Environmental Laws and Winemaking

Do environmental laws affect your wine operations?  Do you know whether you are in compliance?  The federal Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, FIFRA (the federal pesticide law), and Safe Drinking Water Act may apply if you are in the business of growing grapes and/or turning those grapes into vino.  What happens to the piles of wine waste--do you burn them?  Then the Clean Air Act may apply to you.  How much water does it take to supply the vineyards, and what is the source of the water?  Chances are the Clean Water Act has some bearing on the water you use, and possibly the Safe Drinking Water Act. 

In the state of Washington, the Department of Ecology regulates water use permits if your wine-making operations use over a certain number of gallons of water per day, and if they do, a permit to exceed that amount is required.  The permit application is a public participation process, and certain deadlines and time periods must be met.

If you are growing grapes using biodynamic methods, FIFRA won't apply, but if you use any pesticides, FIFRA and state laws will apply, as these laws regulate their use. 

Certain smaller operations don't use the volume of resources that would require compliance with some of these laws, but if you are a growing small business and your operations are getting larger, you will need to be aware of some of these laws and regulations.  Medium to large operations may already be aware, but the laws change and you don't want to be caught red- (or white) handed!

(OK, I admit that was a really bad pun).