(b) Cotton fields — Deadline for stalk destruction — Clean-up of seed cotton storage areas and handling equipment.

1. (1) All cotton fields must be treated in a manner that will bury or destroy all cotton bolls and locks by April 15 of each year.

2. (2)

   1. (A) All seed cotton storage areas, including handling and harvesting equipment, must be cleaned of all bolls and locks.
   2. (B) Such bolls and locks must be treated in a manner that will either bury or destroy them.
3. (3) Any untreated seed cotton to be held over on farms must be fumigated under the supervision of the State Plant Board or the United States Department of Agriculture/United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service/United States Department of Agriculture Plant Protection and Quarantine program.
4. (4) Should any fields, storage areas, or handling or harvesting equipment be found not in compliance by the April 15 deadline, the Director of the State Plant Board may cause the destruction of all bolls and locks of cotton, the expense thereof to be charged against the owner, custodian, or occupant as provided by law.

(c) Fields or farms infested or believed to be infested.

1. (1) If pink bollworm is found in a field or on a farm, or if on inspection it appears probable that a field or farm is infested, said field or farm must be sprayed, dusted, or otherwise treated in any manner which the director may direct.
2. (2) The cost of any treatment other than that required in subdivision (c)(1) of this section is to be at public expense unless other arrangements can be made.

(d) Gins. The owners, and if leased, the lessees, are responsible for compliance with the following:

1. (1) All gins, before starting to gin, must secure a compliance agreement issued on the following conditions:

   1. (A) The compliance agreements expire June 30 of each year, unless extended by mutual agreement between the board and the gin or lessees; and
   2. (B) Compliance agreements may be refused to gins which failed to comply with all regulations the previous ginning season;

2. (2)

   1. (A) Gins must close at midnight, February 5, of each year, and no cotton may be ginned thereafter, except by special permission from the board.
   2. (B) The gin must be thoroughly cleaned before midnight, February 15, and any remaining seed cotton or refuse must be burned in accordance to subdivision (d)(3) of this section or otherwise destroyed or fumigated before midnight, February 15, except by written permission from the board.
   3. (C) An inspection will be made to verify cleanup;

3. (3) All gin trash must be put through an approved fan to kill pink bollworm larvae, or it must be burned daily in a manner that is in compliance with all state and federal agency regulations, such as, but not limited to:

   1. (A) The United States Environmental Protection Agency; and
   2. (B) The Division of Environmental Quality;

4. (4)

   1. (A) Each year the board shall list any owners, operators, or tenants who have failed to meet the stalk destruction or other requirements through reasons other than extreme hardship, and at the beginning of the ginning season will send such lists to all gins.
   2. (B)

(i) Ginners are prohibited from ginning cotton from persons whose names appear on said lists until said persons present to the ginner a written release from the board or the United States Department of Agriculture/United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service/United States Department of Agriculture Plant Protection and Quarantine program.

1. (ii) Such release shall be given only after adequate assurance has been given by said persons to the board that the rules will thereafter be complied with.

   1. (C) Ginning for said persons without said release is grounds for cancellation of the gin's compliance agreement by the United States Department of Agriculture/United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service/United States Department of Agriculture Plant Protection and Quarantine program or the board;

2. (5)

   1. (A) Gins shall make their records available to inspectors on request.
   2. (B) Records must be kept of all cotton received and ginned and all cottonseed handled.
   3. (C) Gin records must show disposition of seed acquired through ginning operations;
3. (6) Apparatus and arrangements specified in section subdivisions (d)(2) and (d)(4) of this section must have been inspected and approved after installation;
4. (7) Gins must agree to observe all regulations of the board and the United States Department of Agriculture/United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service/United States Department of Agriculture Plant Protection and Quarantine program pertaining to pink bollworm;
5. (8) Gins must agree to permit inspections of gin premises at any time; and
6. (9) Gins must not gin cotton from Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, or infested areas of Louisiana and California, except by written permission from the board.

(e) Processing plants. The owners, operators, and, if leased, the lessees will be jointly and severally responsible for compliance with the following:

1. (1)

   1. (A) Cotton gins, warehouses, oil mills, cleaning plants, delinting plants, and other plants must obtain a compliance agreement before accepting cotton seed or cotton.
   2. (B) Compliance agreements expire June 30 of each year.
   3. (C) The applicant must agree in writing to comply with all rules, including treatment of cotton products and byproducts by an approved method, prior to movement within the state;

2. (2)

   1. (A) All records must be made available to inspectors upon request.

   2. (B)

      1. (i) Records must be maintained for all products:

(b) (b) Treated;

1. (c) (c) Handled; or

   1. (d) (d) Processed.

      1. (ii) All products received must be authorized by rules, and must be handled in accordance with such rules;

2. (3)

   1. (A) The entire plant and premises must be kept in such sanitary condition as to prevent contamination of products eligible for certification.
   2. (B) All trucks, cars, and other conveyances must be thoroughly cleaned immediately following unloading of untreated products and prior to loading out certified products; and
3. (4) Cotton warehouses, compresses, oil mills, and other processing plants must not receive regulated products (such as cotton and cotton seed) from gins unless the gin has a valid compliance agreement issued by the board.