Judge bars neonicotinoid insecticides at NW Minnesota refuge

A judge has ordered the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to devise a plan for phasing out any remaining use of nicotine-related pesticides at the Detroit Lakes Wetland Management District in northwestern Minnesota and four other Midwest wildlife refuges.

The court also ruled Monday the agency violated federal law by allowing the farming of genetically modified corn and soybeans on 518 acres within the Minnesota refuge without an adequate, site-specific environmental review.

Environmentalists had challenged the use of seeds treated with neonicotinoids at refuges without first studying the site-specific impacts.

The agency says neonicotinoids won't be used at wildlife refuges by January 2016. But the order says it's not clear if they're used now. If they are, the order says, they must be phased out no later than Jan. 1.