The National Governors Association sent a letter to newly installed EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson this week regarding soil fumigant pesticides that growers say are essential to state reforestation efforts but which environmentalists say are harmful to human health. The letter, signed by Govs. Sarah Palin (R-AK) and Brian Schweitzer (D-MT), urges EPA to delay for two years mitigation measures the agency proposed to attach to several pesticides' reregistration eligibility decisions (REDs) that the agency issued in 2008. The mandates would "put nurseries at serious risk of closure, severely decreasing the available seedlings for reforestation purposes," the governors say in their letter.

For more about this issue, read: Impacts of EPA Soil Fumigant REDs on Regenerating America's Forests (PDF)