Chemical Industry Given Private Access to EPA...

[TOAD6147]

...;Seeks Approval of Pesticides at Expense of Wildlife

A lawsuit filed last week asserts that the Bush Administration is allowing a special task force from the chemical industry to lobby secretly and illegally inside the Environmental Protection Agency. The task force aims to circumvent current protections for endangered species. If successful, it will be easier for the industry to gain approval for the use of certain pesticides.

read it here

[Atomic Rooster]

[Epidemic]

As long as the epa makes its decision based upon facts I do not care if the facts are presented to them in person and with out the screams of green peace.

Flip side of the deal would be that no money should be allowed to trade hands.

[TOAD6147]

back

[no1_vern]

The EPA is already under a lot of pressure to ALLOW looser restrictions from this administration. How do you ensure ALL the facts get to the decision makers when the only information you get is information by the task force whose agenda is " to circumvent current protections "?

[Epidemic]

Perhaps you are right.

I kinda viewed this as a venue where each party gets their turn to speak. Not as one sided as you predict. Perhaps it would be unfair. I just do not like venues where the crazies are allowed to shout down the other party.

[osprey4]

Here is the rebuttal.

FESTF does not meet with EPA to advise EPA concerning policy on endangered species and EPA provides no special access to FESTF for such purposes. Indeed, as all times, EPA and FESTF have scrupulously adhered to the understanding that their meetings are limited to issues related to FESTF’s legal obligations to meet FIFRA data requirements, to assure that FESTF’s protocols properly do so, and to guarantee that the data requirements remain clear and are equitably applied to all similarly situated registrants and applicants, as expressly required under FIFRA’s data compensation provisions.

I'm not well versed in EPA law or the pesticide industry (although I am a member of a industry/govt consortium that does handle some EPA-related stuff), but I can tell you that there are other industry associations that interact commonly with government agencies in a manner similar to this. Obviously, you would expect that private industry is interested in pushing back on some interpretations of government regulation, but there is NO WAY anyone is trying to undermine well established laws, nor will the government agencies allow this. To do so, in fact, would be a clear violation of ethics laws.

On the other hand, if EarthJustice is just trying to get a rise out of people and make press without actually understanding the situation, they've done a nice job.