On February 21, 2012, CropLife America (CLA), Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment (RISE), Mid America CropLife Association (MACA), Western Plant Health Association (WPHA), Southern Crop Production Association (SCPA), American Chemistry Council, Reckitt Benckiser LLC, and American Farm Bureau filed a motion to dismiss Center for Biological Diversity and Pesticide Action Network North America v. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a lawsuit seeking to restrict valuable crop protection and public health products from American farmers and consumers. In its motion to dismiss, CLA argues that the complaint is fundamentally flawed by not alleging with enough specificity which actions EPA did (or did not) take that should have resulted in required consultations under the ESA. Additionally, plaintiffs did not file their complaint in the correct jurisdiction or within the statutory deadline for challenging a registration decision under FIFRA.

On January 19, 2011, two citizen action groups filed a lawsuit against EPA for alleged failure to follow proper procedure in registering certain crop protection chemicals for agriculture and public health purposes. This extremist lawsuit preemptively alleges that the existing and long standing registration of more than 380 chemicals may negatively impact 214 species in 49 states. To prevent any possible harm, this “Mega” lawsuit asks the court to order consultations, restrict the use of these named chemicals with some form of injunctive precautionary measures and thus directly attacks the FIFRA registration of these legally marketed compounds.

CLA has requested a consideration by the court in the first week of April 2012, and will provide updates as they become available.

Please contact Doug Nelson (dnelson@croplifeamerica.org), Joshua Saltzman (jsaltzman@croplifeamerica.org) or myself (vroom@croplifeamerica.org) should you have any questions.

Sincerely,
Jay Vroom
President & CEO
CropLife America