The US House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly this summer to eliminate the USEPA regulation that will require applicators to get a NPDES permit in order to apply pesticides on or near water.  Since then, the US Senate leadership has refused to allow the bill a simple up or down vote, despite the fact that the majority of US Senators oppose the NPDES pesticide permit requirement.  Without Congressional intervention, this regulation goes into effect October 31, 2011.  Crop Life America, the national crop protection organization, has worked tirelessly trying to secure passage of this legislation and we thank them for all their efforts.  It is unfortunate that such a redundant, costly regulation will go into effect when the majority of our US legislators are against this requirement.  Any wonder why the approval rate for Congress is so low?

 

Since the US Senate has failed to act, we expect on Monday, Oct 31, USEPA will issue a press release announcing the implementation of the permit and posting a copy of the permit and fact sheet on its website.  There will likely be a 120 day enforcement delay to January 9, 2012.  IFCA and other Illinois ag organizations will be working with Illinois EPA to the best of our ability to make the permit process for Illinois as sensible as possible.  Again, this permit will be required for the application of pesticides that are labeled for use on water, for mosquito treatment and for other wide-spread treatment operations.  Pesticides used in agricultural crop production are not subject to the permit requirement at this point but our industry has good reason to believe that this regulation may be expanded in the future and will have an impact on many other pesticide uses.  IFCA will provide compliance assistance to members who will be impacted by this new regulation.