Must-read recap: The New Lede's top stories
Bayer asks EPA to again approve dicamba; Mexico's GM corn limitations; proposed action on acephate; "emergency" approval for clothianidin; Cali nuclear plant to stay online; an obscure greenhouse gas.
Bayer asks EPA to again approve twice-banned weed killer
After multiple court-ordered bans, Bayer AG is once again asking the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to approve the controversial weed killer dicamba for use on genetically modified crops, the EPA announced last week.
Dicamba has been responsible for millions of acres of damage to crops and natural areas since it was initially approved to be used starting in 2017 on genetically modified (GM) crops altered to withstand being sprayed with the herbicide. Farmers whose crops were not genetically modified suffered the damage, largely because the new uses for dicamba induced farmers to apply it during summer months when the chemical easily volatilized and drifted far from where it was applied.
Before the new use approvals, dicamba was primarily used before the growing season because of its volatility. But after the EPA agreed to industry requests to market dicamba herbicides to farmers for use during warm months on the specialized GM crops, farmers not planting the dicamba-tolerant GM crops registered thousands of complaints across multiple key farming states about dicamba damage. (Read the rest of the story.)
US says Mexico ‘abandoned science’ in GM corn limitations
The United States has doubled down on allegations that Mexico is violating international trade rules by working to ban imports of genetically modified (GM) corn for human consumption, arguing in a filing made public last week that Mexico has “abandoned science” in expressing concerns about how GM corn impacts human and environmental health.
Mexico is violating its obligations under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), making “factual and legal errors” in attempting to justify its decision to ban GM corn for use in tortillas and and dough and to gradually move away from the use of GM corn in animal feed, the US said in its formal rebuttal to Mexico’s case.
The 120-page US response, filed with a tribunal charged with arbitrating the trade dispute, said that Mexico has not shown that GM corn is likely to harm humans or native Mexican varieties of corn that are not genetically modified as Mexico has feared.
The US filing comes in response to a 189-page report issued by Mexico explaining the risks it sees posed by GM corn. (Read the rest of the story.)
EPA action on nerve agent used in food applauded, but concerns persist
A proposal by US regulators to issue a ban on most uses of a pesticide that acts as a nerve agent was applauded by health advocates last week, though some warned the proposal doesn’t go far enough.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposal targets acephate, a widely used bug-killing chemical whose residues have been found in foods generally considered healthy, such as celery, green beans and tomatoes. The chemical is also found in drinking water.
The agency said it plans to end all uses of acephate on food because it had determined – after more than 50 years of use – that it cannot be certain that “no harm would result” from acephate exposure, particularly from acephate levels in drinking water.
Acephate is part of a class of nerve agent chemicals known as organophosphates that are popular with US farmers who use them to fight pests in their fields. But the chemicals have been linked to a range of adverse health effects, particularly in children, such as reduced IQ, attention deficit disorders, and autism spectrum disorders. Acephate, long banned in the European Union, has also been linked to cancer among other health problems. (Read the rest of the story.)
Despite ban, EPA grants ‘emergency’ approval for bee-killing insecticide for 10th straight year
US regulators have approved the emergency use of clothianidin on Florida citrus trees for the tenth straight year, once again allowing farmers to use the insecticide despite its known risk to endangered species and pollinators critical to the health of the food supply.
Since 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has had a moratorium on new uses of neonicotinoid insecticides, including clothianidin, because of evidence that the class of pesticides is linked to pollinator decline. Neonics have been shown to be particularly harmful to bees, which help pollinate important crops, such as vegetables, nuts, cotton and more.
In a 2023 analysis, the EPA found that clothianidin and other neonics are driving hundreds of species protected under the Endangered Species Act toward extinction. Neonics are banned in Europe, and the EU has proposed essentially banning clothianidin on crops imported into the EU. (Read the rest of the story.)
Controversial California power plant set to stay online after court decision
A federal court last week cleared the way for California’s last nuclear power plant to keep operating for five years after its licenses expire, rejecting arguments from environmental advocates that the facility poses ongoing risks that could prove catastrophic, including the potential for a “nuclear meltdown”.
The move by the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals upholds a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) decision to exempt Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E)’s Diablo Canyon Power Plant from a rule that would require its two reactors to shut down in 2024 and 2025. The court rejected the environmental groups’ claims that the NRC did not properly account for safety and environmental concerns.
“We filed our lawsuit because NRC was playing fast and loose with decisions that could quite literally lead to a nuclear meltdown,” Hallie Templeton, legal director for the nonprofit Friends of the Earth, said in a statement. “We will keep fighting to ensure that all involved officials properly and thoroughly apply pertinent laws to Diablo’s attempted extension.” (Read the rest of the story.)
Postcard from California: State emits more of an obscure climate-heating gas than the entire rest of the US
(Opinion columns published in The New Lede represent the views of the individual(s) authoring the columns and not necessarily the perspectives of TNL editors.)
Among US states, California is a leader in efforts to cut emissions of the greenhouse gases that fuel the climate crisis. But just three counties in Southern California emit far more of one little-known greenhouse gas than all other US states combined.
Blame termites – and the tragic, too-frequent mistake of replacing one environmentally harmful chemical with another that turns out to be just as bad.
Sulfuryl fluoride is a fumigant pesticide first made by Dow Chemical Co., marketed since 1959 as Vikane. To kill western drywood termites, pest control companies cover infested houses with tents and then pump in Vikane. Houses tented for fumigation are a common sight in Southern California, where warm, dry weather leaves wooden buildings highly susceptible to infestations of the hard-to-exterminate species.
When fumigation tents are removed and sulfuryl fluoride disperses into the atmosphere, it is a greenhouse gas much more powerful than carbon dioxide (CO2). (Read the rest of the opinion column.)