11/24/06 EPA final rule on aquatic pesticides

Farm and Ranch November 24, 2006 Agricultural groups are praising a final rule issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency this week clarifying two specific circumstances in which a Clean Water Act permit is not required to apply pesticides to or around water. Chris Voigt, Executive Director of the Washington Potato Commission explains what the dilemma has been in recent years. Voigt: "And for many years we had been working with the pesticide division of the EPA saying that these products are safe to use in and around water. And then all of a sudden activist groups saw that loophole, how there were two different divisions within EPA that were regulating pesticides in water and decided to sue and say, hey, no, if you are going to use any type of pesticide in the water, for example to control mosquito larvae, then you need a Clean Water discharge permit essentially saying you are allowed to use a pesticide in water. The other side of EPA said you didn't need that permit. So it is a conflict we have been in the past four years and this ruling straightens it out for us and draws a firm line in the sand saying these products are okay to use in and around water and you don't need a National Discharge Permit to apply them." EPA says no permit is needed for applications to control aquatic weeds, which is important for maintaining irrigation canals, or pests such as mosquito larvae, which of course can be a source of West Nile virus. That's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report. Brought to you in part by the Washington State Potato Commission. Nutrition today! Good health tomorrow! I'm Bob Hoff on the Northwest Ag Information Network.