Friday, August 22, 2008

Welcome Emily

Emily Robidart has accepted the position of vice president at the Ag Council. Emily has a diverse background in government affairs, agricultural policy issues, marketing and communications. For the past four years she has served as Director of Farm Policy at the California Farm Bureau. Prior to that Emily worked as an Administrative Marketing Associate for the Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission. She also served as a legislative aid for two congressmen, Howard “Buck” McKeon and Richard Pombo. Emily comes from a Central Valley farming and ranching background and has been engaged in a variety of industry related volunteer programs. She graduated from UC Davis with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Agricultural & Managerial Economics. Her responsibilities will include government affairs, marketing and communications. She’ll be starting her new leadership position with the Ag Council in late September.

DPR Wins VOC Appeal

The California Department of Pesticide Regulation did not violate the federal Clean Air Act in pesticide decisions that date back to the late 1990s, a federal appeals court ruled today. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco overturned the findings of a federal judge who had ruled against DPR in a clean air lawsuit brought by an advocates group. Its lawsuit asserted that DPR failed to apply clean air rules to pesticides, dating back to 1997. That led a federal judge in Sacramento to order DPR to impose regulations mandating major reductions of volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from farming operations in order to comply with federal air quality standards. Effective this year, the order involved areas that included Ventura County and the San Joaquin Valley.

To comply with that federal order, DPR imposed strong restrictions on the use of field fumigants, beginning last January. Ventura growers said thousands of acres of agricultural land might lie fallow this year, with severe economic consequences. San Joaquin Valley growers have expressed similar fears about future pesticide air restrictions there. DPR Director Mary-Ann Warmerdam said the appeal was necessary to uphold Department authority to effectively regulate pesticide air emissions. She emphasized the appellate ruling does not signal a change in DPR environmental policy.

However, DPR will immediately move to provide some relief for Ventura growers, with the approval of federal and state air agencies. "The Department of Pesticide Regulation is committed to cleaner air for all Californians," said Warmerdam. "Today’s court ruling reaffirms that DPR has met its environmental obligations in the past, and we will continue to do so.

"This ruling allows DPR to adopt a more thoughtful, comprehensive approach to reducing pesticide emissions that contribute to smog," Warmerdam said. "We believe that environmental and economic progress can be achieved through cooperation, rather than continued litigation and conflict.”We want to bring members of our environmental and agricultural communities together, and show that California can create a safer environment and a stronger economy," she said.

Legislative Update

The timing of this report is unfortunate because lawmakers are scrambling to finish their legislative business so that many of them can attend their respective national political conventions (31 Democrats are scheduled to be in Denver starting this weekend.) However, until a budget deal gets done, everything remains up in the air right now. Only twice in the last 30 years has the legislature gone beyond August 21 before passing the budget – August 29, 1992 & August 31, 2002. Since the legislature doesn’t officially adjourn until August 31, anything can happen. Given all of the “backroom” maneuvering that’s currently going on, it’s almost impossible to provide accurate information on the major bills of interest. Therefore I’ll provide a more detailed run-down on pending legislation next week when things are hopefully (knock on wood) much clearer than what exists right now.