EPA Won’t Postpone Worker Rules Set for January 1

Bloomberg is reporting that the Environmental Protection Agency will deny a petition by two major agricultural groups to delay implementation of new standards for farmworker safety. The report comes just days before the new regulation is to take effect. The American Farm Bureau and the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture sent a petition to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy asking to delay the implementation by one year. The groups say in the petition that it would give farmers and ranchers adequate time to prepare for the new requirements. An EPA spokeswoman told Bloomberg in an email that the EPA is going ahead with the rule on January first. The worker protection standards were updated last year, the first update in over 20 years. The regulation that has Ag groups concerned is a provision requiring farmers to hand over pesticide information to third parties at a worker’s request. The clause allows workers to choose their own representatives and doesn’t limit how outsiders can use the information. Farmers would be required to hand over the requested information within 15 days. Ag interests fear the requirement could allow anti-pesticide activists to gain access to confidential information to use against people and businesses in agriculture.