MALIBU—The California Coastal Commission will recommend on September 10 delaying a hearing by one year that would push forward the implication of an amendment banning pesticides, insecticides, and rodenticides within Malibu.
The CCC has deemed the amendment as complete, but proposed modifications to Malibu’s language on June 19. For the CCC’s September 10 meeting, staff has recommended that instead of scheduling a hearing to complete the amendment’s submission to the CCC within 90 working days, the CCC should delay the hearing by a year.
The Malibu City Council passed the Local Coastal Program Amendment on December 9, 2019. The amendment bans, “the use of pesticides, including insecticides, rodenticides, or any toxic chemical substance which has the potential to significantly degrade biological resources in the City,” the city of Malibu noted in an online statement.
“Besides being lethal to the animal that ingests the poison, the anticoagulant rodenticides have potentially lethal secondary poisoning effects to pets and wildlife that ingest rodents that have consumed the poison,” reads the 2019 staff report on the amendment.
Recently, the National Park Service announced a mountain lion and bobcat’s death due to the ingestion of rat poison, a rodenticide.
“These two cases show us that different non-target species are continuing to be exposed to these toxicants, including an array of different poisons, with effects up to and including death from uncontrolled bleeding,” said Dr. Seth Riley, the wildlife branch chief and a UCLA adjunct associate professor.
The CCC stated that the LCP amendment is expected to be brought up before the one year delay and cited the reasoning for the delay as wanting increased time to work with Malibu staff.
