Council of Producers & Distributors of Agrotechnology

Terry Kippley, CPDA

December 13, 2023

In this Issue:

• National Agricultural Aviation Association Annual Meeting
• Per-and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)
• EPA Front-End Screening Webinar: Register Today for December 15th
• Save The Date! CPDA Washington DC Fly-In
• CPDA/ARA Webinar Series

National Agricultural Aviation Association Annual Meeting

Last week, I attended the National Agricultural Aviation Association (NAAA) “Ag Aviation Expo” in Palm Springs, CA where I spoke during the Tuesday morning General Session about CPDA’s focus on using adjuvants to mitigate Endangered Species Act pesticide use restrictions. I shared the stage and spoke immediately after the presentation to the NAAA audience by EPA’s Ed Messina, OPP Director. Our remarks allowed the Director and I to illustrate common interests not only in getting consideration for the role adjuvants can play in support of ESA compliance to assist farmers, but also in working together to get EPA registration performance from PRIA funds supplied by our members and others.

NAAA members apply pesticide treatments to an estimated 20 to 25 percent of all farmed acres in the US. They and their association are key public policy partners of CPDA and this chance to address the Expo helped us solidify the important relationship. NAAA also has an impressive track record of technical expertise as regards modern pesticide application. Many of their members and staff have a high degree of pesticide and drift expertise. I got the chance to spend time with NAAA Director of Education, Safety and Policy Dr. Scott Bretthauer who has extensive knowledge of aerial pesticide drift data. We will be engaging him in our CPDA adjuvant strategy going forward.

I appreciate the warm NAAA hospitality extended by their CEO Andrew Moore and my CPDA “supporting cast” at the meeting—Board Vice Chair Terry Abbott, Adjuvants Unlimited and CPDA Strategic Advisor Jay Vroom.

Dr. Scott Bretthauer, NAAA Director of Education, Safety and Policy; Terry Kippley, CPDA President.

CPDA Vice Chair Terry Abbott, Adjuvants Unlimited; Terry Kippley, CPDA President; Ed Messina, EPA OPP Director; NAAA President Craig Craft.

Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)

On December 1, EPA issued an order under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to Inhance Technologies directing it “not to produce per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which are created in the production of fluorinated high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plastic containers”. The order becomes effective on February 28, 2024.

The EPA Press Release accompanying the announcement said that this action “will help protect the public from exposure to dangerous PFAS chemicals in containers used for a variety of household consumer, pesticide, fuel, automotive and other industrial products.”

“PFAS should not be in the plastic containers people use every day, period,” said Assistant Administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention Michal Freedhoff. “EPA’s action today is one more way we are furthering the Biden-Harris Administration’s Strategic Roadmap to combat PFAS pollution.”

The legal wrangling between EPA and Inhance has been ongoing since at least 2015 when EPA rolled out its PFAS significant new use rule. In March 2022, EPA issued a Notice of Violation to Inhance for its failure to notify the Agency before it began manufacturing PFAS. In December of 2022, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed suit on behalf of EPA against Inhance. On December 30, 2022, Inhance submitted significant new use notices (SNUNs) for the nine PFAS it manufactures to EPA for review.



On December 8, Inhance Technologies announced it is seeking review by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to stop EPA’s December 1 order. Inhance’s legal view is that EPA “may regulate a new use only if (1) the use is new (i.e., not ongoing) and (2) the new use is subject to the Significant New Use Rule (SNUR), which was never intended to cover uses that existed at the time the SNUR was proposed in 2015.

EPA Front-End Screening Update: this Friday December 15th. Register Today!

The PRIA Coalition has an ongoing dialogue with EPA about PRIA 5 implementation and the need to provide more predictability about pesticide registration processing. As a follow up to two recent meetings with OPP Director Ed Messina and other OPP leaders, the PRIA Coalition has scheduled a webinar on Friday, December 15 at noon eastern on EPA’s front-end processing of pesticide registration submissions. Rachel Holloman, Information Services Branch Chief in EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP), alongside OPP leadership colleagues, will provide insight into the front-end process, registration milestones, EPA’s efforts to clear the backlog of submissions, and EPA’s new electronic submissions website. Registration is required to participate in the webinar. 

The PRIA Coalition also continues to stress the importance of addressing the backlog on registrant submissions not covered by a PRIA code (non-PRIA actions). The registering divisions report progress on efforts to clear the current backlog of these actions. In addition, on December 6, EPA published a list of the common reasons why a notification may be rejected on its website. This data is based on an analysis of notification rejection reasons from FY2023. 

Finally, as we approach the one-year anniversary of PRIA 5 on December 29, we expect EPA to release guidance related to Endangered Species Act reviews for new uses of pesticides and the establishment of a Vector Expedited Review Voucher program. We also look forward to seeing some updated statistics about PRIA processing during the January 18 PRIA quarterly stakeholder meeting. We have asked EPA to provide updates on staffing, the non-PRIA backlog and the average number of days that it takes EPA to complete various types of registration actions.

Save the Date! CPDA Washington D.C. Fly-In

Mark your calendars for the 2024 CPDA Washington DC Fly-In. Our 2024 event will be on March 4-6 where we will have several joint events with our friends at the Agricultural Retailers Association.

Adjuvant Advantage for the Sales Agronomist Webinar

On December 7th we had our second successful webinar collaboration with the Agricultural Retailer Association (ARA). Almost 300 registered for the webinar Adjuvant Application with Pre-emergent Herbicides. The webinar was generously sponsored by Rovensa Next and Helena Agri-Enterprises.

The next webinar in the series will be:

Adjuvants and Drone Application

January 11, 2023, 1:00pm ET

Sponsored by Exacto and Innvictis

Registration to come.

Certified Crop Advisers attending this webinar will earn one Certified Crop Adviser (CCA) program IPM CEU.

Until next time...