EPA Announces Release Of Final Insecticide Strategy

On April 29, 2025, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the release of its final Insecticide Strategy (Strategy), available here. EPA states in the Strategy that it is "intended to create a consistent, reasonable, transparent, and understandable approach to assess potential impacts and identify mitigations to reduce potential population-level impacts to listed species from the use of agricultural insecticides." Specifically, EPA states that the Strategy identifies mitigations aimed at protecting more than 900 species listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) that EPA considers when it registers a new insecticide or reevaluates an existing one.

According to EPA, the Strategy includes a three-step framework that EPA will use when reviewing pesticide applications or when a pesticide is undergoing registration review, including how to apply mitigations when needed. Generally, the three-step framework is as follows: