Last month NAAA submitted comments to the EPA opposing its reconsideration of the application exclusion zone (AEZ). NAAA previously reported on these proposed changes to the AEZ in April. The AEZ is part of the 2015 Worker Protection Standard (WPS) revision and has gone through several iterations since first being proposed by the EPA under the Obama administration. Its initial iteration extended the AEZ to areas outside of the agricultural establishment on which the application is being made and to easements on the establishment. Shortly thereafter, political pressure resulted in the AEZ being altered in a more reasonable manner for agricultural interests. Unfortunately, this latest version mostly reverts back to the original AEZ rule due to court rulings in the Northeast brought forth by nongovernmental organizations.
Again, NAAA’s comments opposed extending the AEZ to areas outside the agricultural establishment on which the application is being made and to easements on the establishment. In both cases, neither the applicator nor the grower can control the movement of people, allowing them to prevent an application from occurring.
NAAA also suggested that the EPA allow an application to resume once the applicator determines it is safe to do so, not just when the person leaves the AEZ. The AEZ is essentially a circular, 100-foot buffer zone that moves with the ag aircraft, so NAAA again recommended the AEZ be based on wind direction stating to the EPA that a person within the AEZ but off the agricultural establishment and upwind of the application is not at risk from drift due to the laws of physics.
Finally, NAAA reminded the EPA that the AEZ rule is completely redundant and unnecessarily burdensome. Pesticide labels and existing WPS rules already prohibit applicators from exposing anyone, be it a worker on the establishment or a bystander passing by on a road, to direct spray or spray drift. Adding an additional level of bureaucracy does not offer any additional benefits and can be used by activists to stop applications.
NAAA’s final comments on the reconsideration of the AEZ are available here.
