Despite calls for further delay, EPA has indicated that it will adhere to an October 31 court-ordered deadline to issue a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) general permit for pesticide spraying activities. The legal obligation to develop the Pesticides General Permit (PGP) stems from a 2009 U.S. Court of Appeals ruling (National Cotton Council, et al. v. EPA) that the existing regulatory exemption for pesticide applications on land adjacent to waters violated the terms of the Clean Water Act. However, because the PGP is scheduled for release on October 31, the same date as the legal compliance deadline, EPA has stated that it will allow some leeway in the implementation of PGP requirements, indicating that compliance enforcement will not begin until January 2012. EPA intends to release fact sheets, forms and a decision tree tool to assist in the quick adoption of PGP requirements.
With EPA’s public commitment to the October 31 deadline, PGP opponents are pushing hard for Congressional action that would halt regulation. Pesticide industry representatives have continually claimed that NPDES requirements are duplicative of requirements under existing pesticides regulations and represent an unwarranted burden on users. A bill (H.R. 872) is pending in the House that would specifically exempt aquatic pesticides from regulation under the NPDES program, but prospects for passage are unclear as it has so far failed to gain traction. Regardless of prospects in the House, passage of a similar bill in the Senate are low as environment committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) has already signaled opposition to the legislation without significant modifications. Other legal challenges to the PGP development process itself are expected on procedural grounds, but are not expected to delay initial publication.