On November 16, the EPA released an Updated ESA Workplan that provides more details about how EPA plans to impose various mitigation measures that will be required on pesticide labels to meet its ESA obligations when registering a pesticide. There are concerns about some of the mitigation options such as “buffers to reduce pesticide drift and water runoff” or “do not use when rain is expected in the next 48 hours” — which raises other issues such as what or how compliance might be proven or enforced.
The ESA Workplan Update also describes initiatives that, according to EPA, will help it and other federal agencies improve approaches to mitigation under the ESA and improve the interagency consultation process outlined in the ESA Workplan. These initiatives include EPA’s work to identify ESA mitigation measures for pilot species, incorporate early ESA mitigation measures for groups of pesticides (e.g., broadleaf herbicides), and develop region-specific ESA mitigations.
Read the National and Regional Weed Science Society’s comments here.