Crapo Regulatory Relief Bill Clears Committee

Press Release

Idaho Senator Mike Crapo's legislation to eliminate a duplicative and costly U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulation affecting Idaho's farmers took center stage at a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing today. Crapo said providing regulatory relief to not only farmers, but ranchers, state and local governments, forest managers, water users and others impacted is long overdue. If enacted, the Sensible Environmental Protection Act will lift the burden placed on pesticide users after a 2009 court ruling imposed an additional layer of needless red tape under the Clean Water Act. After an unscheduled recess delayed the Committee's consideration of the bill, the measure was adopted by voice vote at a later meeting.

"This bipartisan legislation would fix a critical issue resulting from a federal court decision that up-ended decades of federal regulatory interpretation," Crapo added in a statement after the hearing. "This court decision has not provided meaningful environmental protections, but has created tremendous paperwork, compliance and litigation costs on regulated entities, including local governments, farmers, ranchers and other water users. The bottom line is, pesticide applications in or near water were already federally regulated prior to the Sixth Circuit's 2009 ruling, and S. 1500 seeks to codify the EPA's previous interpretation of this issue and ensure that pesticide users do not have to comply with multiple regulatory burdens."

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