SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) – Three nonprofit agencies allege federal agencies have failed to comply with the Endangered Species Act regarding the registration of an insecticide.
Center for Environmental Health, Center for Biological Diversity and Californians for Pesticide Reform filed a complaint on May 30 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; EPA Administrator E. Scott Pruitt, U.S. States Fish and Wildlife Service, and Secretary of the Department of the Interior Ryan Zinke over alleged violation of the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
According to the complaint, the plaintiffs allege that the EPA and the U.S. States Fish and Wildlife Service has failed to complete the required ESA consultation process regarding the use of insecticide malathion.
The plaintiffs hold Pruitt, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. States Fish and Wildlife Service and Zinke responsible because the EPA and the U.S. States Fish and Wildlife Service are allegedly violating their duties by failing to ensure that registration of pesticides with malathion do not jeopardize endangered and threatened species or destroy or modify critical habitats.
The plaintiffs seek a declaration that the defendants are violating the ESA, costs, reasonable attorneys' fees, and such and further relief as the court may deem just and appropriate. They are represented by Jonathan Evans of Center for Biological Diversity in Oakland, California.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California case number 3:18-cv-03197-SK