Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 4/19/21

The Environmental Protection Agency last week asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, once again, to allow farmers to use sulfoxaflor while it reviews the pesticide's effect on bees and other endangered species.

They argue that vacating the 2019 amendments and not allowing the use of the pesticide “could have a disastrous effect on growers across the country,” according to the brief filed, because it could create potential loss of crops or other disruptions.

The back-and-forth in the courts: In 2015, the 9th Circuit overruled the EPA’s approval of sulfoxaflor, pulling it from the market over the agency's inability to prove it didn’t pose a chemical risk to bees. The EPA then asked the manufacturer of sulfoxaflor, Dow AgroSciences (now Corteva Agriscience), for more data.

But the pesticide was brought back by the EPA in 2016, toward the end of the Obama administration, with new rules and permission for use on select crops that are less attractive to pollinators.

In 2019, the EPA expanded the range of crops that sulfoxaflor could be applied to. That resulted in lawsuits from the Pollinator Stewardship Council and American Beekeeping Federation, who are represented by the environmental group Earthjustice.

The Center for Food Safety and Center for Biological Diversity also challenged the EPA’s 2019 expansion.
In the brief, the agency admits that it did not comply with the Endangered Species Act prior to its 2019 action.

In January: The federal appeals court rejected a similar EPA request that would have allowed farmers to continue use of the pesticide while potential harm to endangered species is examined.