The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has given the Environmental Protection Agency an additional three months to decide whether to allow continued use of chlorpyrifos.

 

In a decision issued Friday, Aug. 12, a three-judge panel ordered EPA to make a final decision by March 31, 2017. The court added that it “will not grant any further extensions.” EPA had asked for six more months, and pesticide manufacturers and commodity groups had sought an extra year. Pesticide Action Network North America and the Natural Resources Defense Council said EPA should comply with the Dec. 30 deadline imposed by the court last year.

 

“The ‘extraordinary circumstances' claimed this time - that EPA issued its proposed rule before completing two studies that may bear on the Agency's final rule - is another variation on a theme ‘of partial reports, missed deadlines, and vague promises of future action' that has been repeated for the past nine years,” the court said, citing its opinion a year ago that criticized the agency's delay in addressing the environmental groups' concerns.

 

“EPA's continued delay is all the more significant since there are ‘considerable human health interests prejudiced by it,'” the court said.

 

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