To: The United States House of Representatives
Tell Congress: Vote NO on rolling back critical environmental laws!
Dear Representative,
As a constituent, I am writing to express my strong opposition to the Farm Bill passed out of the House Agriculture Committee last week. The bill would be disastrous for our health and the environment and rollback critical environmental and public health safeguards. I urge you to vote NO on this bill.
I am particularly concerned with a number of provisions in the bill that would increase toxic pesticide use and curtail important environmental laws. These concerns include the following:
• The Farm Bill eliminates a requirement that requires the EPA under the Endangered Species Act to consult with expert federal wildlife agencies, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service when approving chemicals that can harm threatened and endangered species.
• The Farm Bill allows companies to spray pesticides into our waterways without even obtaining a Clean Water Act permit -- even if these are sources of drinking water or places where we swim and fish. The Clean Water Act permit is short and simple to obtain. Current law already allows pesticide applicators to spray in the event of a public health emergency before asking for a permit. The bill would remove all meaningful oversight for pesticide spraying and gut critical safeguards that protect our waterways and communities from excessive pesticide pollution for the sake of pesticide manufacturers and other special interests.
• The Farm Bill would rollback the policies over 100 communities across the country have passed that restrict the use of toxic pesticides. This bill overturns decades of rulings and achieves a long goal of chemical corporations because it prevents communities from tailoring laws to restrict and protect themselves from toxic chemicals.
• The bill would enact the “Pesticide Registration Improvement Act” in a form that provides long-term funding to the EPA for expedited processing of pesticide approval applications, without accompanying measures to ensure that farmworkers and other pesticide applicators are safe.
• The bill provides state pesticide regulatory agencies a secret chance to slow or effectively veto the EPA pesticide protections before they become public or are even proposed.
The Farm Bill should be an opportunity to reduce the amount of poison that we apply to food. It should not be used to get rid of sensible protections that protect us from poison on our food. Moreover, these pesticide riders simply benefit chemical companies.
I urge you to vote NO for this piece of legislation to uphold critical environmental and human health protections.
Sincerely,
As a constituent, I am writing to express my strong opposition to the Farm Bill passed out of the House Agriculture Committee last week. The bill would be disastrous for our health and the environment and rollback critical environmental and public health safeguards. I urge you to vote NO on this bill.
I am particularly concerned with a number of provisions in the bill that would increase toxic pesticide use and curtail important environmental laws. These concerns include the following:
• The Farm Bill eliminates a requirement that requires the EPA under the Endangered Species Act to consult with expert federal wildlife agencies, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service when approving chemicals that can harm threatened and endangered species.
• The Farm Bill allows companies to spray pesticides into our waterways without even obtaining a Clean Water Act permit -- even if these are sources of drinking water or places where we swim and fish. The Clean Water Act permit is short and simple to obtain. Current law already allows pesticide applicators to spray in the event of a public health emergency before asking for a permit. The bill would remove all meaningful oversight for pesticide spraying and gut critical safeguards that protect our waterways and communities from excessive pesticide pollution for the sake of pesticide manufacturers and other special interests.
• The Farm Bill would rollback the policies over 100 communities across the country have passed that restrict the use of toxic pesticides. This bill overturns decades of rulings and achieves a long goal of chemical corporations because it prevents communities from tailoring laws to restrict and protect themselves from toxic chemicals.
• The bill would enact the “Pesticide Registration Improvement Act” in a form that provides long-term funding to the EPA for expedited processing of pesticide approval applications, without accompanying measures to ensure that farmworkers and other pesticide applicators are safe.
• The bill provides state pesticide regulatory agencies a secret chance to slow or effectively veto the EPA pesticide protections before they become public or are even proposed.
The Farm Bill should be an opportunity to reduce the amount of poison that we apply to food. It should not be used to get rid of sensible protections that protect us from poison on our food. Moreover, these pesticide riders simply benefit chemical companies.
I urge you to vote NO for this piece of legislation to uphold critical environmental and human health protections.
Sincerely,
Why is this important?
Congress is close to voting on the Farm Bill -- a massive piece of legislation that sets priorities across our entire food and agricultural system. But Republicans are using the bill as a tool to roll back vital public health and environmental safeguards, including on pesticides.
We need your help NOW to stop this giveaway to chemical companies like Dow and Monsanto!
We need your help NOW to stop this giveaway to chemical companies like Dow and Monsanto!