CTA: Atrazine Comments to EPA

Apr 20, 2023  |  Legislation & Regulation

 

We asked, and Illinois corn farmers responded to the IL Corn Growers Association’s Call to Action (CTA) engaging with the Environmental Protection Agency’s regulations on atrazine. 

 

Atrazine is a critical tool for farmers. The herbicide has allowed farms to increase conservation tillage, a key to carbon smart farming. Atrazine has been studied for more than 60 years and limits the output of labor, fuel, and machinery on American farming operations.
 
However, in September 2020, the EPA altered the atrazine level of concern from the science-based 15 parts per billion (ppb) to 3.4 parts per billion. In June 2022, the Environmental Protection Agency released this change in the Proposed Revisions to the Atrazine Interim Registration Review Decision and asked for public comment.

 

This drastic shift impacting operations throughout the United States, motivated many farmers and organizations to comment and advise the EPA to stand by the previous, research-backed atrazine standard.

 

IL Corn advocates submitted over 400 coments in favor of Atrazine from July to October 2022. These comments were submitted under two different docket numbers and included many personalized messages from farmers throughout Illinois. 

 

After reviewing the comments, the EPA has promised to act on one of the major requests of ICGA and NCGA. The administration will hold a Science Advisory Panel in late August, where a panel will hear testimony and  analyze scientific data before concluding on the future of atrazine use.
 

Thank you to every individual who responded to IL Corn’s CTA on this topic. We appreciate your support and look forward to updating you with more information.
 

This article is part of the April 2023 Political Action Committee newsletter, click here for the full PDF.