US EPA announces pesticide application regulation changes

The Environmental Protection Agency has narrowed a rule to protect individuals from pesticide spraying by establishing one 25-foot "Application Exclusion Zone" for all ground spray applications and limiting AEZ's to the boundaries of the agricultural establishment.

The agency also will exempt farm owners and family members from requirements to stay out of the spray area so long as they shelter in place during pesticide applications. An AEZ is an area where workers and other individuals cannot be when outdoor pesticide spraying is taking place.

The agency said it was making the changes, which had been opposed by farmworker advocacy organizations and some state attorneys general, to "clarify and simplify" the requirements, which some state regulatory agencies had said were difficult to enforce.

Farmworker Justice, which had expressed concerns about the proposal, said it could not immediately respond to the rule but would have a statement "soon."

The rule is scheduled to be published in Friday's Federal Register. EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler is announcing the changes at a North Carolina farm Thursday. "The changes to the AEZ requirements make it easier to ensure people near our nation's farms are protected, while simultaneously enhancing the workability of these provisions for farm owners and protecting the environment," he said in a news release.

EPA also said it would allow applications that have been suspended to resume after individuals have left an AEZ, and would not require ag employers and handlers to abide by the requirement to suspend applications because non-employees "are in an area subject to an easement that prevents the agricultural employer from temporarily excluding those persons from that area."

"The AEZ will be 25 feet in all directions for ground pesticide applications when sprayed from a height greater than 12 inches, and 100 feet in all directions for outdoor aerial, air blast, air-propelled, fumigant, smoke, mist and fog pesticide applications," EPA said in a "Pesticide Program Update" issued Thursday.

A 2015 rule originally based the need for a 25-foot or 100-foot exclusion zone on spray quality and droplet size, with a 100-foot AEZ for ground applications of pesticides "with fine or very fine droplet size."

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