U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt Wednesday spoke at the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) Winter Policy Conference. Administrator Pruitt signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) establishing an interagency Working Group to evaluate and improve the Endangered Species Act (ESA) consultation process for pesticide registration.
?The current Endangered Species Act pesticide consultation process is broken,? said EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. ?Today, the Trump Administration is taking action to improve and accelerate this process, harmonize interagency efforts and create regulatory certainty for America’s farmers and ranchers.?
The interagency Working Group includes the Department of the Interior (DOI) and Department of Commerce and comes at a critical time as EPA has 700 pesticide registrations to complete by 2022.
Administrator Pruitt also discussed EPA?s efforts this past year to rescind the 2015 ?Waters of the United States? (WOTUS) rule, to address dicamba drift issues, and other actions to help farmers and ranchers across the country.
EPA chief wants to streamline pesticide process in coming year
