WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will hold a public webinar on Tuesday, September 16, at 2:00 PM ET to provide information on the ecological runoff/erosion and spray drift mitigation measures that can be used to protect endangered species from pesticides.
The webinar aims to help pesticide users better understand the mitigation menu webpage and provide information on how growers can evaluate their fields to determine what mitigation measures are needed. According to the EPA, “The mitigation menu approach is intended to improve flexibility for pesticide users by providing options that work best for their situation, while still achieving an appropriate level of mitigation.”
In 1973, Congress passed the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”), the statute recognized as granting the federal government broad powers to conserve species it identifies as endangered or in threat of becoming endangered. EPA has adopted a mitigation point system to convey the level of runoff/erosion mitigation required for a pesticide to address identified ecological risks.
EPA determines the number of points required for a pesticide through its FIFRA process on a use site/crop basis. Pesticide product labels dictate mitigation requirements and the number of points users must achieve. Users can achieve points based on the number and type of runoff/erosion mitigation measures that are adopted for a given treated field. Users also achieve points based on the presence of certain field characteristics/application parameters.
For more information, read the full EPA press release
here. Register to attend the webinar
here.