Judge Delays Spraying Over Corona, Norco

RIVERSIDE —  A Superior Court judge on Wednesday delayed--but said he had no authority to stop--the state’s plan to battle the Medfly by spraying malathion over an 18-square-mile area of Corona and Norco.

Judge Victor Miceli delayed the aerial spraying of malathion--which was scheduled to begin later Wednesday--until Monday in order to give Corona city officials time to appeal his ruling. But Miceli said that despite his personal opposition to aerial spraying, he “must and does give the greatest deference” to Gov. Pete Wilson, who last month declared a state of emergency that paved the way for the state to begin aerial spraying in western Riverside County.

“It is beyond the power of this court to remand (Wilson’s) proclamation, thus it serves no purpose to discuss whether the action was warranted or otherwise,” Miceli said. “This court cannot and does not substitute its judgment for the governor of the state of California.”

Corona City Atty. Dallas Holmes said afterward that the city would appeal the judge’s decision, arguing that Wilson’s proclamation was illegal because it failed to meet certain conditions. Holmes said county officials did not request the emergency proclamation, nor was there a finding that local authorities could not cope with the emergency themselves.

Holmes conceded that Riverside County officials might not be in a position to deal with the discovery of a mated female Medfly in Corona in December--but said that, procedurally, the county should have been allowed to address the problem before Wilson unilaterally proclaimed the state emergency.

But Deputy Atty. Gen. Charles W. Getz said that the infestation of Medflies in Southern California is deemed by the state Legislature to be a state, not local, crisis. As a result, there was no reason to approach county officials first, Getz said.

The Corona City Council sued to stop the aerial spraying on the grounds that the wholesale aerial application of the insecticide would jeopardize public health and because the state failed to conduct an environmental impact report on the spraying, as is required by the California Environmental Protection Act.

Corona also protested that it had been singled out for the controversial spraying, while state agricultural officials eschewed spraying in the Los Angeles Basin. Instead, the state plans to release billions of sterile Medflies over a 1,491-square-mile region in Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties to eradicate the Medfly infestation.

Rather than aerial application of malathion, the lawsuit said, sterile Medflies should be released in Corona and Norco as well.

But the judge said Corona officials were unable to prove that the state had access to enough sterile Medflies to blanket both the Los Angeles Basin and Corona, and he accepted the state’s argument that aerial spraying over Corona was the best alternative.

By virtue of Wilson’s emergency declaration, Miceli said, an environmental impact report was not needed.

Miceli said his discretion was limited by legislative decisions and other court rulings that have allowed the state to conduct aerial spraying in the past--including in 1989-90, when more than 500 square miles of Southern California was targeted for aerial spraying.

“My personal feeling is, I hope they don’t have to spray,” the judge said. “But that isn’t the issue before me. I am governed by the law.”

He noted that experts on both sides of the debate offered diametrically opposing arguments.

Of them, he concluded, “The evidence is not sufficiently convincing that the exposure from the aerial spraying poses an unacceptable risk to the public.”

The state first hoped to begin aerial spraying Jan. 24 but was delayed by Miceli so both sides could deliver more detailed arguments Wednesday. The state was prepared to begin spraying later that night.

With the prospect of the appeal and uncertainty over how quickly the higher court will act, state officials are not sure whether spraying will begin Monday night or later.