EPA Administrator Pruitt Signs Endangered Species Act Memo for Pesticides

At the Jan. 31 National Association of State Departments of Agriculture Winter Policy Conference, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt signed a Memorandum of Agreement establishing an interagency working group to evaluate and improve the Endangered Species Act consultation process for pesticide registration.

Several groups, including the National Pest Management Association (NPMA), believe the Endangered Species Act (ESA), as currently drafted, is broken. The Department of Interior, specifically the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service (collectively the Services), are tasked with implementing the ESA. This group can slow down the registration (or reregistration) review of products they determine may affect a listed endangered species by engaging in a slow-moving consultative process — involving scientific assessments with different standards and expertise — with EPA.

As NPMA noted in it’s Feb. 6 ePestWorld, "the signing of the MOA and the interagency commitment to work to resolve this issue is a tremendous step towards improving the pesticide consultation process which is currently broken."

NPMA is asking members to communicate the need to reform the ESA pesticide consultation process with legislators, noting that this likely cannot be resolved through regulation alone, but rather we will also need legislation to codify necessary reforms. NPMA is asking members to take a moment and click here to send a personal note to your elected official in the U.S. House of Representatives.