NPMA Grows Relationship with EPA

J.D. Darr, Director of Regulatory and Legislative Affairs, NPMA

NPMA has grown our relationship with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) through continued dialogue with the agency on the importance of our industry as stewards of public health and safety and education on how proposed rules by the agency will impact the ability of pest management professionals to provide the best services to their clients. Through conversations around EPA’s proposed interim decisions on all 11 rodenticides, and the Agency’s Revised Mitigation for Sulfuryl Fluoride, as well as EPA’s Vulnerable Species Pilot Project, NPMA acknowledged and supported EPA’s aspirations of protecting our environment, while proposing changes that can achieve the Agency’s goals without stripping pest management professionals of vital tools necessary to keep destructive pests at bay. NPMA remains keen on being a collaborative partner that works with EPA to make science-based regulatory decisions.

NPMA CONTINUES TO WORK WITH KEY REGULATORY GROUPS

2023 proved to be an effective year for NPMA’s engagement with state regulatory groups. NPMA continues to serve on the planning committee for the Association of Structural Pest Control Regulatory Officials (ASPCRO) and is also an active member of ASPCRO’s rodenticides and structural fumigation committees. We continue to engage with the Association of American Pesticide Control Officials (AAPCO), and we have maintained a longstanding partnership with the American Association of Pesticide Safety Educators (AAPSE). Finally, we have increased our collaboration with the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA), which has been a partner to NPMA on both EPA’s rodenticides proposed interim decisions and our state-level pesticide preemption efforts.

AN ACTIVE YEAR FOR RODENTICIDES

EPA’s Proposed Interim Decisions (PIDs) on 11 rodenticides remains a top focus of the pesticide applicator community. Our industry continues to meet with the Agency to discuss the mitigation measures laid out in the PIDs on rodenticides, most notably the classification of all rodenticides as RUP. We have expressed to EPA that the proposed mitigation measures are misapplied to professional uses that have not been linked to environmental harm or negative human health outcomes. NPMA has also submitted multiple letters to the agency expressing the concerns of pest management professionals.

Last year, NPMA created a Critical Issues Working Group (CIWG), comprised of members of the Public Policy Committee, to examine EPA’s proposed mitigation measures and determine the least harmful alternative to propose for the Agency’s consideration. Over the course of several months, the CIWG met and finalized alternative mitigation measures, which NPMA provided to the Agency, and stressed the importance of ensuring all professionals can continue to use rodenticides.

In October 2023, the Agency informed NPMA that they had delayed their interim decision deadline from November 2023 to later this year, as EPA continues to gather more information from stakeholders and key data on the impacts of their proposed mitigation measures. This year, NPMA will be hosting EPA staff in Washington, D.C. at a facility that relies on rodenticides for rodent control. Our goal for this event will be to show Agency staff how professional applicators use rodenticides at customer accounts and demonstrate the safety measures and best practices that are already common in our industry.