In 2009, a federal court ruling required pesticide users to now apply for a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit, under the Clean Water Act (CWA), if chemicals were sprayed over, near or into a body of water when historically the pesticides were already regulated under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). A recently submitted Senate bill, the Sensible Environmental Protection Act, amends FIFRA and CWA to prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or a state from requiring a permit for a discharge into navigable waters of a pesticide authorized under FIFRA and clarifies the permitting of pesticide applications. The bill would eliminate the need for redundant permits.
