The Working Committee on Pesticide Operations Management, a subcommittee of the State FIFRA Issues & Evaluation Group, met on September 20, 2011. At its meeting, the Committee decided to draft a letter to EPA regarding the Agency’s development of a general permit for pesticide discharges under the Clean Water Act. The letter will ask EPA to ask the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit for an additional six months to complete the general permit. Motivating the Committee’s letter is the number of states that aren’t ready to issue their own permits by the Oct. 31 deadline, and the inadequate time for states under direct EPA permitting authority to implement EPA’s general permit. EPA’s draft general permit presents several controversial ESA issues.  EPA is still in consultation with NMFS and FWS on these issues.