Sponsors (10)
The bill reduces permitting burden for pesticide applicators and lowers permitting workload for agencies, but does so by removing many pesticide discharges from NPDES oversight—raising the risk of water contamination, shifting treatment costs to communities and utilities, and weakening routine water-quality protections.
Farmers and pesticide applicators will face fewer federal/state permitting requirements for routine pesticide applications, lowering compliance costs and regulatory burden for agricultural producers and small applicator businesses.
EPA and state/local permitting programs will have reduced administrative and permitting workload because a class of pesticide-related discharges would generally be exempt from NPDES permitting.
Utilities and transportation-related discharges (stormwater, industrial/treatment/vessel) remain subject to permits, preserving targeted water-quality oversight where risk is typically higher.
Residents and downstream communities (including children and rural populations) could face greater exposure to pesticide residues and higher risk of water contamination because most pesticide application discharges would generally not require NPDES permits, monitoring, or effluent limits.
State and local governments would lose a key Clean Water Act permitting tool to limit pesticide runoff, weakening water-quality protections and reducing routine CWA review of pesticide discharges.
Public water systems and downstream users may face higher treatment and compliance costs to remove pesticide residues that would otherwise have been limited or monitored under NPDES permits.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Introduced June 6, 2025 by David Rouzer · Last progress June 6, 2025
Removes most National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit requirements for pesticides (and their residues) that are legally sold or used under federal pesticide law, except in specific cases. Permit requirements remain for discharges tied to certain FIFRA violations, stormwater, industrial or treatment-works effluent, and discharges incidental to vessel operation.