The Environmental Protection Agency has an issued an Endangered Species Act work plan for pesticide registrations. The EPA has thousands of pesticides up for review, bogged down by legal challenges regarding the protections given to endangered species. James Callen Associates CEO Jim Callen summarizes the EPA’s response. “It’s a federal offense to use any pesticide in a manner that results in an unauthorized take, kill or otherwise harm, of an endangered species and certain threatened species under the Endangered Species Act; this is what EPA is proposing for label language. The groups that I’m working with, in particular North Dakota Grain Growers Association, believe this is regulatory overreach and unrealistic to enforce.” The EPA proposal says farmers must get a Bulletin at least six months before using one of these crop protection tools. The NDGGA is calling that “impractical and unworkable.” EPA is accepting public comment on this issue through Tuesday.
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