Environmental NGOs are suing EPA, asking a California federal district court to essentially take over EPA’s pesticide program because EPA allegedly failed to meet all its pesticide obligations under the Endangered Species Act. On February 21, 2012, several industry interveners filed a motion to dismiss the NGO plaintiffs’ complaint. The interveners include CropLife America and the American Chemistry Council. Their Motion argues that the NGO plaintiffs’ claims should be dismissed for the following reasons.

Plaintiffs should have brought their claims directly challenging EPA’s registration decisions in a court of appeals, not in the California federal district court.

Any claims that might survive a jurisdictional challenge must also be dismissed because the Complaint fails to allege that EPA took any “action” sufficient to trigger ESA responsibilities, and thus fails to meet the minimum specificity requirements established by several Supreme Court cases.

Finally, even if the Court had jurisdiction and the NGO plaintiffs had properly pled their claims, the standard six-year statute of limitations has expired for the majority of the sort of actions Plaintiffs attempt in this case. 28 U.S.C. § 2401(a).

On February 21, 2012, another intervener the American Farm Bureau filed a response supporting the industry interveners’ motion to dismiss.

The Motion to Dismiss is attached below.

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