ELR Citation: 50 ELR 20099
No(s). 19-71324 (9th Cir. Apr 22, 2020)

The Ninth Circuit ordered EPA to respond to a petition requesting that the Agency end the use of the pesticide tetrachlorvinphos (TCVP) in household pet products. An environmental group submitted an administrative petition to cancel the registration of TCVP in 2009, following a peer-reviewed study that found humans could absorb the pesticide at dangerous levels through contact with pets being treated with TCVP products, and sought to compel EPA to issue a final response to its petition. The court found that EPA's decade-long delay in responding to the petition was unreasonable and egregious, and that the circumstances warranted the issuance of a writ of mandamus. It therefore granted the group's petition for the writ and ordered EPA to issue a full and final response to the administrative petition within 90 days.