Court Rejects EPA Approval Process

A federal judge in Seattle has struck down an Environmental Protection Agency regulation that allowed the agency to approve pesticides without consulting with wildlife officials to determine whether the chemicals might harm endangered plants and animals.

Judge John C. Coughenour of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington said EPA "plainly violated" the Endangered Species Act when it streamlined the approval process two years ago by eliminating the impact reviews.

The 1973 law requires EPA to consult with biologists at the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service over the registration of pesticides that might harm any of the more than 1,200 protected species, a lengthy task involving hundreds of chemicals.

The regulation, issued in 2004, allowed EPA to bypass the consultation and conduct its own scientific review of a pesticide's risk. Administration officials portrayed the action as a more efficient way to ensure that species are protected while speeding up the licensing process for new products.

In his ruling, Coughenour acknowledged the difficulty of the consultation process but said the 2004 rule was "less protective" of endangered species than the old process and that there was a "total absence of any technical and scientific evidence to support or justify" the agency's decision to eliminate the reviews by wildlife experts.

The ruling by Coughenour, a veteran federal court judge appointed 25 years ago by President Ronald Reagan, immediately set aside the 2004 regulation and restored the prior standard. The decision came in response to a lawsuit brought by a coalition of wildlife conservation and pesticide reform organizations.

"Pesticides are driving America's wildlife toward extinction, and this Administration wants to remove the checks and balances that hold them accountable," says Patti Goldman, an attorney with Earthjustice, an environmental law firm that represents the coalition. "It's time for them to stop trying to sidestep the law and start addressing this problem in a serious and systematic way."

However, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a Washington, D.C.-based conservative think tank, says the change in policy allowed EPA to eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy. Cumbersome pesticide regulations have reduced the number of products available and discourage new product development.