BiOP is Vacated

BiOP is Vacated. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

Good news coming out of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals for farmers and orchardists across the northwest a ccording to the Ag Networks Dr. David Sparks who has more.

SPARKS: The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has vacated the first BiOP or biological opinion that would have led to establishing buffer zones either preventing or restricting the use of three pesticides on farms and orchards adjacent to defined waterways. The BiOp National Marine Fisheries Service submitted to the US Environmental Protection Agency as part of the consultation process required under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) was found by the Court to have, quote: " ….relied on a selection of data, tests and standards that did not appear to be logical, obvious or even rational."

Thanks David. The case was remanded back to NMFS for further proceedings consistent with the Court’s opinion. The fate of subsequent BiOps must now be questioned as they were based upon the same flawed data set that led this Court to find NMFS’s efforts to be, "arbitrary and capricious." This BiOp covered chlorpyrifos, diazanon and malathion and would have restricted their application up to 1000 feet from what constituted a waterway.

That’s today’s Fruit Grower Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.