Sacramento — State Sen. Christine Kehoe has shelved her hard-fought legislation aimed at forcing boat owners to stop using copper-based paints believed to be a troubling source of pollution in the San Diego Bay and congested marinas all along California’s coast.

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/may/30/kehoe-backs-away-from-limits-on-copper-based-boat/

The San Diego Democrat cited a number of new developments in explaining why she decided to drop the measure, which had been pushed by the Port of San Diego and San Diego Coastkeeper.

Among those: unfinished studies that when completed could provide a better science-driven guide for future legislation, a new federal Environmental Protection Agency approach to gauging copper in the Shelter Island Yacht Basin, and a pending state Department of Pesticide Regulation determination of the safe levels of low-leach copper coatings.

“It makes sense to defer the bill until some of these essential items are completed in 2013,” Kehoe said in a letter to bill supporters and the American Coatings Association released Wednesday.

But Kehoe is termed out of office so the fate of future legislation remains uncertain.