ASA and dozens of other agriculture stakeholders signed on to a letter this week to the four House sponsors of H.R. 935, the Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act of 2013. Identical legislation (H.R. 872) passed the House in 2012, which would eliminate new permitting requirements for pesticide applications that occur over water.

The agriculture community has long maintained that these applications are regulated by the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and that new permitting requirements are duplicative and unnecessary. The cosponsors of the legislation are Bob Gibbs (R-Ohio), Austin Scott (R-Ga.), Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.) and Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.).

"(A)ll pesticide applications are already stringently regulated through FIFRA, including applications to and near water. EPA’s FIFRA registration program contains specific consideration for such use patterns," stated the groups in the letter. "The permits’ compliance requirements impose resource and liability burdens on thousands of small businesses, farms, municipalities, counties, and state and federal agencies legally responsible for protecting public health, and exposes them to citizen lawsuits over infractions as minor as paperwork violations. Ultimately, we believe that the permit jeopardizes public health protection and the economy as regulators and businesses expend time and resources to implement and comply with these permits, all for no additional environmental benefits."