The EPA is proposing to reissue its hotly debated Pesticide General Permit (PGP) under authority of the CWA Section 402—the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). The existing 5-year PGP expires midnight, October 31, 2016. According to the Agency, the proposed reissued PGP has the same conditions and requirements as the existing PGP. The proposal opens all those conditions and requirements to public comment.
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The PGP imposes a range of management, monitoring, and reporting requirements on individuals who either apply or direct the application of pesticides to U.S. waters. EPA’s PGP is effective in the District of Columbia, Idaho, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico, and for some activities in Texas; U.S. territories; federally recognized Indian Country lands; and at federal facilities nationwide. The great majority of states are authorized to run the NPDES program and have issued their own versions of the PGP, which can, and often do, differ from EPA’s version.
A party seeking legal coverage under the PGP must submit to the EPA a Notice of Intent (NOI) for such coverage before discharging to a U.S. water. Individual NPDES permits may also be obtained for such discharges.
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