MALIBU—On May 13, the California Coastal Commission officially approved the city of Malibu’s restrictions on rodenticides. The ruling was an important step for Malibu’s restrictions on environmentally damaging poisons.
According to a press release from the city of Malibu, they have been working for years to ban environmentally harmful poisons like rodenticides, pesticides, herbicides. They partnered with Poison Free Malibu, a local non-profit, to help eliminate these poisons. Mayor Paul Grisanti said that this decision could not have been made without the help and efforts from Poison Free Malibu.
Prior to this approval, the city was being held back from pushing such restrictions due to state laws that do not allow cities to ban state-regulated chemicals. The city of Malibu has been trying to push this through the CCC since December 2019 when the city council unanimously voted to amend the Local Coastal Program to forbid toxic chemicals that had the possibility of harming the environment or degrading biological resources. This amendment was submitted to the CCC for certification, which they approved.
The revised amendment now includes the following verbiage: explicit inclusion of rodenticides as a type of restricted pesticide, expansion of the policy’s scope by making its restrictions on the use of harmful pesticides apply citywide, rather than only in and adjacent to Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Areas, and narrower circumstances under which pesticides may be used for habitat restoration or control of invasive species by, among other things, requiring applicants to first consider using non-chemical methods.
The next step in this process for the Malibu City Council is to certify the amendment as certified by the CCC. City staff will present the certification to the city council at the next upcoming meeting. For more details, visit the city’s website at www.malibucity.org/1015/Pesticide-Ban.
