Endangered Species Consultation Process to be Improved Through Joint Regulations Published by Wildlife Agencies

Documents marked as (PDF) are formatted in Adobe Acrobat's Portable Document Format. Free Acrobat Reader software is available to enable you to read these files.

Introduction

On July 27, 2004, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administation (NOAA) (jointly referred to as the Services) signed the final joint "counterpart regulations." Published in the Federal Register on August 5, 2004, the counterpart regulations create new optional processes for consultation between the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Services about the effects of pesticides on endangered species. These new regulations are intended to make the process more efficient and timely, thereby improving the protections for endangered and threatened species.

Background

Over the years, EPA has consulted with the Serivces on a variety of pesticide regulatory actions. As a result of those experiences, EPA and the Services agree that changes to the existing regulations would result in more efficient and effective consultations and thus better protections for listed species.

EPA's pesticide laws include provisions to ensure the protection of fish and wildlife. EPA requires and evaluates extensive ecological effects test data before registering a new pesticide or reregistering an existing pesticide. Therefore, EPA already performs much of the scientific analysis that the Services perform in the consultation process.

Under the ESA, and in consultation with FWS and NOAA Fisheries, EPA must ensure that its regulatory actions are not likely to jeopardize threatened and endangered species or destroy or adversely modify their critical habitats. EPA’s pesticide risk assessment and regulatory processes ensure that protections are in place for all populations of nontarget species. Because endangered species need specific protection, EPA has developed risk assessment procedures to determine whether individuals of an endangered species have the potential to be harmed by a pesticide, and if so, what specific protections may be appropriate.

The August 5, 2004, new regulations are essentially unchanged from the proposal published in the January 30, 2004, Federal Register notice (PDF) with a 60-day public comment period that ended on March 30, 2004. The proposal was based in large measure on the Services' thorough review and endorsement of EPA’s ecological risk assessment methodology. As finalized, the counterpart regulations will allow the following:

• By using the most sophisticated scientific methodologies available to protect wildlife from potential pesticide risks, EPA could determine that the use of a pest-control product is not likely to adversely affect a listed species or its critical habitat without either concurrence of the Services or informal consultation. The wildlife agencies would perform periodic reviews of the methods that EPA employs to arrive at these determinations to ensure EPA is making determinations that are consistent with the requirements of the ESA.
• When formal consultation is required, EPA may utilize an optional procedure to develop a determination of the effects of the pest-control product on listed species for the Services' review.  The procedure also allows EPA to request direct involvement of representatives of the Services in the effects analysis. As required by law, the Services would make the final determination whether threatened or endangered species are likely to be jeopardized by a FIFRA action.

Links to the Federal Register Notice and Supporting Documents:

Read the August 5, 2004, Federal Register notice (PDF).

Read the final Alternative Consultation Agreement (13 pgs., 151 KB, PDF).

Learn how EPA evaluates the potential risks from pesticides to threatened and endangered species (628 KB, PDF).

Read the Services' evaluation of EPA's Ecological Risk Assessment Process (520 KB, PDF).

Endangered Species and Pesticide Regulation Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

Publications | Glossary | A-Z Index | Jobs

EPA Home | Privacy and Security Notice | Contact Us