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Administrator Pruitt signs MOA establishing Interagency Workgroup on ESA consultations
Story Date: 2/1/2018
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Source: NATIONAL ASSOC. STATE DEPTS. OF AGRICULTURE, 1/31/18
At the Winter Policy Conference of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture today, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt signed a Memorandum of Agreement establishing an Interagency Working Group to coordinate and support agencies in meeting their obligations for pesticide consultation at the nexus of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and the Endangered Species Act. The EPA, the Department of the Interior, and the Department of Commerce will cooperate on the agreement. Dr. Barbara P. Glenn, NASDA Chief Executive Officer issued the following statement:
“As co-regulatory partners in environmental protection, we appreciate the Administration’s efforts to address some of the challenges on the intersection between ESA and FIFRA. We are encouraged by the steps this administration has taken to promote cooperation between agencies to provide farmers with the tools they need,” said Dr. Glenn. “Doing this ensures we are doing our due diligence to identify best practices, and find better ways of working together.”
In forty-three states and Puerto Rico, the state department of agriculture is a co-regulator with EPA and responsible for administering, implementing and enforcing the production, labeling, distribution, sale, use and disposal of pesticides under FIFRA.
NASDA represents the elected and appointed commissioners, secretaries, and directors of the departments of agriculture in all fifty states and four U.S. territories. NASDA grows and enhances agriculture by forging partnerships and creating consensus to achieve sound policy outcomes between state departments of agriculture, the federal government, and stakeholders. The 2018 Winter Policy Conference is one of two annual meetings for NASDA.
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