415 ILCS 60/19

(415 ILCS 60/19) (from Ch. 5, par. 819)

Sec. 19. Interagency Committee on Pesticides. The Director is authorized to create an interagency committee on pesticides. Its purpose is to study and advise on the use of pesticides on State property. Also, its purpose is to advise any State agency in connection with quarantine programs or the protection of the public health and welfare, and to recommend needed legislation concerning pesticides.

1. An interagency committee on pesticides shall consist of: (1) the Director of the Department of Agriculture, (2) the Director of Natural Resources, (3) the Director of the Environmental Protection Agency, (4) the Director of the Department of Public Health, (5) the Secretary of the Department of Transportation, (6) the President of the University of Illinois or his or her designee representing the State Natural History Survey and (7) the Dean of the College of Agriculture, University of Illinois. Each member of the committee may designate some person in his department to serve on the committee in his stead. Other State agencies may, at the discretion of the Director, be asked to serve on the interagency committee on pesticides. The Director of the Department of Agriculture shall be chairman of this committee.

2. The interagency committee shall: (1) Review the current status of the sales and use of pesticides within the State of Illinois. (2) Review pesticide programs to be sponsored or directed by a governmental agency. (3) Consider the problems arising from pesticide use with particular emphasis on the possible adverse effects on human health, livestock, crops, fish, and wildlife, business, industry, agriculture, or the general public. (4) Recommend legislation to the Governor, if appropriate, which will prohibit the irresponsible use of pesticides. (5) Review rules and regulations pertaining to the regulation or prohibition of the sale, use or application of pesticides and labeling of pesticides for approval prior to promulgation and adoption. (6) Contact various experts and lay groups, such as the Illinois Pesticide Control Committee, to obtain their views and cooperation. (7) Advise on and approve of all programs involving the use of pesticides on State owned property, state controlled property, or administered by State agencies. (8) Examine, with the assistance of the Department of Agriculture, the possibility of using continuing education courses to satisfy pesticide applicator competency requirements required for existing licensees. This shall not be construed to include research programs, or the generally accepted and approved practices essential to good farm and institutional management on the premises of the various State facilities.

3. Members of this committee shall receive no compensation for their services as members of this committee other than that provided by law for their respective positions with the State of Illinois. All necessary expenses for travel of the committee members shall be paid out of regular appropriations of their respective agencies.

4. The committee shall meet at least once each quarter of the calendar year, and may hold additional meetings upon the call of the chairman. Four members shall constitute a quorum.

5. The committee shall make a detailed report of its findings and recommendations to the Governor of Illinois prior to each General Assembly Session.

6. The Interagency Committee on Pesticides shall, at a minimum, annually, during the spring, conduct a statewide public education campaign and agriculture chemical safety campaign to inform the public about pesticide products, uses and safe disposal techniques. A toll-free hot line number shall be made available for the public to report misuse cases.

The Committee shall include in its educational program information and advice about the effects of various pesticides and application techniques upon the groundwater and drinking water of the State.

7. The Interagency Committee on Pesticides shall conduct a special study of the effects of chemigation and other agricultural applications of pesticides upon the groundwater of this State. The results of such study shall be reported to the General Assembly by March 1, 1989. The members of the Committee may utilize the technical and clerical resources of their respective departments and agencies as necessary or useful in the conduct of the study.

8. In consultation with the Interagency Committee, the Department shall develop, and the Interagency Committee shall approve, procedures, methods, and guidelines for addressing agrichemical pesticide contamination at agrichemical facilities in Illinois. In developing those procedures, methods, and guidelines, the following shall be considered and addressed: (1) an evaluation and assessment of site conditions and operational practices at agrichemical facilities where agricultural pesticides are handled; (2) what constitutes pesticide contamination; (3) cost effective procedures for site assessments and technologies for remedial action; and (4) achievement of adequate protection of public health and the environment from such actual or potential hazards. In consultation with the Interagency Committee, the Department shall develop, and the Interagency Committee shall approve, guidelines and recommendations regarding long term financial resources which may be necessary to remediate pesticide contamination at agrichemical facilities in Illinois. The Department, in consultation with the Interagency Committee, shall present a report on those guidelines and recommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly on or before January 1, 1993. The Department and the Interagency Committee shall consult with the Illinois Pesticide Control Committee and other appropriate parties during this development process.

9. As part of the consideration of cost effective technologies pursuant to subsection 8 of this Section, the Department may, upon request, provide a written authorization to the owner or operator of an agrichemical facility for land application of agrichemical contaminated soils at agronomic rates. As used in this Section, "agrichemical" means pesticides or commercial fertilizers, at an agrichemical facility, in transit from an agrichemical facility to the field of application, or at the field of application. The written authorization may also provide for use of groundwater contaminated by the release of an agrichemical, provided that the groundwater is not also contaminated due to the release of a petroleum product or hazardous substance other than an agrichemical. The uses of agrichemical contaminated groundwater authorized by the Department shall be limited to supervised application or irrigation onto farmland and blending as make-up water in the preparation of agrichemical spray solutions that are to be applied to farmland. In either case, the use of the agrichemical contaminated water shall not cause (i) the total annual application amounts of a pesticide to exceed the respective pesticide label application rate on any authorized sites or (ii) the total annual application amounts of a fertilizer to exceed the generally accepted annual application rate on any authorized sites. All authorizations shall prescribe appropriate operational control practices to protect the site of application and shall identify each site or sites where land application or irrigation take place. Where agrichemical contaminated groundwater is used on farmland, the prescribed practices shall be designed to prevent off-site runoff or conveyance through underground tile systems. The Department shall periodically advise the Interagency Committee regarding the issuance of such authorizations and the status of compliance at the application sites.

(Source: P.A. 103-441, eff. 1-1-24.)