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GCSAA Against Pesticide Ruling04-27-09 | News

GCSAA Against Pesticide Ruling

EPA has never before required NPDES permits for pesticide applications. The NPDES permit process can be time consuming, costly, and requires public notice. Because of this, golf course superintendents may in the future be subject to new red tape to apply pesticides at the facility.

GCSAA has taken a substantial stand against a recent federal court ruling that would fundamentally change the way pesticides are regulated in the U.S. and will determine when superintendents and other pesticide applicators are required to obtain National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits prior to pesticide applications.

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EPA administers the Clean Water Act (CWA) which prohibits the discharge of pollutants into navigable waters from any point source without an NPDES permit. EPA also regulates the registration, sale, distribution and use of pesticides under the Federal Insecticide Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). The interplay between CWA and FIFRA law is at the heart of the National Cotton Council case, and since 2000, anti-pesticide interest groups have gone to court under the CWA to stop pesticide applications.

In the National Cotton Council case, a three judge panel from the Sixth Circuit Court overturned a 2006 EPA Aquatic Pesticides final rule that concluded that pesticides applied in accordance with FIFRA labels were exempt from the Clean Water Act?EUR??,,????'?????<

The Sixth Circuit Court decision concluded that sprayers and nozzles are point source conveyances and that all residues and excesses of chemical pesticides that remain in water after the beneficial use is completed are ?EUR??,,????'?????<

GCSAA will be vigilant as to the development of any rule (and corresponding state permit rules, as a delegated state will be the permitting entity, subject to federal overview), and seek to discuss this with EPA and other affected groups once the time for appeal has passed.