EPA Admits Error in Pesticide Registration, Requests Do-Over

摘要

The EPA asked a federal appeals court to remand its challenged registration for the pesticide sulfoxaflor to allow the agency to defend and correct, according to a Thursday brief. The Environmental Protection Agency said it didn't comply with the Endangered Species Act before registering the pesticide. The agency pressed the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit not to vacate the registration because it would make the pesticide's sale and distribution illegal under federal law. The EPA neglected to determine whether sulfoxaflor may affect, or has no effect, on Endangered Species Act listed species and their critical habitat. The error isn't serious enough to warrant vacatur because it considered the pesticide's ecological impacts in amendments to the registration, the agency said. The Center for Food Safety and the Center for Biological Diversity sought to vacate the sulfoxaflor registration in part because the agency failed to make the Endangered Species Act determination. The agency also didn't provide an opportunity for public comment, as required under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, the groups said.