Continued Push in U.S. Senate to Pass NPDES Legislation

NPMA, along with the Pesticide Policy Coalition NPDES Workgroup, met recently with members of the senior Republican staff of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry to discuss possible Senate action on the NPDES legislation (S. 340). The content of this legislation is also included in the ACRE act which Chairman Barrasso of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works will hopefully introduce soon.

The workgroup is working two different approaches (Senate EPW Committee/ Acre Act or Senate Ag. Committee/Farm Bill) to push NPDES legislation to increase the likelihood of success. Senate staff were very interesting in there was supporting data associated with the costs and litigation that were originally predicted.

The workgroup provided a briefing on the ongoing litigation in Ohio and previous litigation in Idaho. These were described as examples of how local mosquito control districts have had to divert already limited public health funding to defend against frivolous lawsuits brought under the Clean Water Act. Information was also shared about an applicator who had to suspend spraying due to the threat of litigation (the citizen suit provision of the Clean Water Act allows private citizens to file a lawsuit against an applicator for which the applicator must bear the cost of a legal defense). This episode resulted in a woman contracting West Nile Virus to which she later succumbed.

Lastly, Committee staff were reminded that requiring a permit for application of pesticides that have already been fully reviewed and approved under FIFRA is a duplicative regulatory burden that imposes unnecessary costs and threatens public health but provides no measurable benefit to public health, water quality or environmental quality generally.