Originally printed in . . .

Uncertainties Reign on WPS Implementation

Howard R. Rosenberg

It wasn't enough. Early last spring Congress provided more time for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), state enforcement agencies, and agricultural employers to prepare for full implementation of the federal Worker Protection Standard by pushing back the effective date of key provisions from April 1994 to January 1995. As Labor Management Decisions goes to press, another official delay appears imminent.

No matter what happens in Washington, D.C., adoption of state regulatory revisions that would achieve California equivalency with the federal requirements is at minimum a few months away. At their December meeting in Sacramento, county Agricultural Commissioners from throughout the state were briefed on WPS developments by staff of the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (CDPR) and the U.S. EPA. They were told that proposed state regulations would not be issued for public comment until after resolution of issues pending at the national level plus a few under study within the state agency.

CDPR and Region 9 EPA staff have been discussing potential terms of state equivalency with a number of federal standards, including those regarding greenhouse ventilation, field signs, definition of a treated field, notification of workers about pesticide applications, and provision of safety information to workers. Representing the first line of pesticide use enforcement and education in California, Agricultural Commissioners have been among the interested parties whose advice CDPR is considering on these matters. As time consuming as it may be for the department to hear and reconcile various points of view on proposed regulations, uncertainty about the shape of the federal WPS promises to be an overriding source of complication and delay. No one can yet say for sure what the state rules will have to be equivalent to.

Basic provisions of the Worker Protection Standard are up for reconsideration. On July 8, the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) petitioned EPA for significant revision of the WPS on several specific points. In brief, NASDA proposed that the agency:

The EPA acknowledged receiving this petition in a September 22 letter to NASDA, and it formally responded in a letter dated October 21. The response expressed commitment to work with NASDA and other stakeholders in WPS implementation. It set forth EPA's plans for dealing with each point. Due process on most would clearly extend beyond January 1, 1995. Although intensive activity has ensued, resolution is not at hand.

With less than two weeks to go before the rescheduled effective date, NASDA is preparing to ask Congress to again delay WPS implementation until (a) EPA settles the concerns raised in the July petition, and (b) Congress explicitly gives the green light. Thus, despite general agreement with the purpose of the WPS - to reduce pesticide hazards for some 4 million agricultural workers - there have been and will continue to be an interplay of serious differences about the means for pursuing it.

WPS-Forum, an Internet discussion group and reference archive (described in Labor Management Decisions, Summer 1994), has been an important vehicle for individuals and organizations across the country who want to stay abreast of these developments. Established last May by the UC Agricultural Personnel Management Program and the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at Berkeley, it now includes 280 direct participants from land grant universities and other academia, agricultural firms and associations, pesticide companies, consulting and advocacy groups, business service professions, the industry press, and government.

Participants have been posting questions, answers, announcements, and ideas on a wide range of WPS issues. They have given and received authoritative clarifications, timely detail on revision proposals, guidance on worker training, copies of compliance resources and reference documents, and answers to nitty-gritty questions about implementation in real world conditions. The archive contains more than 40 files accessible through a simple e-mail command.

Anyone who has access to an Internet-compatible electronic mail system can take advantage of WPS-Forum at no charge. To join the network, send to ListProc@are.berkeley.edu, the message: "SUBSCRIBE WPS-FORUM yourfirstname yourlastname" (for example: subscribe WPS-Forum Carol Browner).

The next issue of Labor Management Decisions will present not only further updates on federal and state rulemaking but also a more substantive review of discussion taking place on the forum.

 

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