Groups ask EPA to delay farmworker safety rule

A farmworker safety rule scheduled to go into effect Jan. 1 needs to be delayed a year because EPA has not told states how to implement it, the American Farm Bureau Federation and National Association of State Departments of Agriculture said today.

In a petition filed with the agency, AFBF and NASDA claim EPA violated the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) by failing to deliver “enforcement guidance, educational materials, and training resources necessary to effectively implement the rule changes and assist the regulated community with compliance activities.” They asked the agency to push the effective date of the new standards from Jan. 1, 2017, to Jan. 1, 2018.

The delay is needed “to give NASDA members adequate time to prepare for compliance with the rule and to avoid the unfair and unredressable harm to farmers and ranchers,” Nathan Bowen, NASDA's director of public policy, and Dale Moore, AFBF's executive director of public policy, said in the petition.

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