US EPA slashes pesticide fees for 2022

Pesticide manufacturers will pay less in fiscal 2022 to register new pesticides, the US Environmental Protection Agency announced Dec. 10. The agency will charge $3,660 per pesticide product, a decrease of 8.5% from 2021. The EPA made the change to prevent exceeding the amount of fees it can collect under the Pesticide Registration Improvement Extension Act of 2018, which authorizes the agency to collect a total of $155 million over 5 years. The EPA collected $92.6 million the first 3 years, leaving $62.4 million for fiscal 2022 and 2023. It adjusted the fee amount so it won’t bring in more than half that balance, or $31.2 million, in fiscal 2022. Over the past 2 years, the agency has registered more than 500 new pesticide products. Environmental groups are disappointed in the decision. “The pesticide industry will now get a discounted rate for bringing even more pesticide products to market,” Lori Ann Burd, environmental health director at the Center for Biological Diversity, says in a statement.