The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on April 12 released its first-ever comprehensive workplan to address pesticide risks to endangered species. EPA said the plan establishes four overall strategies and dozens of actions to adopt those protections while providing farmers, public health authorities, and others with access to pesticides.

“Today’s workplan serves as the blueprint for how EPA will create an enduring path to meet its goals of protecting endangered species and providing all people with safe, affordable food and protection from pests,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “The workplan reflects EPA’s collaboration with other federal agencies and commitment to listening to stakeholders about how they can work with the agency to solve this longstanding challenge.”

EPA said it has an obligation to improve how it meets its duties under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) when it registers pesticides under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). For most of its history, EPA said it has met these duties for less than five percent of its FIFRA decisions, resulting in more than 20 ESA lawsuits against the agency. EPA said this creates “uncertainty for farmers and other pesticide users, unnecessary expenses and inefficiencies for EPA, and delays in how EPA protects endangered species.”

EPA said it currently has more than 50 pesticide ingredients, covering over 1,000 pesticide products, with court-enforceable deadlines to comply with the ESA or in pending litigation alleging ESA violations.

“Completing this work will take EPA past 2040, yet the work represents less than five percent of all the FIFRA decisions in the next decade for which ESA obligations exist,” the agency said. “This is an unsustainable and legally tenuous situation, in which EPA’s schedule for meeting its ESA obligations has historically been determined through the courts. The workplan must provide a path for the agency to meet those obligations on its own, thus protecting endangered species while supporting responsible pesticide use.”

The strategies outlined in the plan include identifying FIFRA actions that are of the highest priority for fulfilling EPA’s ESA obligations, including court-enforceable deadlines and new registrations of conventional pesticides; improving approaches to identifying and requiring ESA protections, particularly for species that face the greatest risk from pesticides; improving the efficiency and timeliness of the ESA consultation process for pesticides, in coordination with other federal agencies; and engaging stakeholders more effectively to better understand their pest control practices and implement species protection measures.

EPA said the workplan establishes an ESA-FIFRA program that focuses on protecting species under the ESA, while minimizing regulatory impacts to pesticide users, supporting the development of safer technologies to control pests, completing timely FIFRA decisions, and collaborating with other agencies and stakeholders on implementing the plan.

EPA said it will engage with a wide range of stakeholders and federal and state agencies over the coming months to identify opportunities for collaboration and will continue seeking input on more effective and efficient ways to meet its ESA obligations. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) all expressed support for the workplan.

“USDA appreciates the steps EPA is taking today,” said USDA Undersecretary for Farm Production and Conservation Robert Bonnie. “We are confident that EPA can streamline ESA consultations around pesticides in a way that continues to conserve wildlife while allowing farmers access to the tools they need to produce the food and fiber that all of us rely on.”

The workplan follows the establishment in November 2021 of a new ESA-FIFRA Interagency Working Group with EPA, USDA, Department of Interior, Department of Commerce, and the White House Council on Environmental Quality. EPA also announced in January that it will now meet its ESA obligations before registering any new conventional pesticide active ingredient.

In March EPA announced that it will begin taking steps to protect endangered species in response to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s biological opinion for the insecticide malathion, representing the first-ever completed nationwide consultation between the two agencies.

President Joe Biden on April 12 announced the suspension of a federal rule that prohibits the sale of E15 blended biofuels between June 1 and Sept. 25 in an effort to combat inflation and high fuel prices. E15 sales are typically banned during the summer under the Clean Air Act because of air pollution concerns.

The decision was hailed by the ethanol and corn industries. Corn futures were up 0.9 percent in pre-market trading after the announcement.

“Corn growers thank President Biden for ensuring drivers continue to have access to a lower-cost fuel choice and acknowledging how renewable ethanol helps reduce prices, lower emissions, and improve our nation’s energy security,” said Chris Edgington, President of the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA). “Farmers are proud to contribute to cleaner, less expensive fuel choices.”

The Labor Department on April 12 reported that consumer prices in March were 8.5 percent higher than a year ago, the sharpest increase since December 1981. Gas prices are up 48 percent since last year, in part because of instability in global markets after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. On April 12, AAA’s national gas average was $4.09 a gallon.

According to NCGA, ethanol has been priced an average of 80 cents less per gallon than unblended gasoline at wholesale through March, and drivers currently save up to 20 cents or more per gallon where E15 is available. Bloomberg reported, however, that only 2,300 of the nation’s more than 150,000 filling stations sell E15, which is currently 5-10 cents cheaper per gallon than the much more common E10.

Biden said more than $100 million will be dedicated to build a biofuels infrastructure that supports farmers and the farm economy, provides more jobs, reduces reliance on foreign oil, and offers consumers a choice at the pump. The ethanol industry estimates summer sales this year could account for about 250 million gallons of E15.

As part of the Pandemic Assistance for Producers, the White House said USDA will also provide up to $700 million in funding through a Biofuel Producer Program to support agricultural producers that rely on biofuels producers to maintain a “viable and significant” market for agricultural products.

Corn use for ethanol has more than tripled since 2005, when President George W. Bush enacted the Renewable Fuel Standard that compels refiners and fuel importers to use a variety of biofuels. Ethanol now accounts for about 10 percent of U.S. gasoline usage, Bloomberg reported, up from less than a 10th of 1 percent in 1993.

In 2019, President Donald Trump attempted to allow E15 to be sold year-round, but the decision was overruled by a federal court, which said EPA exceeded its authority in making the decision.

Many oil companies have battled the use of E15 for years, Bloomberg noted, warning about potential engine damage from motorists inadvertently pumping the fuel into vehicles and other equipment not approved to use it. Some automakers have also warned that car warranties would be voided if motorists use E15. In addition, several environmental groups have pushed against E15, arguing that it will drive the production of more corn and more water pollution from agricultural runoff.

In August 2021, CHS Inc. announced that it would offer E15 at an additional 19 fuel terminals in Minnesota, Wyoming, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, and Kansas (GM Aug. 6, 2021). CHS is registered with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as an E15 manufacturer and sells E15 as an approved grade of fuel through its Cenex^® brand retail locations.