from Grist:
Yesterday a federal judge overturned a two-year-old regulation that
allowed the U.S. EPA to approve pesticides without consulting the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service about toxic impact on rare animals and
plants. Ruling in favor of nine environmental groups, U.S. District
Judge John C. Coughenor declared that the Bush administration had
"plainly violated" the Endangered Species Act. The case is a bit of
déjà vu: In 2001, the same green groups clashed with the same EPA over
the same issue, and the same Coughenor ended up ordering the agency to
evaluate the impacts of 55 pesticides on salmon. Instead, the agency
created the rule that allowed it to bypass the USFWS, leading the green
groups to sue again. Coughenor wrote that there was "overwhelming
evidence on the record" that slackening the pesticide-approval process
could harm endangered species. The EPA responded that there was
overwhelming evidence off the record that the chemical industry didn't
feel like dealing with a bunch of silly rules about "species."