Stabenow, House members address Cotton Council v EPA
March 03, 2011 | 06:17 PM
Senate Agriculture Chairman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., is seeking an extension of the stay the Supreme Court granted the Environmental Protection Agency in its decision in National Cotton Council v. EPA, while a bipartisan group of House members introduced a bill to resolve the issue.
Stabenow urged EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to ask the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals for a nine-month extension of the two-year stay in the case.
The stay expires on April 9, and Stabenow said the extension would give Congress time to deal with the court's decision that EPA could not exempt pesticide users, which include farmers, ranchers, forest managers, state agencies, city and county municipalities, mosquito control districts, and water districts, from obtaining permits under the Clean Water Act.
Critics of the ruling say that pesticide applications are already highly regulated under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).
Reps. Bob Gibbs, R-Ohio, Jean Schmidt, R-Ohio, and Joe Baca, D-Calif., introduced a bipartisan bill (H.R. 872) to address the issue. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., House Agriculture ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., and Reps. John Mica, R-Fla., and Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, joined as co-sponsors.
Stabenow urged EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to ask the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals for a nine-month extension of the two-year stay in the case.
The stay expires on April 9, and Stabenow said the extension would give Congress time to deal with the court's decision that EPA could not exempt pesticide users, which include farmers, ranchers, forest managers, state agencies, city and county municipalities, mosquito control districts, and water districts, from obtaining permits under the Clean Water Act.
Critics of the ruling say that pesticide applications are already highly regulated under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).
Reps. Bob Gibbs, R-Ohio, Jean Schmidt, R-Ohio, and Joe Baca, D-Calif., introduced a bipartisan bill (H.R. 872) to address the issue. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., House Agriculture ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., and Reps. John Mica, R-Fla., and Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, joined as co-sponsors.
