By Bob Martel – Country Activist, May 1985
On April 25th, the San Francisco Chronicle carried an article about a picket and boycott of Louisiana Pacific Corporation. The protest was organized by a new organization of environmental and peace-minded activists called the “Mendocino Greens”, and the locals of the AFL-CIO, a major labor organization.
The Mendocino papers have carried the news of the formation of the Mendo Greens, styled after the internationally renowned Green Parties of Europe. Activists in the neighboring counties are watching these developments closely, hoping to learn from the Mendocino experiment.
With the crisis in Mendocino over renewed aerial herbicide spraying in spite of the 2-to-1 voted objections of county citizens, the formation of a new organizing force coupled with a coalition with labor could alter politics in Mendocino and give new life to progressive movements in Humboldt and Sonoma.
To help give an idea about the feelings in Mendocino about Louisiana Pacific and the aerial spraying, the Country Activist prints excerpts from several publications. First, from the Mendocino Lookout, edited and published by Lawrence D. Livermore of Laytonville: LP GANGSTERS DECLARE CHEMICAL WAR: POISONOUS AERIAL ATTACKS BEGIN. “Revealing themselves unmistakably as the greed-crazed criminals they are, officials of the Louisiana Pacific Corporation have by Bob Hartel carried out a sneak chemical attack on the land, water, and people of Mendocino County. Contemptuously dismissing the outraged protests of thousands of citizens, they have vowed that this will be only the first of many aerial sprayings.
The mid-March application of Garlon, a new and virtually untested herbicide which is a close chemical relative of the banned phenoxy-herbicide 2,4,5-T (one half of Agent Orange), to a forest tract near Rockport was the first incident of its kind since the California State Legislature took away the power of voters to regulate pesticide and herbicide use in their own communities.
A standing room only crowd packed the March 19, 1985 meeting of the County Board of Supervisors to demand that something be done about L-P’s crimes against the biosphere, but as might have been predicted the supes shrugged their collective shoulders and passed a toothless ordinance requiring only that neighboring landowners be notified before they get poisoned.
What kind of men would deliberately pour dangerous chemicals into the water and food chain of an entire community for no other reason than the possibility of financial gain? The answer is obvious: only the most vicious sort of criminals. In a sane society, the executive officers of Louisiana Pacific would be in prison. The only difference between them and the muggers, murderers, robbers, and rapists who now fill our country’s jails is one of scale. Most criminals confine themselves to one or two victims at a time; in one fell swoop the L-P goons can make a vicious attack on not only the thousands of innocent people unfortunate enough to live in the vicinity of L-P’s landraping operations, but also on their descendants for generations to come.
An L-P mouthpiece, when confronted with petitions signed by thousands of citizens demanding an end to the spraying, made petulant noises about L-P being able to do whatever it wanted with its own property. He also threatened that L-P might pull up stakes and leave the county if people continued to complain about its forestry practices.
We should be so lucky. L-P will leave, all right, but not until they’ve wrung every last blood-stained dollar out of this tortured land.
What can we do to hasten the day that these corporate gangsters are permanently banished from our community?”
Next, by Yorgos Savides in the Mendocino Country Magazine, April 1985, MENDOCINO GREENS: IT’S HAPPENING!:
“On Sunday, March 25th, 1985, over 200 people from many different areas in the county gathered together in Boonville to plant a seed for a whole new era in county politics.
Activists for many causes, writers, political organizers—folks involved with a multitude of issues that are effecting the quality and safety of our lives both here in Mendocino County and on a global scale—came to explore the ways in which we can increase our power through cooperation, sharing of resources, linking of networks, reducing areas of duplication and most important of all, acknowledging our common ground.
Issues of tactics, goals and methodologies surfaced from time to time in the meeting. These are the things that in the past have tended to separate us and dilute our strengths. The energy of the people present was such that we were able to stay focused and build on what brings us together rather than what has kept us apart. It was a real inspiration for me to experience the solidarity among us ...
This is a time of great new beginnings and yet we’ve all come a long way already to get here. The seed is strong. The Earth is ripe for its planting. “Mendocino Greens” beauty and power nurtured by our spirits and protected by our determination to see the Earth honored, with its people in harmony as co-creators is what many of us have been envisioning for a long, long time.
We are the people! Now is the time! This is the place!
It’s happening!”
And, finally, from a flier called WHO CARES IF L-P SPRAYS:
“We demand that L-P agree in writing to a two-year moratorium on all aerial herbicide spraying in this county, and agree to institute manual hardwood removal pilot projects during this period. Our action will end if the company meets these two conditions: We will not allow L-P or any other timber company to poison our watersheds or waste our hardwood resources. We demand that L-P stop endangering our health and the health of our children!
The herbicides L-P uses have never been proven safe. The lab which tested these chemicals for the Environmental Protection Agency has been discredited because they faked many of the tests. L-P conveniently ignores these facts, just as they ignore the health concerns of people living and working near the spray sites. The company wants to make us believe the health problems we experienced after spraying are all imaginary.
L-P has completed spraying the Comptche and Rockport areas for now, but herbicides have to be reapplied every few years. They plan to spray the notorious 2,4-D in the Willits area this year. L-P’s Resource Manager claims the company wants to be a “good neighbor”, but he refuses to give advance notice to people in the vicinity of the spray sites.
Here is a brief history of the herbicide struggle:
- 1978: timber companies use helicopters to spray 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T on their holdings. Children waiting for a school bus on Greenwood Ridge Road are sprayed. These chemicals are known to cause cancer and birth defects. Their use has since been banned on federal lands.
- 1979: by a 2-1 margin, Mendocino County voters adopt a ban on the aerial application of phenoxy herbicides. Aerial spraying by the timber companies ceases.
- 1984: the California State Supreme Court upholds the Mendocino County herbicide ordinance.
- 1984: the California State Assembly passes AB 2635, which takes control of herbicide and pesticide regulation away from counties. This law places spray regulation under the jurisdiction of the State Department of Food and Agriculture, which is dominated by agribusiness interests. Local control is lost.
- 1985: L-P begins aerial herbicide spraying in Mendocino County. Company adopts a new breed of herbicides to circumvent regulation and scrutiny. Citizens groups reorganize to defend health and property rights.
The legal picketing of L-P offices has received the endorsement of the International Woodworkers’ Association (IWA) the United Brotherhood of Carpenters (UBC), the Mendocino Greens, and Support Our Herbicide Ordinance (SOHO). We encourage people to participate in the national boycott of all L-P products; declared by the national offices of the IWA and the Carpenters Union. We support the May 4 national action against wholesale and retail distributors of L-P products, including Mendo Mill and Yaeger & Kirk.... WHO CARES IF L-P SPRAYS? PARENTS AND CHILDREN CARE! LOGGERS, WOODWORKERS, FISHERMEN, HUNTERS & FIREWOOD USERS CARE! TOURISTS AND BUSINESS PEOPLE CARE, TOO!”
The residents of neighboring counties are wishing for the best from the new surge of organizing energy focused by the Mendocino Greens…