Senators in both parties are trying to use the farm bill to go after
EPA regulations and permits as a potential last-ditch effort to affect
agency policy before the election.
The amendments range from the
usual moves against the agency’s renewable fuels mandate and so-called
farm dust controls to efforts to limit pesticide permits and boost the
power of the agency’s liaison to farmers.
Several amendments bear the fingerprints of Missouri
Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill. For example, she’s on a bipartisan
list of senators behind an amendment from Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.)
exempting some pesticides already covered under the Federal Insecticide,
Fungicide and Rodenticide Act from Clean Water Act permits.
The dual regulation is “just not necessary. I mean, why would you
make somebody fill out the same stuff more than one time?” McCaskill
said Thursday.
The amendment also would require the Environmental Protection Agency
to report to Congress on the status of coordination between the agency’s
water and pesticide offices, analyze current pesticide regulations and,
according to the text, recommend how FIFRA could be modified “to better
protect water quality and human health.”
“This doesn’t impact the environment,” McCaskill said.
Green groups disagree and have labeled the amendment’s defeat as one
of their top priorities in the farm bill debate. They say it won’t help
farmers — except for those that grow crops in water, like rice and
cranberries — and note that the Clean Water Act already exempts
agricultural irrigation runoff from permits.
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