01/05/06 Withdrawing the rule

Members of Washington State's tree fruit industry say they are glad their state's Agriculture Department has withdrawn a controversial rule proposal. That rule would have required farmers and pesticide applicators within a half mile of state licensed and public entities such as schools and care facilities to give a two day written notice prior to spraying. But Washington State Ag Director Valoria Loveland says there were too many complications in implementing such a rule. One of which was increased liability on the part of public and licensed facilities in how to handle and disseminate information to the public. LOVELAND: The schools and those who would be affected by this notification basically did not participate or have input into the rulemaking. They were asked. And I don't know, once they received the information, what they would do with it. Loveland also notes that current state law already makes pesticide drift illegal. Never the less, Loveland says W.S.D.A. will take the proposal back to the drawing board. And she says that may come in the form of a pilot rule that would be implemented in specific geographical areas. Other than that, details on the pilot rule would need to be worked out. LOVELAND: Trying to figure out how to get forty-eight hour written notification, and then take all the weather issues into consideration, I'm going to need cooperation of both (the) agricultural industry, the schools and other licensed facilities in order to make that happen.