Commissioner Farmer supports federal bills protecting producers from costly regulation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
For more information contact:
Bill Clary
(502) 564-1137

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer supports federal legislation that would prevent the government from requiring farmers to get additional permits under the Clean Water Act for using pesticides that are applied consistent with federal pesticide law.

Bills filed in the U.S. House and Senate would clarify that producers who apply pesticides in compliance with the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) are not subject to Clean Water Act permits. The measures stem from a federal appeals court decision that overturned an Environmental Protection Agency rule that exempted permitting of certain pesticide applications from the Clean Water Act. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minnesota), Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Oklahoma), and Senators Blanche Lincoln (D-Arkansas) and Saxby Chambliss (R-Georgia) have filed similar legislation to address the situation.

“The court ruling reversed decades of sound federal policy on pesticide use,” Commissioner Farmer said. “This legislation would prohibit the government from placing a costly and unnecessary burden on our producers that would result in little or no benefit to the environment.”

FIFRA was enacted by Congress to control all aspects of pesticide registration, sales and use. The EPA has never issued a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit under the Clean Water Act for the application of a pesticide, and in 2006 the agency specifically exempted permitting of certain pesticide applications from the Clean Water Act. The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in 2009 that the EPA did not have the authority to exempt pesticides from the Clean Water Act.