Members of the Congressional Western Caucus as well as other industry stakeholders recently held a roundtable discussion in Washington to address some potential changes to the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The National Cotton Council (NCC) was invited to participate in the meeting, where members discussed a legislative package comprised of 19 bills that would update and modernize the ESA.
“This legislation has been around for a number of decades, but the way it’s currently being implemented is having a very detrimental impact on a number of issues that impact agriculture, and farming, and cotton production specifically,” said NCC Vice President of Washington Operations Reece Langley. “That impact ranges from how EPA can register certain crop protection products for use on cotton, but also impacting irrigation water availability.”
The NCC was represented by Dr. Don Parker during the roundtable, where he provided examples of how the ESA is creating unnecessary challenges for agriculture and highlighted the need for improvements. “Which is something that the National Cotton Council has been working towards for some time and is continuing to try to advance some of these ideas that Congress is looking at ways to improve this legislation,” Langley noted.
Listen to the report below.
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