Background
The Agricultural Chemical Cleanup Program (ACCP) was created in 1993 to provide cost-sharing for the cleanup of fertilizers and non-household pesticides at commercial fertilizer blending facilities, commercial pesticide application businesses and farm sites. The ACCP is funded by a surcharge on fertilizer and pesticide purchased by farmers. In 2009-10, farmers paid just over $1.8 million into the fund. Since the program’s beginning, 379 sites have been cleaned up at a cost of $36 million to the ACCP. Almost all the funding has been used for commercial facility cleanup.
Since the program’s inception, the ACCP has often run a surplus (i.e. fees collected were more than the cost of cleanups). As a result, over $6.5 million has been transferred from the ACCP to the state’s general fund. Farmers and affected industries have become frustrated that the fund has been raided several times. As a result, the Policy Development Committee is asking for county Farm Bureaus’ opinions about the program. Should it be phased out or should it continue?
Proposed Policy
The state Policy Development Committee proposes deleting current policy on page 13, lines 4 and 5 which states, “We support the Agricultural Chemical Cleanup Program with the difference of the program’s annual funds not to be reallocated to another fund and a reduction of fees based on a surplus of previous years.” and replacing it with “We support phasing out the Agricultural Chemical Cleanup Program (ACCP) at DATCP. Cleanup of approved existing sites should be completed. No additional sites should be entered into the program.”
