The Ventura County Agricultural Association filed an 84-page lawsuit against the Department of Pesticide Regulation late Friday, seeking to stop the state from imposing regulations that would limit the use of field fumigants in the county.

The regulations, adopted Jan. 28, "drastically reduce the use of soil fumigants necessary to the business of growing the most valuable food crops in Ventura County, including strawberries, nursery stock, tomatoes, raspberries, cut flowers and peppers," the suit claims.

Rob Roy, president and general counsel of the Ventura County Agricultural Association, issued a news release stating that the regulations pose a significant threat to Ventura County's economy.

Representatives with the Department of Pesticide Regulation could not be reached Friday evening.

The regulations, enacted to comply with a federal court order, are meant to reduce smog-producing volatile organic compounds that the department believes fumigants emit. The rules limit farmers' application of field fumigants from May to October.

The DPR, in its publicized fact sheets, states that: to comply with emission limits, "Ventura County farmers must reduce treated acreage significantly. DPR has proposed to phase in emission reductions in Ventura County over five years" but the federal court ruled "that a phased approach would not comply with its previous order. Therefore, the emissions limits must be met immediately in Ventura County" as in other parts of the state.

The suit claims DPR has violated the law by refusing to consider alternatives to the regulations and "quietly removed without public notice or opportunity to comment" a new version of the regulations that would have allowed exemptions for farms under 5 acres.

Roy said the department is relying on "outdated and inaccurate data" for the regulation that could cause 12,000 job losses, $250 million in lost income and 6,000 acres of lost farmland locally.

The suit claims the regulations "will actually increase smog, destroy open space, and create carbon emissions and global warming by forcing agricultural land into commercial and residential development."

According to court records, Linda S. Adams, California's secretary for environmental protection, wrote the EPA on Feb. 11 that the regulations pose "an unreasonable risk of economic dislocation and irreparable environmental harm."

The letter is attached to the suit, which was filed in Sacramento Superior Court. The association is seeking to have the regulations declared invalid and void, and get a permanent injunction restraining the department from imposing them.