In a message dated 10/3/04 1:28:02 AM, CherielJ writes:

<<
In a message dated 9/7/04 12:02:09 AM, WBroadieal writes:

<<
-----------------
Forwarded Message:

Subj: Bush EPA Rolls Back Endangered Species Act, Pesticide Protection
Date: Wednesday, September 1, 2004 6:07:33 AM
From: info@...
To: wbroadieal@...

From: info@... (BushGreenwatch)
Reply-to: notice-reply-di8xsi2fjd8wj6@...
To: wbroadieal@... (Wanda Alexander)

***************************************
BUSHGREENWATCH
Tracking the Bush Administration's Environmental Misdeeds
http://www.bushgreenwatch.org
***************************************

September 1, 2004

BUSH EPA ROLLS BACK ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT, PESTICIDE PROTECTION


The Bush administration's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
has found a subtle way to sidestep the Endangered Species Act.

New rules, announced in late July, allow EPA to approve new
pesticides without consulting the Fish and Wildlife Service or
the National Marine Fisheries Service to determine possible harm
to wildlife. [1]

The new rules greatly favor industries that produce pesticides.
As reported by BushGreenwatch, a special chemical industry task
force has used insider access to the EPA to achieve this rule
change.

Federal officials claim the new regulations will "streamline"
the pesticide approval process. Patti Goldman, managing attorney
with the Seattle office of environmental group Earthjustice,
sees it differently. "EPA has a problem, and its problem is that
it has not complied with the Endangered Species Act for
pesticides for over a decade. So when it says 'streamlining,'
it's trying to streamline away the requirements, rather than
find a streamlined way to come into compliance with them."

Goldman was lead attorney in Earthjustice's successful suit
against EPA, demanding that the agency complete required
consultations with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NFMS)
on how pesticide uses would affect threatened and endangered
Pacific coast salmon.

"EPA registers pesticides before they can be used throughout the
United States, and it has never even taken the first steps to
make sure the pesticide uses it authorizes won't harm salmon"
listed under the ESA, Goldman told BushGreenwatch. "Our case
focused on 54 pesticide cases where EPA had done those reviews
and found there was a problem for fish or their habitat -- and
then done nothing."

Many other endangered and threatened species are further
imperiled by EPA's failure to regulate pesticides. A new report
from the Center for Biological Diversity notes dozens of cases
-- from California's red-legged frog, to the Barton Springs
salamander of Texas, to wild Atlantic salmon in Maine -- in
which exposure to pesticides is a key factor in the species'
decline. [2]

Although Earthjustice won its case in January, the new
regulations may ultimately undercut its victory, because the
standards for judging pesticide impacts are unclear. "EPA will
be able to do it however they choose. The agencies have
delegated that authority to EPA," Goldman says, "even though in
the past they found EPA's assessments woefully inadequate."

The new system "is replacing the checks and balances that are in
the consultation process," she says. "There, you have an
independent, outside agency that's the expert on the species,
weighing in and looking at the impacts. Now, you won't have that
any more."

For Pacific salmon species, the impact from pesticide exposure
could be subtle but severe. "There's a lot of evidence that
salmon lose their ability to smell. They swim backwards, can't
evade predators, the males turn into females -- all sorts of
things happen, short of killing them, at really low doses," says
Goldman. "It's just that you won't see all the dead bodies lying
in a pile."

###

SOURCES:
[1] "EPA Will Not Have To Consult Wildlife Agencies On
Pesticides," The Washington Post, Jul. 30, 2004.
[2] "Silent Spring Revisited: Pesticide Use and Endangered
Species," Center for Biological Diversity, Jul. 2004,
http://ga3.org/ct/-71Y7kM16aD7/.

***************************************
:: TELL A FRIEND ABOUT BUSHGREENWATCH
http://ga3.org/ct/F11Y7kM16aDg/

:: READ BACK ISSUES
http://ga3.org/ct/Fp1Y7kM16aDO/
***************************************

BushGreenwatch
1320 18th Street NW 5th Floor
Washington, DC 20036
(202) 463-6670
Web site comments: info@...

Copyright (c) 2003 Environmental Media Services
--------------------------------------------------

If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for
BushGreenwatch at:

http://ga3.org/bushgreenwatch/join.html?r=n11Y7kM1-Q9yE

--------------------------------------------------

This message was sent to wbroadieal@.... To modify your email
communication preferences or update your personal profile, visit
your subscription management page at:

http://ga3.org/bushgreenwatch/smp.tcl?nkey=di8xsi2fjd8wj6

To stop ALL email from BushGreenwatch, reply via email with
"remove" in the subject line, or use the following link:

http://ga3.org/bushgreenwatch/remove-domain-direct.tcl?ctx=center&nkey=di8xsi2
fjd8wj6

***************************************
Powered by GetActive Software, Inc.
Member Relationship Management Solutions
That Recruit, Engage, and Retain (tm)
http://www.getactive.com
*************************************** >> >>