"Farmers and other pesticide users would not need to secure Clean Water Act (CWA) permits before spraying over water under Senate legislation offered late last week in response to a pivotal federal court ruling.

The pesticide bill, offered Thursday by Agriculture Chairwoman Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) and the panel's senior Republican, Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, would allow agriculture interests to continue pesticide use in compliance with the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year struck down a U.S. EPA rule passed during the George W. Bush administration that exempted pesticide sprays over water from the CWA, requiring the agency to begin crafting new clean water permit requirements."

Elana Schor reports for Greenwire August 9, 2010. [2]