In an August 1 opinion, an Oregon judge sided with conservation groups who sued against environmental assessments in Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming for failing to fully explore the impacts of pesticide use in those states, the cumulative effect of pesticides or factor in grasshopper control methods other than chemicals.
Sharon Selvaggio with plaintiff the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation says pesticides can hurt wildlife already in decline or even throw off the balance of a local ecosystem.
“Our mission is to protect the little things that run the world,” said Selvaggio. “And sometimes, we don’t recognize that taking out the little things that run the world is actually gonna have impacts on so many other species.”
The Xerces Society and Center for Biological Diversity filed the lawsuit in 2022 against the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, a pest management agency under the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The agency’s Montana analysis suggests the state’s eastern side receives more grasshopper spray than any other part of the West.
Both Montana and Wyoming intervened as defendants.
In their filing to intervene, Montana's defense said losing pesticide control through the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service could leave grasshopper populations unchecked, increase damage and place the burden of paying for control measures on the state.
They argue the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service followed all environmental laws in their assessments of pesticide used in those states. They say the plaintiffs chose to bring legal action rather than participate at the regulatory or administrative level, and the court was the wrong avenue for complaint.
The judge ordered the parties to come up with a proposed timeline for solutions to address the conservation groups’ concerns.
