The "Grandfather" Exclusion

Some people might feel that grandfathering is unfair, that the law should apply evenly to everyone.

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Subject:   The "Grandfather" Exclusion--------
Date:        Thu, 17 Feb 2000 08:20:43 -0500
From:        Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization:     Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)

To:     Lyndon Hawkins <hawkins@empm.cdpr.ca.gov>
          State of California, Department of Pesticide Regulation
          Integrated Pest Management

Dear Lyndon,

As you well know MOST of your "registered" active POISON ingredients were never tested, they were simply "Grandfathered" in. Since then the continued uses of these untested, yet "registered" active POISON ingredients are routinely simply "extended" - so even the active POISON ingredients in your "registered" POISON FORMULATIONS continue to remain untested and never come to the end of their "Grandfather" clause. I thought you might like to read an article by Kim Carlyle discussing the "Grandfather" concept.

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments, he said, "This is what the Lord has commanded to be done." But suppose he added, "Those currently engaged in the sins described herein, however, are exempted from these laws."

His rationale might have been that thieves, burglars, assassins had invested in their professions (apprenticeships, tools, union dues), and retraining in new career would be a hardship. Moses and the Lord would rely on attrition. These sinners would soon die off and all the world's people would be in compliance with the new law. Some people might feel that grandfathering is unfair, that the law should apply evenly to everyone. People of this inclination include folks working for clean air in North Carolina. They feel that the old coal-burning electrical power plants (which emit air pollution at four to ten times the rate of modern plants) should be made to comply with the current standards.

The rationale for grandfathering power plants when the new law, the Clean Air Act, came down was that retrofitting them would be expensive and they would soon be phased out anyway. But that was more than 20 years ago! It's as if our hypothetical Moses had exempted a legion of outlaw Methuselahs!

If North Carolina's fourteen grandfathered plants (which emit 70 percent of our state's mountain-obscuring sulfur dioxide and 40 percent of our ozone-causing nitrogen oxides) were made to comply with the current law, their emissions of these pollutants would be reduced by about 90 percent. This would be the equivalent of taking 11 million cars off the road!

The new North Carolina Clean Air Coalition has been working behind the scenes to educate state rule makers on the scientific (the technology is readily available) and economic (no significant impact on us rate payers) feasibility of making our state's fourteen grandpas comply. Their efforts are commendable and their arguments are indisputable. Now it's our turn. Last September, at the Save Our State Forum at Warren Wilson College, Governor Hunt challenged us to push him on issues that need attention. So let's push. Tell our Governor that clean air is more than an environmental concern, more than a question of economics, more than an argument of science. Clean air is a moral issue. Let's apply the law evenly. Let's bury the grandfather.

Carlyle is active with Friends Committee on Unity with Nature and Quaker Eco-Witness as a member of the Asheville Friends Meeting.

Well Lyndon, as you might suspect I agree with Carlyle, only I want all of the "grandfathers" that are STILL killing and/or harming us buried.

What do you want? There are many safe and effective alternatives to your dangerous, untested but "registered" POISONS; when will it be "legal" (in your opinion) to use GRAS and/or food grade materials to actually and safely control pest problems in California?

Respectfully, Stephen L. Tvedten

 

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