Bay Area lawmakers seek $32.2 million in emergency federal funds to fight grape pest

Bay Area lawmakers are asking federal officials for $32.2 million in emergency funding to battle a dangerous grapevine pest introduced into the region by Costco sales to consumers.

Northern California, the heart of the U.S. wine industry, is threatened by an insect known as the glassy-winged sharpshooter, which carries a fatal disease that could wreak havoc on the state’s vineyards if allowed to spread.

“This pest and its associated disease pose a potentially catastrophic threat” with a potential loss of $104 million a year, according to a letter from lawmakers sent Tuesday to the U.S. Agriculture Department.

The letter asks for $32.2 million to be used for tracing, surveying, trapping, and eradication, a process that the lawmakers estimate will take up to four years.

The request was made by Sens. Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla, both D-California, and 12 House members. Bay Area representatives included Mike Thompson, D-Napa, Jimmy Panetta, D-Monterey, Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, John Garamendi, D-Vallejo, and Mark DeSaulnier, D-Antioch.

In May, the California Department of Food and Agriculture found that vines infested with the pest were supplied to multiple Costco locations across California. As customers purchased the vines, it has spread to at least 38 counties statewide, the letter said.

Authorities believe that the issue is restricted to residential areas so far and has not spread to commercial vineyards.

“Hopefully, they’ve caught it early enough, and it’s not a problem, but we just don’t know right now,” said Michael Miller, the director of government relations for the California Association of Winegrape Growers.

“But the cost of just doing the tracing, and finding out where it went, doing the trapping, and doing the outreach to the communities is a very, very costly problem,” Miller said.

The plants, numbering in the hundreds, came from Burchell Nursery in Fresno County.

Glassy-winged sharpshooters spread Pierce’s disease, a bacterial infection that is fatal to grapevines and can also damage almond, citrus and ornamental plants.