Earthjustice [advocacy website], an environmental law advocacy group filed a motion [PDF] on Wednesday, on behalf of two other environmental groups asking a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] to order the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) [official website] to ban chlorpyrifos – a pesticide widely used for various fruits, vegetables, and wheat grown in the US. The suit comes a week after EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt [official profile] signed an order denying a petition to ban the chemical, saying [press release] it was necessary to “provide regulatory certainty to the thousands of American farms that rely on chlorpyrifos, while still protecting human health and the environment.” The Pesticide Action Network (PAN) and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) [advocacy websites] both argue that the EPA has ignored research conducted by EPA’s own scientists [press release] indicating that chlorpyrifos is harmful to children and farm workers and has been found in unsafe quantities near schools in agricultural areas.

Many environmental other groups have expressed serious concerns over Pruitt’s appointment as the new head of the EPA. In February, Pruitt vowed [JURIST report] to cut back EPA regulations, saying the agency’s Clean Power Plan, Waters of the US rule, and the US Methane rule will all be targets under the Trump administration. Pruitt’s nomination for head of the EPA was met with consternation from Democrats, who cited Pruitt’s numerous lawsuits against the EPA while he was the Oklahoma Attorney General. Days before his confirmation by the Senate, Pruitt was ordered [JURIST report] by a federal judge to release thousands of emails between the Oklahoma AG office and various fossil fuel companies.