EPA Settles Pesticide Lawsuit
Click Here to Add CommentSubject: EPA Settles Pesticide Lawsuit
Date: Tue, 30 Apr 2002 10:15:32 -0400
From: Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization: Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)
To: Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
Director, State of
California, Department of Pesticide Regulation
cc: Christine Whitman whitman.christine@epa.gov
EPA Settles Pesticide Lawsuit
Fri Apr 19, 7:08 AM ET
By DON THOMPSON, Associated Press Writer
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The Environmental Protection Agency (news - web sites) has agreed to consider for the first time in a decade how 18 commonly used pesticides may affect endangered salmon and woodland plants.
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Agency officials said the review is part of a settlement of a federal lawsuit that will be signed Friday with three California environmental groups.
The groups sued over the EPA's approval of the pesticides, used in fields, forests, orchards and to control weeds along highways and irrigation canals. Several million pounds of the pesticides are used each year, mainly in the Central Valley and along the Pacific coast, the environmental groups said.
The EPA, working with the Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service, will analyze the pesticides' affect on seven salmon species and 33 endangered forest plants. The agency also agreed to find ways to minimize the pesticides' effects.
"These species are close to extinction and pesticides continue to pollute their habitat, but the EPA hasn't even begun to take action," said Patty Clay of Californians for Alternatives to Toxins, one of three groups involved in the lawsuit.
Three of the pesticides — carbonyl, chlorpyrifos and diazinon — have been detected in waterways at levels that may be toxic to fish, the suit contends.
The environmental groups argued EPA's failure to consult with its fellow federal agencies on the pesticides' effects violated the federal Endangered Species Act.
The settlement in the suit, filed in 2000, will become final after a public comment period.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020419/ap_on_go_ot/pesticides_settlement_1
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