In May 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency published its proposal to update the protocol for conducting national-level risk assessments for endangered species for the pesticides it registers under FIFRA. We identified several pages of problems with the proposal, and in this public meeting, spoke about four of the big-picture problems: misguided attempt to push consultations to other agencies; the use of an arbitrary 1% overlap criterion; the lack of consideration of future use; and inadequate consideration of indirect effects. We will be submitting written comments before the 01 July 2019 deadline.
As the previous Director in the Center for Conservation Innovation at Defenders, Jacob led CCI’s work at the intersection of science, technology, and policy to improve conservation outcomes, especially for threatened and endangered species.