The Environmental Protection Agency said Nov. 22 it will revise its vulnerable species pilot project, responding to charges the plan would bar pesticides on millions of acres and devastate U.S. agriculture.

The EPA signaled it will abandon requiring farmers in “avoidance” zones to confer with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service three months before spraying. The EPA also indicated it will likely reduce the acres in the pilot program.

The EPA said it was responding to comments from farm groups, states, weed-control scientists and others that criticized the plan. The USDA warned consequences for U.S. farms would be “staggering.”

“Commenters universally requested EPA to re-consider its approach,” the EPA stated in a six-page update on the pilot program.

The EPA announced the pilot program in June, designating “pesticide use limitation areas” to protect 27 threatened or endangered species, including the Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly in Oregon and Washington.

The EPA said it picked species with “small ranges,” but the new pesticide restrictions applied to more than 100 million acres in parts of 29 states.

The EPA committed to the pilot program in a court settlement with environmental groups that alleged the agency was failing to meet its obligations under the Endangered Species Act. The settlement also commits EPA to develop new “strategies” for minimizing the use of pesticides.

The vulnerable species pilot proposes stiffer restrictions and, according to critics, tosses aside the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act, the nation’s fundamental pesticide law.

EPA acknowledged the criticism. Rather than “avoiding” spraying, farmers will be expected to follow EPA rules to “minimize” spraying, according to the EPA.

“This would alleviate the need to coordinate with (Fish and Wildlife) before agriculture applications,” the EPA stated in the update.

The EPA said it will work with Fish and Wildlife, the USDA and the University of Georgia to refine the pesticide use limitation areas. The EPA also said it will revisit how it selects species for the pilot project.

The EPA said it picked species that are particularly vulnerable to pesticides. Fish and Wildlife does not list pesticides as a threat to the Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly.

Efforts to obtain comment from the EPA on whether the butterfly would be removed from the pilot program were not successful by Capital Press deadline.

The EPA has featured the butterfly in presentations on the pilot program, stating lessons learned from protecting Taylor’s checkerspot butterflies could be applied to other butterflies.

The EPA has proposed avoiding spraying pesticides on 2.4 million acres in Western Washington and Western Oregon to protect the butterfly. Fish and Wildlife designated 1,941 acres as “critical habitat” for its survival.

The Washington and Oregon agriculture departments warned the pilot program could hurt Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly habitat by preventing pesticide applications that control invasive weeds.

The EPA also said it will reconsider restrictions it has proposed for non-agricultural applications, such as for controlling mosquitos and invasive weeds on rangeland.

Farm groups, states and scientists from around the country weighed in against the pilot program. The EPA received more than 10,000 comments, but most were a form letter supporting the pilot.

The EPA will provide another update on the pilot program in fall 2024. The agency remains unclear about when it will start the program.