Petition to Preserve Rural Sonoma County from more Winery Events

Enough is enough!

Preserve Rural Sonoma County needs your help with our efforts to lobby the Board of Supervisors to stop approving more and more winery development, while delaying the Winery Event ordinance promised nearly 3 years ago (to put some reasonable regulations on this out of control industry).

We are launching a petition and email campaign to show them that the residents of this county and our quality of life must come before the interests of the wine industry. Please take a moment to share the email below with your list so we can spread the word and show the board there is a groundswell of people opposed to MORE AND MORE wine industry development and environmental destruction.

Thanks in advance for helping us spread the word!

Padi Selwyn, (707) 569-6876

https://www.waccobb.net/forums/wacco...3_10-01-36.png

Dear Neighbor,

Worsening traffic, deteriorating road safety, three million pounds of toxic pesticides sprayed annually on vineyards. These are just a few of the issues that have put Sonoma County’s quality of life at risk.

Part of the problem is the rampant growth of the wine industry, which the county has consistently refused to regulate. Please take a few moments to help us preserve rural Sonoma County. Let the Board of Supervisors know we want them to STOP issuing permits for more winery event centers and tasting room modifications until they pass the Winery Event Ordinance they promised us back in 2016.

Sonoma County's General Plan projected 239 wineries by the year 2020. By 2014, over 439 wineries were approved, far exceeding the county’s projections and carrying capacity. And, now there are nearly 500 wineries—with more and more being approved in rural agricultural neighborhoods-- impacting traffic, road safety, noise and water supplies, while intensifying the strain on county services, especially our CHP and Sheriff’s office.

In 2016, after years of pressure from the environmental community, the Board of Supervisors agreed to pass a Winery Event Ordinance to regulate events and hospitality countywide, with protective measures for areas that were already over-concentrated. Now, the County says we should wait until 2019 while they continue to approve more and more development, caving in to the wine industry’s relentless push for short term profits while ignoring residents’ rights.

Please take a few moments to help us preserve rural Sonoma County and let the Board know we want them to STOP issuing permits for more and more winery event centers and development until they pass the Winery Event Ordinance they promised us back in 2016.

Please click here to sign our petition today. Remind this Board of Supervisors that they were elected to represent and protect ALL residents, not just the special interests of the wine industry. After signing the petition, you can send an email form (edit if you like) that will go to each Supervisor, sharing your concerns.

We’ve made it easy for your voice to be heard – please take 2 minutes to help us protect the quality of life we came here (and stayed here) for!

We believe it’s in everyone’s best interest to balance economic growth with resource protection for the benefit of future generations.

Thanks for your help!
Padi Selwyn, Co-chair, Neighbors to Preserve Rural Sonoma County

This is the County of Sonoma's cover photo for their Facebook page. It suggests how they feel about wine. Bob Anderson of the United Wine Growers is top center in the photo.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bob-anderson-956988b

https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/4...-water-grab-in

Critics see ‘water grab’

Activists involved in the escalating debate over winery expansion and vineyards’ unlimited use of water were alarmed by a published report last month that said state Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg, was “quietly sponsoring” the bill, and they intend to protest at McGuire’s annual town hall meeting Thursday night at the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors chambers.

McGuire said he had received a copy of the proposed bill from Bob Anderson, executive director of the United Winegrowers for Sonoma County, who handles the local wine industry’s political affairs.

Thank You!
I'm also sick and tired of Heavy Ag Machinery running overnight here around the Freestone Valley.
Way to piss-off your new neighbors you Corporate Absentee Vineyard Owners!
I've lost many nights of sleep from this, laying awake imagining devious ways to "make it stop"!
I will be pushing the Supervisors to alter their Vino-Friendly 'Right to Farm' ordinance to place time limits on use of heavy machinery. As it states, new arrivals(everyone) should know and expect to be inconvenienced by Ag users; But what of we who predate the vineyards by decades? Should the vineyards not be put on notice that existing rural residents hold a prior right to quiet in the night, not to be disturbed by NEW Ag users?

Kane

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Posted in reply to the post by Shepherd:

Enough is enough!

Preserve Rural Sonoma County needs your help with our efforts to lobby the Board of Supervisors to stop approving more and more winery development, ...

Please click here to sign our petition today. ...

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Yes Kane, besides noise pollution, sucking up unlimited water from OUR aquifers and poisoning us, the county has admitted they are allowing the wine industry to write their own rules. What people are not that aware of the rising toll on our children's health and ours as well as the phony "Sustainable Sonoma" signs appear everywhere including the worse offenders of pesticides banned around the world are used here freely. So while you ponder the noise pollution take a look at a local doctor's report on health "pollution".

Since this article has been published everywhere but the Press Democrat, people have been coming forward with horror stories of their children with weird cancers and adult clusters as well.

County Health Concerns Should Be Call to Action
By Laura Morgan, MD and Padi Selwyn

Recent news that Sonoma County’s overall health ranking has fallen to No. 7 in the state, down two places from last year in a state-wide health survey, should concern us all. More alarming was the Sonoma County Department of Health Services’ January 2018 report noting that our childhood cancer rate is the 4^th highest in California and that cancer is the leading cause of death in all age groups. *

According to the Sonoma County Summary Measures of Health, from 2013-2015, cancer was the leading cause of death in all age groups.

Out of 58 California counties, Sonoma County ranks 22nd in age-adjusted cancer death rates (worldlifeexpectancy.com). According to the California Cancer Registry, as of October 2016, we ranked 13th among the other California counties in age-adjusted cancer incidence.

Pesticides and Cancer

Could there be a connection between the increasing use of pesticides in Sonoma County, and our increasing rates of cancer since studies have linked pesticide exposure and various cancers?

In 2015, nearly three million pounds of pesticides (2,839,007 million pounds to be exact) were applied in Sonoma County--97% of it on wine grapes. Of those pesticides, 10,633 pounds applied to 41,412 acres were toxic or lethal to bees and birds; 47,855 pounds applied to 14,275 acres were possible/probable human carcinogens and 9,025 pounds over 7,004 acres were toxic to brain development and function (California Department of Pesticide Regulation).

Glyphosate (Round-Up), a probable carcinogen according to the UN's International Agency for Research on Cancer and Cal-EPA 2015, is widely applied throughout our county's vineyards. In 2014, almost 77,000 pounds were applied to 48,137 acres of wine grapes in Sonoma County (Sonoma Index-Tribune, May 23, 2016).

Banned Pesticides Used Locally

Bee and bird-toxic pesticides currently banned in Europe are being used in vineyards from Sebastopol to Geyserville and Healdsburg. Probable carcinogens are being applied from South Sebastopol in a wide swath north to Cloverdale and east to Santa Rosa, Healdsburg, Geyserville and Cloverdale.

Mancozeb, an old-fashioned fungicide that has been largely phased-out in California because of carcinogenic and human developmental toxic effects, is still used in quantity here. Sonoma County applies 66% of all the Mancozeb used in California. Its use is concentrated from Northwest Sebastopol through Forestville to the Russian River and in an area just south of Healdsburg (see the website Organic Wines Uncorked-"Sonoma Gets Its (Toxics) Close-Up: What's on those vines?" by Pam Strayer).

Of the 10 companies using Mancozeb, three of the heaviest users are "Certified Sustainable". "Sustainability", as defined by the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance, does not address pesticide use and does not mean "organic".

Children Most Vulnerable

Pre-natal and early childhood pesticide exposures are especially significant because of the vulnerability of growing children and their contact with dust through ingestion, inhalation and skin absorption. Children of agricultural workers have higher pesticide metabolites in their urine, associated with an increased risk of developing lung diseases, leukemia, lowered IQ and behavioral problems such as attention deficit disorder. Historically, children of farmworkers have had the highest risk of developing these conditions in multiple studies. (Eskenazi et al, Environmental Research, 2014).

Because of the known pesticide risks to human populations, especially to children, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation was created by our state legislature and requires that every county report types and amounts of pesticides used through their County Department of Agriculture Permit Program. This information is then made available to the general public at their website, cehtp.org.

Now that the data is in, it’s time for all of us to re-think the use of poisons in our homes, farms and vineyards. Pesticides are defined as any chemical used to kill any life-form, from rodents and insects to plants and fungi. They have long been suspected, now concluded to have significant adverse effects on human health (Cal-EPA).

What are we waiting for?

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Laura Morgan, MD, is a family physician practicing in West County who was educated at Sonoma State, UC Berkeley, UCSF and Sonoma County Community Hospital. She has a long-term commitment to the health of residents and the environment.
Padi Selwyn is co-founder of Preserve Rural Sonoma County, a businesswoman, author, and 45-year resident of Sonoma County.
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* State data from 2010 and 2014 shows our childhood cancer rate was the 4th highest in California (statecancerprofiles.cancer.gov).

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Posted in reply to the post by kane:

I'm also sick and tired of Heavy Ag Machinery running overnight here around the Freestone Valley....

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Look at the jugs on them,

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Posted in reply to the post by MikeH:

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I have been kept awake by one of those vineyard fans. It was below freezing for several mornings recently and they turn on the defrosting vineyard fan. Very noisy. It's like a helicopter going around overhead. The fan is not even close to me, but it sounds like it is. If I wake up at 5 AM, can't go back to sleep and miss out on an hour and a half of sleep before going to work.