Today, the federal Environmental Protection Agency announced
plans to place additional limitations on the use of three
organophosphate pesticides — chlorpyrifos, diazinon and
malathion — to protect endangered and threatened salmon and
steelhead in California, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. The
announcement comes in response to a series of lawsuits brought
by Earthjustice aimed at removing toxic pesticides from salmon
spawning streams throughout the northwest. In response to
Earthjustice litigation, the National Marine Fisheries Service
(NMFS) in November of 2008 released a "biological opinion" that
set forth a plan for protecting Pacific salmon and steelhead
from three toxic organophosphate pesticides. That decision came
after almost a decade of legal wrangling between salmon
advocates led by Earthjustice and the federal government. The
biological opinion prescribed measures necessary to keep these
pesticides out of water and to protect salmon populations in
Washington, Oregon, California, and Idaho. The annou