Advancements in Endangered Species Act Affects Determination for Pesticide Registration Actions (Anita Pease)

April 3, 2013

Anita Pease, Office of Pesticide Programs, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Ariel Rios Building, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20460.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is beginning the review of pesticide registrations under the Registration Review provisions of the Food Quality Protection Act. This process will include the completion of effects determinations and consultation for federally listed threatened and endangered species under Section 7 of the ESA. The spatial, biological and temporal complexity of effects determinations and consultation for pesticide regulatory decisions, often made at a nationwide geographic scale, necessitates the movement toward a process that automates and standardizes many aspects of pesticide risk assessment. This development raises important scientific issues between the EPA and the USFWS and NMFS.