Environmental Groups Motion Court to Pull Enlist

LINCOLN, Neb. (DTN) -- Environmental groups asked a federal court on Thursday to vacate herbicide registrations for Enlist One and Enlist Duo, alleging in a motion for summary judgement that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency understated associated health risks, overstated the products' effectiveness in combating weeds, and set ineffective mitigation measures in an ongoing lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of the District of Columbia.

Corteva Agriscience's Enlist One contains 2,4-D while Enlist Duo contains both 2,4-D and glyphosate, which are applied to genetically engineered corn, soybeans and cotton to combat weeds.

"EPA tilted the scales decisively in favor of continued registration of these controversial herbicides by systematically ignoring and/or minimizing their costs, while also inflating the claimed benefits," the Center for Food Safety and other plaintiffs in the lawsuit said in their motion.

"EPA fell far short of that mandate (to demonstrate pesticides won't cause unreasonable adverse effects). Repeating the same 'acknowledge-but-do-not-actually-assess' theme, EPA acknowledged that the 'increased use of Enlist 2,4-D, especially after crop emergence,' would 'promote cross resistance to dicamba and other synthetic auxin (WSSA Group 4) herbicides,' but then completely failed to quantify how the increased use of Enlist products will increase cross-resistance."

A motion for summary judgement is a request asking a court to rule in favor of one party without a full trial, when there is genuinely no dispute about the facts in a case.

In the motion, the center said EPA relied on 2018-2019 Enlist usage data, although Enlist soybean adoption went from negligible to 35% of U.S. acreage in 2021.

The group said the EPA acknowledged but "failed" to quantify costs of "superweeds" developing resistance to multiple herbicides that create billions in farmer costs.

In addition, the center said the EPA relied on a glyphosate health assessment that was vacated by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in 2022 for violating EPA's own cancer guidelines.

The motion also alleges farmers mainly use Enlist alone and not with other herbicides as recommended, which has accelerated weed resistance.

"Relative to other forms of 2,4-D, Enlist products accelerate the development of weed resistance because they are overwhelmingly applied after crop emergence (their exact purpose)," the center said in its motion.

In January 2022, the EPA granted new registrations and labels for Enlist One and Enlist Duo herbicides. Enlist One (2,4-D-choline) and Enlist Duo (2,4-D-choline and glyphosate pre-mix) are designed to be sprayed over-the-top of corresponding 2,4-D-tolerant Enlist cotton, corn and soybeans.

The labels provided several mitigation requirements including banning applications when rainfall is expected within 48 hours or when soils are saturated, and a downwind 30-foot infield buffer required to protect sensitive areas.

In March 2022, the EPA amended the registrations to remove hundreds of county-level prohibitions. The center alleges that was done without prior notice or public comment.

The federal court granted a motion to intervene filed by Corteva, while denying intervention to CropLife America.

According to court documents, EPA has until Oct. 20, 2025, to file a response in opposition to the motion for summary judgement and cross motions for summary judgement. In addition, Corteva will have until Nov. 3, 2025, to file its responses.

"Despite substantially extending the registrations by seven years, EPA did not hold notice and comment and thus jurisdiction is proper in district court," the center said.

Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com

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