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H.R. 872 (112th): Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act of 2011
- Introduced:
- Mar 02, 2011 (112th Congress, 2011–2013)
- Sponsor:
- Rep. Bob Gibbs [R-OH18]
- Status:
- Died (Passed House)
- See Instead:
- This bill was re-introduced as H.R. 935 on Mar 04, 2013. See H.R. 935 for current action on this subject.
The bill’s title was written by the bill’s sponsor. H.R. stands for House of Representatives bill.
- Full Title
To amend the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act and the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to clarify Congressional intent regarding the regulation of the use of pesticides in or near navigable waters, and for other purposes.
- Summary
-
No summaries available.
- Text
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Last updated Jun 21, 2011.
6 pages
- Primary Source
-
View on THOMAS (The Library of Congress)
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- Citation
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Library of Congress Summary
The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.
6/21/2011--Reported to Senate without amendment.
(This measure has not been amended since it was passed by the House on March 31, 2011.
The summary of that version is repeated here.) Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act of 2011 - Amends the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act [CWA]) to prohibit the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or a state from requiring a permit under the CWA for a discharge from a point source into navigable waters of a pesticide authorized for sale, distribution, or use under FIFRA, or the residue of such a pesticide, resulting from the application of such pesticide.
Exempts from such prohibition the following discharges containing a pesticide or pesticide residue:
(1) a discharge resulting from the application of a pesticide in violation of FIFRA that is relevant to protecting water quality, if the discharge would not have occurred but for the violation or the amount of pesticide or pesticide residue contained in the discharge is greater than would have occurred without the violation;
(2) stormwater discharges regulated under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES); and
(3) discharges regulated under NPDES of manufacturing or industrial effluent or treatment works effluent and discharges incidental to the normal operation of a vessel, including a discharge resulting from ballasting operations or vessel biofouling prevention.
House Republican Conference Summary
The summary below was written by the House Republican Conference, which is the caucus of Republicans in the House of Representatives.
This summary can be found at http://www.gop.gov/bill/112/1/hr872.
Background
The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) was enacted in 1947 and was effectively overhauled by Congress in 1972. FIFRA mandates that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulate the use and sale of pesticides to protect human health and preserve the environment. According to the EPA, “all pesticides distributed or sold in the United States must be registered (licensed) by EPA. Before EPA may register a pesticide under FIFRA, the applicant must show, among other things, that using the pesticide according to specifications ‘will not generally cause unreasonable adverse effects on the environment.’”
On November 27, 2006, the EPA issued a final rule clarifying specific circumstances in which a Clean Water Act National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit is not required for pesticides used on or around water if the pesticides are legally registered and regulated under FIFRA. The Final Rule exempted two types of pesticide application activities from regulation under the NPDES permit program, as long as the applications were FIFRA-compliant. Specifically, pesticides applied directly to waters to control pests such as mosquito larvae and aquatic weeds, and pesticides applied over or near waters where a portion of the pesticide is unavoidably deposited to such waters were exempted from NPDES permit requirements under the Clean Water Act if they were FIFRA compliant. According to the EPA’s rule, pesticides applied to U.S. waters in a manner consistent with all relevant requirements of FIFRA are not ‘‘pollutants’’ under the Clean Water Act and thus do not require an NPDES permit.
On January 7, 2009, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit vacated EPA’s 2006 rule exempting certain pesticide applications that are compliant with FIFRA from the permitting requirements of the Clean Water Act. The court order repealing the EPA exemption for pesticides covered by FIFRA will go into effect on April 9, 2011. According to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, “At that time, pesticide applications not covered by a [NPDES] permit are subject to a fine of up to $37,500 per day per violation.” In addition, pesticide users will be subject to litigation under the citizen suit provision of the Clean Water Act. The underlying legislation would clarify the Congressional intent that certain pesticides subject to FIFRA are not subject to NPDES permit requirements under the Clean Water Act. According to the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Bob Gibbs (R-OH), “This bill prevents states and a wide range of public and private pesticide users from facing duplicative, unnecessary financial and administrative burdens in order to comply with the new permitting process.”
Summary
H.R. 872 would amend the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) to clarify that the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or a state may not require a permit under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act for the application of pesticides regulated under FIFRA.
The bill would amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to clarify that a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit shall not be required for a discharge of pesticides registered under FIFRA. The bill would provide exceptions which would allow the EPA to require a NPDES permit for the discharge of pesticides that would not fall under FIFRA or would discharge pesticides in violation of FIFRA. Exceptions to the prohibition on permit requirements include:
- A discharge resulting from a violation of a FIFRA provision that is relevant to protecting water quality.
- Stormwater discharges regulated under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act.
- Municipal or industrial discharges regulated under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act.
Cost
According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), “enacting this legislation would have no significant impact on the federal budget.”
House Democratic Caucus Summary
The House Democratic Caucus does not provide summaries of bills.
So, yes, we display the House Republican Conference’s summaries when available even if we do not have a Democratic summary available. That’s because we feel it is better to give you as much information as possible, even if we cannot provide every viewpoint.
We’ll be looking for a source of summaries from the other side in the meanwhile.
The bill contains the following citations to other parts of U.S. law:
United States Code
The United States Code is the compilation of permanent laws enacted by Congress. Temporary and other non-permanent laws do not appear in the United States Code. (About half of the United States Code is the law itself, called positive law. The other half is merely a compilation of the laws but has no legal significance.)
- Title 7: AGRICULTURE
- Chapter 6: INSECTICIDES AND ENVIRONMENTAL PESTICIDE CONTROL
- Subchapter II: ENVIRONMENTAL PESTICIDE CONTROL
- Section 136a: Registration of pesticides
- Title 33: NAVIGATION AND NAVIGABLE WATERS
- Chapter 26: WATER POLLUTION PREVENTION AND CONTROL
- Subchapter IV: PERMITS AND LICENSES
- Section 1342: National pollutant discharge elimination system