Document Actions
Conservationists Win Decision Protecting Local Water Supplies, Fisheries &Wildlife; Bush Rule Exempting Pesticide Application From Clean Water Act Protections Vacated.
In yet another of a long list stinging defeats for the Bush’s Environmental Protection Agency, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a clear rebuke against the administration’s attempt to exempt certain commercial pesticide applications from oversight of the Clean Water Act.
In yet another of a long list stinging defeats for the Bush Environmental Protection Agency, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a clear rebuke against the administration’s 2006 attempt to exempt certain commercial pesticide applications from the oversight provided by Congress under the Clean Water Act. The Court held that pesticide residuals and biological pesticides constitute pollutants under federal law and therefore must be regulated under the Clean Water Act in order to minimize the impact to human health and the environment.
With this decision, virtually all commercial pesticide application to, over and around waterways will now require National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits. The NPDES permits will allow for local citizen input, and provide for accountability and oversight. The permits will also require the regulatory agencies to evaluate effects on fish and wildlife from individual applications, to monitor exactly how much of a pesticide application goes into in our nation’s waters, and to evaluate the cumulative impact this residual effect has on aquatic organisms.
“The decision today is a victory for clean water, and for fish and wildlife” declared Charlie Tebbutt, Western Environmental Law Center attorney and lead counsel for the environmental organizations and organic farms that challenged the rule.
Click here to read the press release and the 6th Circuit decision.