The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing changes to the Application Exclusion Zone language in federal pesticide law that would expand exemptions and lessen regulatory requirements for ag operations.

The Senate has unanimously passed a bill to reauthorize the Pesticide Registration Improvement Act, which allows the Environmental Protection Agency to charge fees for pesticide registration that fund about one-third of the operations of the Office of Pesticide Programs.

The $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill released Wednesday would exempt thousands of livestock and concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) from having to report emissions of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide.

Once again, a budget deadline is approaching with serious implications for EPA's fee-based pesticide registration program, which has been kept alive with stopgap funding bills since the federal fiscal year ended Sept. 30.