UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE No. 20-70787 COUNCIL; PESTICIDE ACTION NETWORK NORTH AMERICA, EPA No. Petitioners, EPA-HQ-OPP- 2009-0361 v. U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, Respondent, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF WHEAT GROWERS; NATIONAL COTTON COUNCIL OF AMERICA; AMERICAN FARM BUREAU FEDERATION; NATIONAL CORN GROWERS ASSOCIATION; AMERICAN SOYBEAN ASSOCIATION; NATIONAL SORGHUM PRODUCERS; AGRICULTURAL RETAILERS ASSOCIATION; NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LANDSCAPE PROFESSIONALS; MONSANTO COMPANY; GOLF COURSE SUPERINTENDENTS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA; AMERICAN SUGARBEET GROWERS ASSOCIATION, Intervenors. 2 NRDC V. USEPA

RURAL COALITION; ORGANIZACION No. 20-70801 EN CALIFORNIA DE LÍDERES CAMPESINAS; FARMWORKER EPA No. ASSOCIATION OF FLORIDA; BEYOND EPA-HQ-OPP- PESTICIDES; CENTER FOR FOOD 2009-0361 SAFETY, Petitioners, OPINION v. U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY; MICHAEL REGAN, in his official capacity as Administrator, Respondents, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF WHEAT GROWERS; NATIONAL CORN GROWERS ASSOCIATION; NATIONAL COTTON COUNCIL; AMERICAN SOYBEAN ASSOCIATION; AMERICAN SUGARBEET GROWERS ASSOCIATION; NATIONAL SORGHUM PRODUCERS; AMERICAN FARM BUREAU FEDERATION; AGRICULTURAL RETAILERS ASSOCIATION; NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LANDSCAPE PROFESSIONALS; GOLF COURSE SUPERINTENDENTS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA; MONSANTO COMPANY, Intervenors. NRDC V. USEPA 3

On Petition for Review of an Order of the Environmental Protection Agency

Argued and Submitted January 10, 2022 Pasadena, California

Filed June 17, 2022

Before: J. Clifford Wallace, Danny J. Boggs, * and Michelle T. Friedland, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge Friedland

* The Honorable Danny J. Boggs, United States Circuit Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, sitting by designation. 4 NRDC V. USEPA

SUMMARY **

Pesticides

The panel (1) granted in part and denied in part a petition for review challenging the U.S Environmental Protection Agency’s decision determining that glyphosate, the active ingredient in the weedkiller Roundup, does not pose “any unreasonable risk to man or the environment”; and (2) remanded to the agency for further consideration.

The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (“FIFRA”) requires the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) to regulate pesticides, which are defined to include herbicides. A pesticide product may not be distributed or sold in the United States until EPA has issued a registration pursuant to FIFRA. A registration functions as a license setting forth the conditions under which the pesticide may be sold, distributed, and used. The EPA may not issue a registration for a pesticide that causes “unreasonable adverse effects on the environment.” In 2007, Congress added a new process called “registration review” to the FIFRA scheme governing pesticides, instructing EPA to periodically review pesticide registrations every fifteen years. For pesticides registered before 2007, such as glyphosate, EPA must complete the first registration review by October 1, 2022.

EPA began its registration review of glyphosate in 2009 and completed a preliminary ecological risk assessment of the pesticide in 2015. That assessment concluded that

** This summary constitutes no part of the opinion of the court. It has been prepared by court staff for the convenience of the reader.