Senate Democrats' decision to place a hold on a House-passed bill that would exempt pesticide users who spray over water from obtaining a new permit under the Clean Water Act represents a significant "problem" as a court-ordered deadline approaches, Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) said yesterday.
Roberts, the ranking Republican on the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, was responding to a move last week by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) to block floor action on H.R. 872 after the panel swiftly approved it in a voice vote.
The bill would undo a 2009 federal appeals court ruling in National Cotton Council vs. U.S. EPA. The court said EPA's current regulations were insufficient for protecting waterways from pesticide contamination and ordered the agency to issue new permits under the Clean Water Act.
Roberts told E&E Daily he was not surprised that Cardin, along with Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), took action to hold up the bill. Roberts added that he and Agriculture Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) might have been able to work out their concerns behind closed doors.
"I would have preferred, of course, that they just simply talked to the Chairwoman Stabenow and myself and said, 'We have some problems,' or, 'We don't have some problems, can we work something out?'" Roberts said.
Asked about holds, Stabenow told E&E Daily only that the bill's sponsors are "having problems clearing them."
At the markup last week, Stabenow indicated that she preferred to work out the permit issue through regulation instead of legislation. She also emphasized that her staff has been working with Boxer's on the California Democrat's concerns. "This is only step one," Stabenow said at the markup.
Cardin, the chairman of the Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Water and Wildlife, said the legislation's effects on the Clean Water Act spurred his decision to put a hold on it. The bill would amend the water law to prohibit permits for pesticide use.
"Our concern is that we want to review the impact on water," Cardin said in an interview.
Boxer was more direct last week, telling E&E Daily that "we're not ready to pass a bill like that or anything close to it".
But Roberts was quick to point out the looming court-ordered Oct. 31 deadline for EPA to begin issuing the new permits.
"Obviously," Roberts said, "it would be better to have it consistent with the House so we can have an expedited answer."
The House passed the measure in March by a 292-130 vote. It earned the support of all the chamber's Republicans and 57 Democrats.
The National Cotton Council case has been controversial since it was decided. Farm state legislators of both parties have criticized it for putting an additional economic burden on farmers. EPA has also taken issue with the ruling, arguing that the agency's current pesticide regulations adequately protect waterways.
Environmentalists who have long said pesticide contamination is a serious problem applauded the decision, however, and many green groups have urged lawmakers to oppose H.R. 872.