EPA issues ‘herbicide strategy’ to protect hundreds of imperiled species
By adopting a so-called herbicide strategy, the Environmental Protection Agency said on Tuesday it will incorporate protections for more than 900 threatened and endangered species in the approval and renewal process for weedkillers. The strategy calls on the agency to identify ways for pesticide users to reduce the risk to imperiled species from airborne drift or runoff, such as windbreaks.
EPA proposes quicker action to mitigate adverse impact of herbicides
Rather than taking a one-at-a-time approach to individual herbicides and species, the EPA said on Monday it would develop a multichemical, multi-species approach to meeting its obligations to protect threatened and endangered species from harmful chemicals. The draft Herbicide Strategy, open for public comment until Sept. 20, focuses on agricultural use of weedkillers because it is the largest category of use for herbicides, and because the habitats of hundreds of threatened and endangered species are adjacent to farms and ranches, said the EPA.