A superior court judge ruled largely in favor last month of the Environmental Action Committee of West Marin and a suite of environmental organizations and others that sued the state’s Department of Food and Agriculture over its plant pest prevention and management program in 2015. Judge Timothy M. Frawley for the Sacramento Superior Court determined the state program—which has governed more than 1,000 pesticide treatments since its approval in 2014—did not adequately review impacts or provide adequate notice of pesticide spraying. He effectively halted the program with an injunction. Under the program, the state has been able to pursue pest control or eradication “anywhere that a pest is (or may be) found” on agricultural or residential lands. (Aerial spraying on residential lands would be subject to additional environmental analysis and public review.) Eradication can include physical and biological methods, but sometimes pesticides are the only effective method, the state argued. The program was meant to evaluate the potential impacts of pest control and eradication and plan for mitigation and management practices. By analyzing the impacts first, the department would be able to quickly respond to invasive pests when they arise. In the suit, the environmental groups focused on the agency’s environmental impact report for the management program—a programmatic document intended to streamline the department’s authorization of pest control and eradication efforts. The groups claimed that document had allowed the state to avoid preparing “detailed, site-specific information” as mandated by the California Environmental Quality Act. Judge Frawley agreed with this argument, determining that the document failed to properly analyze environmental conditions prior to authorizing pesticide activities, and also ruled that the agency did not account for the full range of dangers caused by the program, including risks of contaminating water supplies and other cumulative impacts. “EAC became involved in the P.E.I.R. lawsuit due to concerns about negative pesticide impacts on the lands, waters, and biodiversity of West Marin,” Ashley Eagle-Gibbs, the group’s conservation director, said. “The introduction of toxic pesticides into the environment threatens aquatic and terrestrial wildlife, human health, our local economy, and organic farms and gardens. We are ecstatic about the recent victory!” The suit was brought by the City of Berkeley and 11 public-health, conservation and food-safety organizations, including the Center for Biological Diversity, the Environmental Working Group and others.