EPA Proposes Critical Methyl Bromide Uses

California strawberry farmers and dry-cured pork producers can continue to use the ozone-depleting fumigant methyl bromide in 2014 and 2015, under a rule proposed on March 7 by EPA. Other remaining users of methyl bromide, including rice millers, pet food manufacturers, and facilities that store certain dried nuts and fruit, would be allowed to use the pesticide only through 2014. Widespread use of methyl bromide was phased out in 2005 because it depletes the stratospheric ozone layer. However, exemptions for some critical uses have been allowed. Each year EPA adjusts the critical uses of methyl bromide according to decisions of the parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer. For 2014, EPA is allowing industry to use only 1.7% of the total amount of methyl bromide used in the U.S. in 1991. For 2015, that number drops to 1.5%. EPA is accepting comments on the proposed rule through April 21.