The facts
A lawsuit filed against the Trump administration alleges the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has failed for decades to establish water-quality standards for the pesticide atrazine under the Clean Water Act. The suit, with the Center for Biological Diversity as a lead plaintiff, asks a federal court to compel the EPA to develop these standards. The EPA was originally due to implement a plan in 1999 but has not done so. A separate plan under pesticide laws, which would address only about 1% of atrazine pollution according to a peer-reviewed study, offers farmers a list of runoff-reduction actions, some of which critics argue are ineffective. Federal records indicate atrazine is present in nearly 25% of continental U.S. rivers, impacting over 20% of surface drinking water intakes and more than 675,000 wells. Atrazine is the second most used pesticide in the U.S., with approximately 70 million pounds applied annually to cropland. It is known to disrupt hormones and has been banned in the European Union since 2003.
Our take
Get the fuck out of here. The Environmental Protection Agency, an institution whose entire fucking reason for existing is to protect the environment, has for decades sat on its ass and refused to set water-quality standards for a known toxic pesticide. That’s not a policy failure; that’s a breathtaking act of bureaucratic cowardice. The deadline for this plan was 1999. We’ve had three new Spider-Man franchises, the rise and fall of the McRib, and two separate Y2K scares since then. What the hell has the EPA been doing? Counting the 70 million pounds of atrazine we dump on crops every year like a toddler stacking blocks? This shit is in a quarter of the country’s rivers and over 20 percent of our surface drinking water intakes. It fucks with hormones and Europe told it to get lost twenty years ago. But the geniuses at the EPA apparently think the best way to handle a massive, ongoing chemical contamination is to do precisely fuck-all. Their big alternative plan, cooked up under different laws, would only address about one percent of the pollution. One percent! That’s not a plan; that’s a fucking insult. It’s like showing up to a house fire with a squirt gun shaped like a dick. They’ll offer farmers a list of ‘runoff-reduction actions’ that critics say are useless. Great. So instead of legally enforceable water-quality standards, we get a polite suggestion box. Meanwhile, this endocrine-disrupting bullshit seeps into over 675,000 wells. The agency’s inaction is a masterclass in negligent dickheadery. They’ve had more than two decades to get their shit together and all they’ve managed to produce is a lawsuit and a legacy of contaminated water. What a bunch of absolute cunts.
