“Borderline comical.” As members of the Kirkland City council consider banning plastic grocery bags, they should keep those words in mind.

They are the words of Dr. Christopher Reddy, Senior Scientist at Wood’s Hole Oceanographic Institute when he spoke against Rhode Island’s proposed ban on plastic bags.

After listening to environmental activists pushing the ban, he made it clear their arguments – the same arguments we hear in Washington state – are simply unscientific.

On Tuesday night, on an overwhelming 6-1 vote, the city council of Huntington Beach, California–which is officially known as “Surf City, USA“–directed the city staff to begin the process of repealing a policy that bans the use of plastic grocery bags, and requires grocery stores to charge a ten-cent fee on paper bags.

This coastal city in Orange County, which boasts 9.5 miles of beautiful beaches, is about to make history, as never before has a city with such a bag ban ever repealed it.