On Feb. 14 NAAA submitted comments to the EPA on its Endangered Species Act (ESA) Workplan Update. The ESA Workplan Update was released in November 2022 and was a follow-up to the original ESA workplan. NAAA also submitted comments on the proposed interim decision (PID) for carbaryl.
The workplan update laid out the method by which pesticide applicators will be required to mitigate risks to endangered species:
- Pesticide labels will direct applicators to the Endangered Species Bulletins Live! Two (BLT) website: https://www.epa.gov/endangered-species/endangered-species-protection-bulletins
- Once on the BLT site, applicators will select the area they intend to spray on the map, the month during which they plan to make the application, and the EPA registration number for the pesticide they intend to apply.
- BLT will provide a link if there are any bulletins for the combination of location, date, and pesticide.
- Applicators must print or download the bulletin and follow all additional mitigations on the bulletin; the bulletin is considered an extension of the label and is thus law.
- Applicators may obtain the bulletin from BLT within six months of the intended application date. This means that the bulletin used for an application may be printed or downloaded anytime from six months prior to just before the application. The closer to the application date a bulletin is read, the better it is for the species—the info is the most up to date. However, too short a time frame is burdensome to growers trying to plan. So the EPA set it at six months.
NAAA commented strongly in favor of one of the proposed mitigation strategies in the workplan update related to the BLT, where it allows the use of wind-directional buffers. Instead of requiring mandatory buffers next to endangered species habitats, applications would be allowed to occur next to an endangered species habitat with no buffer zone provided the wind is blowing away from the habitat. If the wind is blowing toward the habitat, then a buffer zone would be required. This proposal from the EPA marks a major victory for NAAA, which has been promoting the use of wind-directional buffers for many years.
A main goal of the ESA workplan and the update is to improve the EPA’s efficiency with meeting its ESA obligations. The EPA is hoping to reduce the need to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service by proposing that more labels include instructions to protect aquatic habitats and conservation areas via the use of buffers on the label and cover all aquatic and conservation sites, not just those with endangered species. By protecting all of these sites on the main label, there will be fewer individual endangered species that will require further consultation and mitigation, thus speeding up the overall pesticide registration review process. Unfortunately, unlike the BLT buffers, the EPA did not propose making buffers on the main label wind directional. NAAA strongly opposed this in its comments and recommended all buffers—main label and BLT—be wind directional.
NAAA also expressed concerns about proposed mitigations in the EPA plan to reduce the risk of endangered species from pesticide runoff through surface water and soil erosion. Almost all of the mitigation options are under complete control of the grower, not the applicator. NAAA informed the EPA it is unrealistic and overly burdensome to require commercial applicators to police the actions of growers to verify compliance.
The PID for carbaryl closely followed the workplan update, and NAAA commented again that all buffer zones, not just those to protect endangered species, must be wind directional. Click here to read NAAA’s comments on the ESA Workplan Update and here to read comments on the carbaryl PID.
