On Wednesday, January 31, at the National Association of State Department's of Agriculture (NASDA) Winter Policy Conference, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Departments of Interior and Commerce to improve the Endangered Species Act (ESA) Consultation process. The conflicting statutes and processes between EPA and the Department of Interior has created a logjam of pesticide evaluations and unnecessary litigation. The net result is that endangered species are not being properly helped and a growing concern that invaluable pesticides will no longer be available for use to protect public health. 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 needs your help to communicate the need to reform ESA pesticide consultation process with legislators. Unfortunately, this likely cannot be resolved through regulation alone, but rather we will also need legislation to codify necessary reforms.
Please take a moment and click here to send a personal note to your elected official in the U.S. House of Representatives. As an industry, we are protectors of public health but also stewards of our environment, which is why the problems associated with pesticides and the ESA is so troubling and must be fixed now.