first time the department is seriously addressing the air pollution emitted by pesticides,” said Bill Magavern, senior representative of Sierra Club California. “We still have to see a concrete proposal to know whether this will have the teeth that it needs, but it looks like the department really is moving in that direction. This move is long overdue, so we are, of course, impatient to see the process move forward.”

For about a decade, California’s smog plans have included goals for reducing fumes from pesticide use.

But until now, no steps were taken by the Department of Pesticide Regulation, the agency that controls which chemicals are legal in California and how they are used.

In April, a federal judge in Sacramento, ruling on a lawsuit filed by a public interest group, ordered California to cut pesticide emissions 20% by 2008. The agency has appealed the court ruling, but Warmerdam decided to act anyway.

“We believe this initiative will go beyond the court order in terms of improving air quality,” pesticide agency spokesman Glenn Brank said.

Under the state’s plan, the most immediate smog benefit -- at least a 20% reduction -- would come from controls on fumigants, which are responsible for about half of the San Joaquin Valley’s pesticide emissions.

Mark Murai, president of the California Strawberry Commission, said Monday that the industry had decided a year ago to move toward emission reductions and had earmarked $500,000 to develop new field techniques for fumigants.

“We’re definitely not sticking our heads in the sand. We want to be part of the solution,” said Murai, a third-generation strawberry grower from Newport Beach. “I don’t know if we’ll reach that goal [of a 20% reduction by 2008], but we’re certainly going to try.”

Fumigants such as methyl bromide, metam sodium and chloropicrin are injected into fields before they are planted to sterilize soil and kill diseases, insects and weeds that threaten strawberries, almonds, tomatoes, carrots, potatoes and other crops. Because they are gases, they contain high concentrations of smog-forming compounds, and some seep into the air. They also are highly toxic and can have neurological and reproductive effects when inhaled.

By the end of 2007, the pesticide department plans to adopt regulations that require growers either to control fumigant emissions through new techniques -- such as deeper soil injections and better tarps -- or reduce the tons used. Workshops will be convened in August to work out the details.

California’s growers have already reduced by almost 60% the use of the fumigant methyl bromide, which is being phased out under an international treaty because it damages Earth’s protective ozone layer.

Growers worry that the pesticide agency, seeking to reduce smog, may mandate more reductions before they can develop new ways to safeguard crops. California grew $1.3 billion worth of strawberries last year, 88% of the nation’s crop.

“If we want to keep food production here in our own country, we have to work out viable alternatives for farmers who have been doing this for generations,” Murai said. “I think DPR understands that, but there are mandates they are under. It’s important that we work together to get real-world solutions. California already has the strictest regulations in the world.”

Magavern of the Sierra Club said he feared that some chemical companies and growers would “have to be dragged kicking and screaming” into safer techniques and products.

“The real solution is substituting less toxic alternatives,” he said.

In addition to fumigants, the state agency has begun scrutinizing the volatile organic compound content of more than 700 other pesticides and sent orders requiring reformulation to manufacturers last month. The agency is reviewing the manufacturers’ plans, and those that cannot meet a goal of reducing the VOC content could be subject to bans.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has not set any air pollution standards for pesticides. But California officials hope to persuade the EPA, which is reviewing use of all fumigants, to follow its lead.

“California growers shouldn’t suffer a potential competitive disadvantage in comparison with other states just because California is doing right by the environment and human health,” Brank said.

As part of its initiative, the pesticide agency is promoting more environmentally friendly technologies, such as a $30,000 “smart sprayer” that is equipped with ultrasonic sensors to prevent excessive spraying.

In addition to fighting smog, such measures could protect people living in the fast-growing suburbs of the San Joaquin Valley from toxic chemicals drifting off fields.

“Overuse of pesticides is not just a farm issue anymore,” Magavern said. “It’s an urban and suburban issue too.”