Senate Extends Methyl Bromide Deadline
The state Senate voted Thursday February 22, 1996 to let
California's farmers keep using Methyl Bromide. On Wednesday, Feburary 28, SB
1XXX was heard in the Assembly Agriculture Committee, where it passed 11 to 3.
It will be heard in the Assembly Appropriations Committee on March 4, and from
there it could be heard on either March 7 or 11. Once passed, the Assembly
without amendment, it would go directly to the Governor.
The Senate voted 22-11 to approve SB 1XXX, a bill sponsored by Senator Henry
Mello D-Santa Cruz, to allow farmers to use Methyl Bromide as long as a
required health study is done by December 31, 1997. If the deadline had not
been extended, growers would have had to stop applying the chemical.
The Assembly last month voted 45-28 for a bill with the December 31, 1997
deadline for the final health study. The differences between the Assembly and
Senate versions will now be worked out before a final bill goes to Govenor
Wilson.
Methyl Bromide is widely used in California to fumigate farmland before
planting. It also is applied on crops destined for export. It is relied upon by
strawberry growers to apply it each fall to sterilize the soil before they sow
new plants.
Because Methyl Bromide depletes the ozone layer, the U.S. Clean air Act
requires that use of the pesicide end by 2001.
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