Farm Agencies Fault Call To Curb Pesticides But One Seeks EPA Protections

摘要

Federal and state farm regulators are sharply criticizing a wildlife agency's novel opinion calling for limiting use of certain pesticides to protect listed species as the result of a failed Obama-era review process, though Washington state, while backing some of the criticism, is urging EPA to implement some of the opinion's protections for listed species.In separate comments to EPA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) back pesticide industry claims that the first biological opinion (BiOp) completed under an Obama-era process for assessing pesticides' risks to listed species is flawed and should be overhauled."USDA has grave concerns about this [BiOp] and strongly urges EPA to repudiate its findings and reinitiate consultation with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)," USDA says. "This BiOp does not accurately assess the risk to endangered species, if any, posed by pesticides, because NMFS fails to establish that the data, assumptions, and analytical methods used, as well as the conclusions reached, are supported by facts and rational reasoning."