The Environmental Protection Agency on Dec. 19 announced it will propose allowing the use of chlorpyrifos on 11 crops, rather than continue battling in court to prohibit the insecticide entirely.

The EPA indicated it won’t appeal a November ruling by the 8th U.S. Circuit of Appeals that struck down a ban on chlorpyrifos. A three-judge panel found the EPA failed to consider alternatives to a blanket prohibition.

The ruling opened the possibility that all previous registered uses of chlorpyrifos on food crops would be reinstated for the 2024 growing season. The EPA said it plans to move quickly to propose limiting chlorpyrifos to alfalfa, apples, asparagus, tart cherries, cotton, citrus, peaches, soybeans, strawberries, sugar beets and wheat.

The 11 crops collectively accounted for 55% of the chlorpyrifos applied on food crops between 2014 and 2018, according to the EPA.

The agency also said it may limit the geographic areas where chlorpyrifos can be used, and impose new restrictions on application rates and to protect farmworkers and “vulnerable species.”

Lawyers representing farm groups that challenged the ban were reviewing the EPA’s announcement, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Earthjustice, the environmental law firm representing groups seeking to prohibit chlorpyrifos, said in a statement it will continue to fight for a ban.

As recently as 2017, chlorpyrifos was the most widely used insecticide in U.S. agriculture, according to court records. Environmental groups sued to ban chlorpyrifos, alleging it harmed infants and unborn children.

The EPA never completely agreed or completely disagreed with the claim. The agency, however, in 2021 revoked all tolerances for chlorpyrifos residue on food.

The EPA pleaded it didn’t have time to consider other ways to reduce exposure because it was under a deadline imposed by the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit Court to make a decision.

Farm groups and Gharda Chemicals Limited, the only company that still registers chlorpyrifos products in the U.S., appealed the ban to the Midwest-based 8th Circuit Court.

The three judges ruled that deadline pressure was no excuse for an arbitrary and capricious decision by the EPA.

The EPA could have asked for a rehearing by the full court. Instead, the EPA will revive a 2020 proposal to limit chlorpyrifos to the 11 “high-benefit crops.”

Twenty-two Senate Republicans and 33 House Republicans urged the EPA in November to accept the 8th Circuit Court ruling.

Most residential uses of chlorpyrifos ended in 2001. Agricultural uses of chlorpyrifos has survived multiple safety reviews, according to the 8th Circuit Court ruling.