State agriculture officials announced Tuesday the end of a controversial plan to have planes spray pheromones over Marin and other Bay Area counties to kill off the light brown apple moth, a decision hailed by locals who had been fighting the plan.

“This will be very well received in Marin County,” Supervisor Steve Kinsey said at the Board of Supervisors’ meeting Tuesday upon hearing the development. “This is very good news for us.”

A recently released state Department of Food and Agriculture final environmental impact report on the moth – the invasive insect the state fears could cause widespread agricultural damage – outlined how to address the pest, and aerial spraying remained an element of the plan despite protests.

But that changed Tuesday when agriculture officials certified the environmental impact report and filed an additional “findings document” stating that the aerial treatment with moth pheromones – to disrupt breeding – is not a management tool in the program. The document supersedes the environmental report, officials said.

“The management plan does not include the aerial treatment,” said Steve Lyle, spokesman for the state’s food and agriculture department.

Additionally, state officials concurred with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s recent announcement that the program should shift from eradication to suppression and control.