Dear Colleagues -
The Farm Bill, H.R. 2, the “Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018” is expected to go to the floor of the House of Representatives the week of May 14. A “Poisoned Pollinators Provision” in Title IX of the bill includes severe overrides
of protections for endangered and threatened species under the Endangered Species Act for pesticides registrations carried out under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act by the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Please consider signing the letter below at the google form below which asks members of the House to oppose the Poisoned Pollinators Provision and the House Farm Bill overall.
THE DEADLINE IS COB WEDNESDAY 5/9/2018. If you are a local or regional group please designate that and your state as indicated in the form as it will be helpful to members of the House to know that constituents are opposed to the provision and to the House
Farm Bill. Many groups signed onto a similar letter earlier this year that indicated opposition to nearly identical draft language that was being circulated by the pesticide industry. That letter is attached if it will make it easier for groups to sign this
letter. Please also share with your networks. Cheers, Mary Beth
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSexbykp77rNG24qIDVE6U0Kh2FhcnqF7qSaAXfyEyqEyKxJ5g/viewform
Pesticides Letter May 2018
May XX, 2018
RE: Please Oppose the “Poisoned Pollinator Provision” in the 2018 Farm Bill
Dear Representative,
Our organizations, along with the millions of members and supporters we represent, write to urge you to vote against H.R. 2, the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018 (“House Farm Bill”) which
includes language best described as the “Poisoned Pollinators Provision.” This dangerous provision would undermine the Endangered Species Act, our nation’s most effective law for protecting wildlife in danger of extinction. This vital law has prevented the
extinction of more than 99 percent of the species under its care and is supported by 90 percent of American voters. H.R. 2 is also loaded with other provisions that undermine fundamental environmental laws.
Under current law, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must consult with two expert agencies—the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service (“the wildlife agencies”)—to
identify and minimize impacts to endangered species caused by pesticide products that EPA registers for commercial use under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act. When necessary, these science-based interagency consultations result in commonsense
protections, such as limits on spraying pesticides in key areas where endangered species live.
The “Poisoned Pollinators Provision” would gut these longstanding requirements and severely curtail the government’s ability to assess the effects of toxic pesticides on imperiled species. In
addition, this dangerous legislation would exempt all approved pesticide use from enforcement under the Endangered Species Act, even where it directly kills or injures endangered wildlife. Specifically, this sweeping provision would:
1. Remove the requirement under Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act for the EPA to consult with the wildlife agencies on the impact of potentially dangerous pesticides on threatened and endangered
species before allowing those pesticides to be used (Section 9111), and
2. Waive Endangered Species Act Section 9 “take” liability for all pesticides that have been registered according to the procedures of this bill. In other words, if the EPA has allowed a pesticide
to be marketed and used, then neither the EPA nor presumably the registrant or end user can be held liable for any harm or death of endangered species resulting from the label-approved use of the product (Section 9114).
Congress has never waived Section 9 “take” liability for any class of actions, thus making this this provision one of the broadest and most harmful attacks on the Endangered Species Act in its
nearly 45-year history. Further, in place of the ESA’s strong, look-before-you-leap measures to protect endangered species, this damaging provision would cut expert federal wildlife agencies out of the process and merely requires EPA to conduct a cursory review
of the impacts to endangered species from pesticides, years after approving their use. And the provision also seeks to limit the ability of citizens to go to court to protect imperiled species from pesticides.
Endangered species are often the early warning system to alert us to the unintended harms of pesticides. It was the catastrophic decline of the bald eagle, peregrine falcon, and other endangered
species that caused the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other agencies to sound the alarm on DDT. Thankfully, the bald eagle, our national symbol, was saved from extinction by the protections afforded by the Endangered Species Act. The Act remains the “gold
standard” for species protection and recovery today, both here and around the world. We ask you to protect this vital law, not only to save our most treasured rare plants and animals, but also to protect our waters, our lands, and our health. Please oppose
the “Poisoned Pollinators Provision” and vote “No” on the 2018 House Farm Bill.
Sincerely,
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Mary Beth Beetham |
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Director of Legislative Affairs Defenders of Wildlife |
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1130 17th Street N.W. Washington D.C. 20036-4604 |
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Tel: (202) 772-0231 | Fax:
(202) 682-1331 |
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