IARN — Corteva Agriscience filed a motion Friday to intervene in the Ninth Circuit Court case removing the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) registrations for three Dicamba herbicides.
As previously reported on the Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on June 3rd vacated the EPA’s conditional registrations for three dicamba products, due to “substantially understated risks.” Products affected included: Bayer’s Xtendimax, BASF’s Engenia and Corteva’s FeXapan.
On June 8th, the EPA issued a cancellation rule which allows farmers who possessed the chemical before the June 3rd ruling to use the product by July 31st but canceled any new orders after June 3rd.
In a press release Friday, Corteva Agriscience says it is seeking to intervene to “preserve our rights and to support the rights of customers to use the impacted dicamba weed control technologies.” The company went on to say that they believe dicamba is an effective weed management tool for farmers when used according to label.
Soon after the Ninth Circuit Court’s initial ruling, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig said he found the Court’s decision to be problematic.
“We are in the beginning of a growing season (and) the window is open for application. To have this uncertainty thrown into the mix, it’s a hardship for our producers,” Secretary Naig said. “I had requested guidance from EPA Administrator Wheeler, and encouraged him to use every legal means possible to seek a stay and provide clarity for producers.”
Corteva says it was not a party to the lawsuit, and until June 3rd, the case had appeared to involve only the XtendiMax registration. However, the Ninth Circuit Court’s June 3rd ruling vacated the EPA’s registration of XtendiMax and Engenia herbicides, as well as Corteva’s registration for DuPont FeXapan with VaporGrip Technology.
Published reports indicate that BASF, which owns Engenia, has filed a similar motion to intervene in the lawsuit.
Story courtesy of the Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network.
