American Farm Bureau petitions high court in Clean Water Act case

Farm and Ranch November 12, 2009 The American Farm Bureau Federation has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review a case it says could have a tremendous impact on the nation’s farmers. The Farm Bureau says that is because unless it’s overturned the Environmental Protection Agency will impose Clean Water Act permitting requirements on all pesticide use on, over or near water.

Julie Anna Potts is the Farm Bureau Federation’ General Counsel.

Potts: “This case is huge. There are going to be, by EPA estimates, up to 5.6 million new permitted pesticide applications annually. That is enormous expansion of the Clean Water Act program and there is going to be a huge cost to society as a result.”

Potts says the lower court struck down an EPA rule that said the Clean Water Act did not apply to pesticide applications near water as long as the pesticide use complied with EPA requirements.

Potts: “How you apply these pesticides is heavily regulated by the EPA. There is a separate law, it’s called the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Law, commonly called FIRA. FIFRA was enacted right around the same time as the Clean Water Act and so it is our belief that Congress never intended pesticide applicators to be regulated under the Clean Water Act, because FIFRA is in place to do that.”

The Farm Bureau says requiring these individual permits would mean if a farmer’s crops were hit by a fungus or insect problem, they may not be able to deal with the problem in time to save their crop.

The question now is, will the Supreme Court will hear the case?

I’m Bob Hoff and that’s the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.

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