SAN DIEGO — Many San Diegans switched to synthetic grass as a way to deal with the drought and help the environment. Well now, local governments could ban it and that is not going over well.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill allowing local governments to ban artificial turf in residential areas.
This will reverse part of a 2015 bill that stripped local governments of that power.
"That was a decision that was made because of the drought situation in the sense that the use artificial turf was better for water usage," said state senator Ben Allen, author of the bill.
He says synthetic grass could pose some risks; such as dangerous carcinogens found in the turf.
"The risk we continue to read about is links to cancer. I don’t want to alarm people. I’m not saying if you have artificial grass you will get cancer, that is not what I am saying, but we have found a link that some of the chemicals that are present in this plastic grass to cancer," said Allen.
Other concerns include plastic pollution in runoff.
"How many millions of dollars did they give out to encourage people, rebate programs and all this stuff to put artificial grass in your house to conserve water. Why are we doing this?" said Robby Brockman, owner of Synthetic Lawn Solutions in El Cajon.
"It's extremely frustrating and I feel like even putting this in the air for us, you know what I mean? There will be quite a few people that are now going to think all of a sudden artificial grass is bad. How many high school fields, football fields, sports fields that have artificial grass? It's everywhere here!" said Brockman.
He fears he could lose his business if the city decides to ban or put restrictions on artificial grass.
"I would say artificial grass is the and butter of my business. It would be a huge hit for us. It would be detrimental," said Brockman.
Senator Allen says artificial grass companies have the option to state their case to local offices if it goes that far.
"Look, I mean, there is nothing in this bill that takes away turf. This would be a decision. We are simply giving cities and counties the right to regulate it. It's not my job to protect their industry, it's my job to protect these other factors," said Allen.
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