Bill > S1500

This bill, the Sensible Environmental Protection Act of 2015, amends two key environmental laws: the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), which regulates pesticides, and the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, commonly known as the Clean Water Act, which governs water pollution. The primary change is to prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or a state from requiring a permit under the Clean Water Act for discharges from a specific source, like a pipe, into navigable waters if those discharges contain a pesticide authorized for use under FIFRA or the residue from such a pesticide. However, this exemption does not apply to certain situations, including discharges that occur because of a violation of FIFRA related to water quality, stormwater discharges already regulated under the Clean Water Act's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES), or discharges from manufacturing, industrial facilities, wastewater treatment plants, or those incidental to the normal operation of a vessel, such as ballast water. The bill also requires the EPA, in consultation with the Department of Agriculture, to report on inter-agency coordination regarding pesticide registration and use, the effectiveness of current regulations for protecting water quality, and recommendations for improving FIFRA to better safeguard water and human health.