EPA Releases Temporary Guidance Regarding Certification of Pesticide Applicators During COVID-19

Jul 30, 2020

EPA has released a temporary guidance regarding the certification of pesticide applicators of restricted use pesticides that offers flexibility during the COVID-19 public health emergency.

The Agency is aware that state, tribal and federal certifying authorities may need to make temporary changes to their existing pesticide applicator certification programs during this time. Given the evolving circumstances and the urgency involved, EPA has determined that certain temporary changes to their programs should be preapproved and may be implemented provided that they are not likely to significantly diminish applicator competence or undermine future certification activities and all conditions are met.

Currently, certifying authorities can make non-substantial changes to their certification plans without prior EPA approval, but need to notify EPA within 90 days or with the required annual report, whichever occurs first.

So long as such temporary changes are reported to EPA as outlined in the guidance, EPA does not intend to impose sanctions on certification programs that miss reporting deadlines specified in the CPA rule. EPA will instead accept notifications included in the annual reporting, which are due December 31, 2020.

EPA is temporarily pre-approving substantial modifications if the modifications meet all the following conditions:

Time-limited to no later than Dec. 31, 2021, and revocable within 90 days or less by the certifying authority if EPA determines that the modification is no longer appropriate;

Consistent with pesticide labeling;
Consistent with EPA’s Certification of Pesticide Applicators regulation;
Will not significantly diminish applicator competency; and,
Will not undermine future certification activities.

To read the temporary guidance in full, visit our webpage.

Source : epa.gov

Video: Spring 2026 weather outlook for Wisconsin; What an early-arriving El Niño could mean

Northeast Wisconsin is a small corner of the world, but our weather is still affected by what happens across the globe.

That includes in the equatorial Pacific, where changes between El Niño and La Niña play a role in the weather here -- and boy, have there been some abrupt changes as of late.

El Niño and La Niña are the two phases of what is collectively known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO for short. These are the swings back and forth from unusually warm to unusually cold sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean along the equator.

Since this past September, we have been in a weak La Niña, which means water temperatures near the Eastern Pacific equator have been cooler than usual. That's where we're at right now.

Even last fall, the long-term outlook suggested a return to neutral conditions by spring and potentially El Niño conditions by summer.

But there are some signs this may be happening faster than usual, which could accelerate the onset of El Niño.

Over the last few weeks, unusually strong bursts of westerly winds farther west in the Pacific -- where sea surface temperatures are warmer than average -- have been observed. There is a chance that this could accelerate the warming of those eastern Pacific waters and potentially push us into El Niño sooner than usual.

If we do enter El Nino by spring -- which we'll define as the period of March, April and May -- there are some long-term correlations with our weather here in Northeast Wisconsin.

Looking at a map of anomalously warm weather, most of the upper Great Lakes doesn't show a strong correlation, but in general, the northern tiers of the United States do tend to lean to that direction.

The stronger correlation is with precipitation. El Niño conditions in spring have historically come with a higher risk of very dry weather over that time frame, so this will definitely be a transition we'll have to watch closely as we move out of winter.