SACRAMENTO — State regulators this week finalized looser pesticide rules that environmentalists say will slow efforts to clean the valley's smoggy air.
The Department of Pesticide Regulation will allow more emissions from "fumigants" — pesticides that are injected into soil to kill pests and disease.
The ruling is a victory for farmers, who feared that stricter limits would force some growers to stop using pesticides in years when the region approaches the limit.
Pesticides contribute to about 6 percent of the smog problem in the valley, according to state figures. Fumigants are just one type of pesticide.
The department "claims that this is not a big deal because it's such a small amount," said Alegría De La Cruz, an attorney with the Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment. But "this, from our perspective, is not making good on a promise that they made to valley residents to protect their health."
The center is considering filing a lawsuit to change the rules. The regulations cover the prime growing season of May 1 though Oct. 31.
The department said the looser limit will still "meet our obligation to reduce pesticide emissions, but do so in a way that avoids placing an unreasonable or disproportionate burden on fumigant pesticide users," according to regulatory documents.
The rule covers smog-making gases, called volatile organic compounds, emitted by pesticides.
For the valley, the rule sets the emissions limit at 18.1 tons per day, 2.1 tons higher than what clean-air activists wanted.
Other regions still face a 20 percent cutback, the department said.
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