US group files EPA polar bear suit

A US environmentalist group has carried through its threat to file a lawsuit against the EPA over its failure to consider the impacts of pesticides on polar bears and their Arctic habitats. The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) filed suit in Seattle, Washington this month following the Agency’s failure to respond to its June notification of intent to sue ( Agrow No 572, p 15). The listing of the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act in 2008 gave the EPA “the opportunity and the obligation to meaningfully address the poisoning of the Arctic”, says CBD lawyer Rebecca Noblin.