"EPA’s New Worker Protection Standard Faces Uncertain Future"

"EPA's revised Worker Protection Standard is scheduled to take effect on Monday (Jan. 2), but the new rules face an uncertain future in the new administration."

"Those new EPA Worker Protection Standard rules that require annual pesticide-handling training for farmworkers and retraining of all who provide the training are scheduled to take effect on Monday (Jan. 2).

But the future of the rules – which mark the first update of the WPS since 1992 – could depend on how legal maneuvering between the Obama administration and the new Trump regime plays out in the coming months.

The American Farm Bureau Federation and the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture have both petitioned EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy to delay the Jan. 2 start date. The petition filed a few days before Christmas claims EPA violated federal law and also has failed to deliver all the information needed to implement the new rule."

Forrest Laws reports for the Delta Farm Press December 30, 2016.