ASA this week submitted comments to the Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service outlining concerns with proposed rules to revise regulations for Endangered Species Act implementation. The three rules are largely aimed at rolling back Trump-era regulatory revisions.
In the comments, ASA reiterates farmers’ commitment to conservation and general support for efforts to protect endangered and threatened species but emphasizes that protection measures must be reasonable and grounded in the best scientific and commercial data available, as required by the law.
“Regulatory efforts based on overly conservative assumptions or those that do not balance the protection of species with the coexistence of agricultural production should be rejected,” ASA explains to the agencies.
FWS intends to reimpose the “blanket rule,” which would allow the agencies to put in place the same restrictions for both threatened and endangered species. In the comments, ASA states this is inconsistent with statute and expresses concern with how this plan would result in greater restrictions on growers who farm in threatened species ranges, which they may not otherwise be subjected to if there were two separate sets of regulations.
ASA raises issue with another proposed rule allowing the designation of critical habitat that does not consider economic impacts and allows greater designation of habitat that is currently unoccupied by species. Similarly, ASA is concerned that these proposals are inconsistent with the law and would impose greater restrictions on farmers without consideration for economic impacts. Finally, ASA questions a proposed rule that would create an unnecessary hierarchy of mitigations, with greater priority placed on avoidance and minimization over offsets, among other issues. ASA is concerned this could direct FWS to impose future restrictions on pesticide use versus allowing offsets, such as planting new habitat on roadsides. Read the full comments here.
