EPA’s Emergency Pesticide Exceptions Risk Environment, Watchdog Says

The EPA is under fire from its internal watchdog for how it grants states emergency off-ramps to pesticide regulations, moves that could place public health and the environment at risk.

The Environmental Protection Agency doesn’t keep track of how emergency exemptions to its pesticide use rules affect health and environmental safeguards, the agency’s inspector general said in a Sept. 25 report.

The EPA should develop performance measures based on environmental outcomes, improve data collection procedures, and work on how it communicates changes to the emergency exemption process, the report said.

The EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs “does not ...