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US EPA Requests Comments on National Marine Fisheries Service’s Biological Opinion Evaluating the Potential Effects of Pesticides Containing Chlorpyrifos, Diazinon, or Malathion on Endangered Species and Habitats

In the Federal Register issued on February 23, 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a notice requesting comments on a final Biological Opinion (BiOp) issued under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) on December 29, 2017. The NMFS BiOp evaluated the potential effects that the EPA’s registration of pesticides containing chlorpyrifos, diazinon, or malathion would have on the 77 endangered or threatened species and their 50 designated critical habitats that are found in areas under the NMFS’s jurisdiction. It found that registration of these pesticides would jeopardize the existence of 38 of the 77 endangered or threatened species and would destroy (“adversely modify”) 37 of the 50 designated critical habitat units. Because a US District Court did not extend the NMFS’s court-ordered deadline for issuing the BiOp, the NMFS was forced to issue it without having received input from the public and pesticide registrants and, therefore, the EPA is now requesting comments on the BiOp. The EPA will accept comments on the NMFS’s Biological Opinion, which is linked to below, through May 22, 2018. Source: Notice of Availability, “Chlorpyrifos, Diazinon, and Malathion; National Marine Fisheries Service Biological Opinion Issued Under the Endangered Species Act,” 83 Fed. Reg. 12,754 (EPA, Mar. 23, 2018), https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/03/23/2018-06026/chlorpyrifos-diazinon-and-malathion-national-marine-fisheries-service-biological-opinion-issued.  

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