Syngenta Thrive - 2Q/2013 - 24

KNOW-HOW

COMPLIANCE

Rules of the Game
Evolving federal regulations can create expense and uncertainty
for retailers and growers. | By Suzanne Bopp

or ag retailers, delivering products and services to
growers is just part of the job. They must also meet
many complex regulatory requirements, covering everything
from fertilizer blending to spray drift. “While compliance is
both crucial and complicated, just keeping up with this
critically important, changing landscape has become a challenge,” says Rex Martin, Syngenta head of industry relations.
Fertilizer Exemption Under Fire
Changes in EPA’s Emergency Planning and the Community
Right-to-Know Act are getting attention because the
exemption for fertilizer blending has been challenged.
Previously, the interpretation had always been that retailers
were exempt because they’re not manufacturing. Now, the
EPA is issuing citations to retailers when they blend fertilizer.
Ag retailer groups are fighting back against this new
interpretation. “If you give up one exemption, then another,

you could wind up being regulated as a manufacturer,” says
Billy Pirkle, senior director EHS for Crop Production
Services, Inc. “Then we might have to get other permits—
an air permit, a storm water permit. That’s where the cost
comes in—up to $30,000 a year in licenses and permits.”
New Fertilizer Runoff Focus
For years, EPA has pushed states to set numeric criteria for
regulating nutrient runoff levels in their waters; Florida was
among the many states that had not complied. EPA made the
state a test case in 2009, says John Thorne, senior government affairs counsel at Bergeson & Campbell PC in Washington, D.C. “As part of a consent agreement with environmental
groups, EPA bypassed state efforts and finalized stringent
federal criteria in 2010. Florida, broadly supported by public
opinion, then sued and issued its own criteria for streams,
lakes, springs and south Florida estuaries.”

“You want to do
things over and
over the same
way. You don’t
want to reinvent
the wheel to
maintain your
facility in
compliance.”
—BILLY PIRKLE

22 · thrive · 2Q /13

ILLUSTRATION: PHIL FOSTER

Syngenta Thrive - 2Q/2013

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