EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced last week a memorandum of agreement that establishes  an interagency working group to coordinate Endangered Species Act (ESA) consultations for pesticide registrations and registration review. The interagency agreement is between the EPA, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Marine Fisheries Service (collectivity referred to as “the Services).

For years, both the EPA and the Services have disagreed on the best way to evaluate ESA consultations for crop protection products because each agency has different areas of expertise.

The memorandum of agreement recognizes the unique skills each agency brings to the protection of threatened species and directs the working group to: (1) outline a legal and regulatory framework by analyzing the relevant statutes, regulations, and case law, (2) review past pesticide consultation practices to learn from those experiences, (3) develop scientific and policy approaches that will increase the accuracy and timeliness of the pesticide consultation process, and (4) document the proposed approach through a memorandum of understanding, revised regulations, or another legal mechanism.

“The current Endangered Species Act pesticide consultation process is broken,” said EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt in announcing a new interagency working group. The memorandum of agreement notes that while the EPA is required to complete registration review of more than 700 cases by 2022, it has taken EPA and the Services several years to address just three active ingredients under what was supposed to be a new and improved approach.