The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will extend the deadline to meet requirements of its new farmworker protection standard (WPS) until guidance and training materials are ready.
The extension was announced in a letter from acting assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention Wendy Cleland-Hamnett, according to Agri-Pulse.
“After careful evaluation, the EPA believes it appropriate to grant your request to extend the implementation of all revised provisions to the Agricultural Worker Protection Standard (WPS) until the necessary guidance and training have been completed which would allow state lead pesticide agencies to successfully implement the rule changes,” Cleland-Hamnet wrote in the letter to the National Association of State Departments (NASDA).
The agency did not specify a new deadline for compliance, but NASDA and other farm groups have repeatedly asked for an extension until at least Jan. 2, 2018, according to Agri-Pulse.
The Obama administration denied an extension request from NASDA and the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) shortly before Donald Trump took office as president.
Cleland-Hamnett said in her letter that EPA would “soon begin the regulatory process to formally extend the compliance date for all revised provisions of the WPS.”
Published in November 2015, most of the rule’s provisions were scheduled to go in effect Jan. 2, 2017, with the rest slated to become effective a year later.
“Protecting the health and safety of agricultural workers is a fundamental priority for NASDA members,” NASDA CEO Barbara Glenn said.
Glenn also said that although states “have been working diligently with EPA to implement the agency’s 2015 rule, the lack of needed education and training materials and other significant challenges have made the original implementation time unrealistic.”
NASDA, numerous state agencies and AFBF said they are concerned that EPA has not clarified its requirements regarding Application Exclusion Zones (AEZ) and “designated representatives,” persons who would be authorized to receive information on behalf of farmworkers about chemicals used at farm operations.
The final rule would prohibit applications within 100 feet of workers for “aerial, air blast, fumigant, smoke, mist and fog applications” as well as applications that use very fine droplet sizes.
NASDA and AFBF also have criticized the “designative representative” provision claiming it would deprive farmers of a reasonable expectation of privacy for confidential business information.
Agri-Pulse reports the WPS extension comes as EPA also is considering extending until May 2018 the effective date of a rule establishing new requirements for those who apply for restricted-use pesticides. The rule was originally scheduled to go into effect in March but has been extended until June 5, while the agency considers comments on its May 15 extension proposal.