The National Cotton Council appreciates the EPA’s proposal to change some aspects of the Worker Protection Standards (WPS) that were finalized under the last Administration. EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler made the announcement regarding the proposal that provides much needed changes to what is called the Application Exclusion Zone, or AEZ. The AEZ is a 25- or 100-feet, unoccupied, “floating” area around any pesticide application equipment that “moves” with the equipment. This zone is to remain unoccupied during the pesticide application. Problems arose, though, because farmers’ homes and buildings are most often in or next to their fields and would have to be ...