As the pesticide industry and pesticide users look to the Farm Bill as a vehicle for growing their economic interests at the expense of health and the environment, there is the Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act, HR 5089. Introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. David Rouzer (R-NC) in July, the legislation would reverse a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requirement to obtain a permit before spraying pesticides on or near waterways. This is a repeat of HR 953, which failed to pass the Senate in 2017. The legislation is actually part of an effort to undermine the purpose of the Clean Water Act—" to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation's waters.” This bill follows other attempts to weaken the Clean Water Act, including a court decision limiting the definition of “waters of the U.S.” and subsequent revision of EPA's regulations protecting wetlands. 

>>Tell Congress that protection of the nation's water should be strengthened, not weakened.

HR 5089, if enacted into law, would reverse a 2009 decision issued by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, in the case of National Cotton Council et al. v. EPA, which held that pesticides applied to waterways should be considered pollutants under federal law and regulated under the Clean Water Act, through National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits. Prior to the decision, the EPA, under the Bush Administration, had allowed the weaker and more generalized standards under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) to be followed. This allowed pesticides to be discharged into U.S. waterways without any federal oversight, as FIFRA does not require tracking such applications and assessing the adverse effects on local ecosystems. 

To be clear, HR 5089 would: 
(1) undermine federal authority to protect U.S. waters under the Clean Water Act,  
(2) allow spraying of toxic chemicals into waterways without local and state oversight, 
(3) contaminate drinking water sources and harm aquatic life, and 
(4) not reduce claimed burdens to farmers, since there are currently no burdens. 

Backers of the bill continually argue that the permit requirements place undue burdens on farmers, but in reality, the majority of pesticide applicators can obtain a permit with little restriction, and agricultural activities are exempt from the requirement. What the bill will actually do is take away Americans' right to know what toxic chemicals are entering their waterways. “This bill takes away the public's right to know about toxic pesticides we may be exposed to,” Mae Wu, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council's health program, said in a statement about the earlier bill, emailed to ThinkProgress. “It eliminates the current commonsense requirement that communities should have access to basic information about what's being sprayed in waters that can pose risks for public health.” 

If this bill passes, citizens will be forced to take innovative local actions to protect threatened waters. Already, nearly 2,000 waterways are impaired by pesticide contamination, and many more have simply not been tested. A U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and National Park Service collaborative survey report finds a harmful mixture of pollutants, including pesticides, pharmaceuticals, caffeine, methylparaben, algal toxins, and fecal and parasitic bacteria, in Pipestone Creek at Pipestone National Monument in Minnesota—adding to evidence of widespread pesticide contamination in waterways across the U.S. Pesticide contamination in waterways is historically commonplace. Known pesticide water contaminants, such as atrazine, metolachlor, and simazine, continue to be detected in streams more than 50 percent of the time, with fipronil being the pesticide most frequently found at levels of potential concern for aquatic organisms in urban streams. A 2018 report from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reveals the year-round presence of neonicotinoids (neonics) in the Great Lakes – the world's largest freshwater ecosystem. Neonics, which are highly toxic to aquatic organisms and pollinators, are prevalent in the tributaries of the Great Lakes with concentrations and detections increasing during planting season. In 2015, another USGS report found that neonicotinoid insecticides contaminate over half of urban and agricultural streams across the United States and Puerto Rico.  

The 2021 U.S. Geological Services (USGS) study of pesticide contamination of rivers on the U.S. mainland finds that degradation of those rivers from pesticide pollution continues unabated. USGS scientists looked at data from 2013 to 2017 (inclusive) from rivers across the country and offered these top-level conclusions: “(1) pesticides persist in environments beyond the site of application and expected period of use, and (2) the potential toxicity of pesticides to aquatic life is pervasive in surface waters.” Ultimately, water quality and aquatic organisms and their ecosystems will be fully protected from pesticides only through a wholesale movement to organic land management practices. 

>>Tell Congress that protection of the nation's water should be strengthened, not weakened. 

The target for this Action is the U.S. Congress.

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