NPMA Supports Introduction of Pest Management and Fire Suppression Flexibility Act

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FAIRFAX, Va. – Bipartisan legislation the National Pest Management Association (NPMA) supports affirming that pest control operators and other applicators using federally registered pesticides in accordance with label directions do not have to obtain a permit under the Clean Water Act (CWA) was introduced last week in the U.S. Senate.

Filed by Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), the Pest Management and Fire Suppression Flexibility Act was made necessary by recent U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rulings that misinterpreted the intended relationship between CWA and federal pesticide law. The rulings require persons applying pesticides directly to or over bodies of water to obtain a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit (NPDES) under CWA, a very costly and potentially time consuming process.

Federal pesticide law already requires that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) conduct a comprehensive risk assessment before registering a pesticide for use, including a thorough review of the possible risk the pesticide poses to water quality and aquatic species. The label instructions U.S. EPA develops are based on this elaborate process and mitigate any risk. Failure to follow label directions is a violation of federal and state laws. Imposing a redundant requirement such as having to obtain an NPDES permit – a tool intended to allow federal and state officials to more closely regulate the discharges of large industrial and municipal wastewater facilities - will impair pest control operators, mosquito abatement districts and public health agencies ability to protect the public from West Nile virus and other potentially deadly mosquito-borne diseases.

The measure also protects pesticide applicators from nuisance lawsuits that activists groups have been filing or threatening to file against pest managers for engaging in long practiced, expressly approved and already heavily regulated pest management activities. In the last year, the threat of mischievous CWA citizen’s suits forced Maine’s largest two blueberry growers to discontinue legal pest management practices, so as to avoid the prohibitive cost of litigation. An Idaho mosquito abatement district was also recently sued for conducting normal mosquito management activities to protect its citizens from contracting mosquito borne illnesses.

“NPMA appreciates that Chairman Inhofe and Senator Lincoln understand the need for safe and effective tools to combat potentially deadly and destructive pests,” said Robert Rosenberg, NPMA’s Vice President for Government Affairs. “Just as importantly, Chairman Inhofe and Senator Lincoln realize that those managing such threats are already heavily regulated and do not need to be subject to redundant regulations and legal threats.”

Nine other Senators joined Chairman Inhofe and Senator Lincoln as original cosponsors of the Pest Management and Fire Suppression Flexibility Act, also known as S. 1269. Groups representing farmers, mosquito abatement districts, rice, potato, onion and other specialty crop growers, irrigators, foresters, state agricultural and pesticide regulatory officials, state natural resource managers, wildland firefighters, lawn care operators, chemical manufacturers, aquatic plant managers and agricultural aviators are also supporting S. 1269.

U.S. Representatives Butch Otter (R-ID) and Dennis Cardoza (D-CA) introduced identical legislation in late April the U.S. House of Representatives. H.R. 1749, which has attracted more than 50 Democratic and Republican cosponsors, has been referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.