EPA STANCE ON 'RESIDUE' MAY AID ACTIVISTS' SUIT ON PESTICIDE PERMIT RULE

摘要

Environmentalists say EPA's defense of its controversial rule exempting some pesticide spraying from Clean Water Act permit requirements may ultimately bolster their suit to overturn the rule because the agency's recent brief acknowledges that pesticide residues are "pollutants," which are subject to permit requirements. Relevant documents are available on InsideEPA.com. See page 2 for details. At issue in the lawsuit, National Cotton Council, et al. v. EPA, is an agency rule allowing agricultural pesticide users, state pest controllers and others to spray pesticides on or near water under certain circumstances without having to obtain a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. Critics of the agency's rule had said shortly after its release that its language on pesticide residues, which are chemically similar to pesticides, could prove problematic for EPA's defense because it draws an uncertain line between when pesticides qualify as pollutants, which require permits, and when they do not.