[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 86 (Wednesday, May 6, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20942-20944]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-10149]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OPP-2002-0262; FRL-8411-1]
EPA Impact Assessments on Endosulfan; Request for Comments and
Additional Information on Importance of Use
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: This notice requests public comment on the Agency's endosulfan
impact assessments for eight crops (potato, tomato, cotton, apple,
cucumber, squash, pumpkin and melons) and additional information on the
importance of endosulfan use in agriculture.
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DATES: Comments must be received on or before July 6, 2009.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by docket identification
(ID) number EPA-HQ-OPP-2002-0262, by one of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments.
Mail: Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) Regulatory Public
Docket (7502P), Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania
Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460-0001.
Delivery: OPP Regulatory Public Docket (7502P),
Environmental Protection Agency, Rm. S-4400, One Potomac Yard (South
Bldg.), 2777 S. Crystal Dr., Arlington, VA. Deliveries are only
accepted during the Docket Facility's normal hours of operation (8:30
a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays).
Special arrangements should be made for deliveries of boxed
information. The Docket Facility telephone number is (703) 305-5805.
Instructions: Direct your comments on the Agency's impact
assessments and importance of endosulfan use to docket ID number EPA-
HQ-OPP-2002-0262. EPA's policy is that all comments received will be
included in the docket without change and may be made available on-line
at http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information
provided, unless the comment includes information claimed to be
Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose
disclosure is restricted by statute. Do not submit information that you
consider to be CBI or otherwise protected through regulations.gov or e-
mail. The regulations.gov website is an ``anonymous access'' system,
which means EPA will not know your identity or contact information
unless you provide it in the body of your comment. If you send an e-
mail comment directly to EPA without going through regulations.gov,
your e-mail address will be automatically captured and included as part
of the comment that is placed in the docket and made available on the
Internet. If you submit an electronic comment, EPA recommends that you
include your name and other contact information in the body of your
comment and with any disk or CD-ROM you submit. If EPA cannot read your
comment due to technical difficulties and cannot contact you for
clarification, EPA may not be able to consider your comment. Electronic
files should avoid the use of special characters, any form of
encryption, and be free of any defects or viruses.
Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the docket index
available at http://www.regulations.gov. Although listed in the index,
some information is not publicly available, e.g., CBI or other
information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other
material, such as copyrighted material, is not placed on the Internet
and will be publicly available only in hard copy form. Publicly
available docket materials are available either in the electronic
docket at http://www.regulations.gov, or, if only available in hard
copy, at the OPP Regulatory Public Docket in Rm. S-4400, One Potomac
Yard (South Bldg.), 2777 S. Crystal Dr., Arlington, VA. The hours of
operation of this Docket Facility are from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday
through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The Docket Facility telephone
number is (703) 305-5805.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Melanie Biscoe, Special Review and
Reregistration Division (7508P), Office of Pesticide Programs,
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.,
Washington, DC 20460-0001; telephone number: (703) 305-7106; fax
number: (703) 308-8090; e-mail address: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. General Information
A. Does This Action Apply to Me?
This action is directed to the public in general, and may be of
interest to a wide range of stakeholders including: environmental,
human health, and agricultural advocates; the chemical industry,
pesticide users, and members of the public interested in the sale,
distribution, or the use of pesticides. Since others also may be
interested, the Agency has not attempted to describe all the specific
entities that may be affected by this action. If you have any questions
regarding the applicability of this action to a particular entity,
consult the person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
B. What Should I Consider as I Prepare My Comments for EPA?
1. Submitting CBI. Do not submit this information to EPA through
regulations.gov or e-mail. Clearly mark the part or all of the
information that you claim to be CBI. For CBI information in a disk or
CD-ROM that you mail to EPA, mark the outside of the disk or CD-ROM as
CBI and then identify electronically within the disk or CD-ROM the
specific information that is claimed as CBI. In addition to one
complete version of the comment that includes information claimed as
CBI, a copy of the comment that does not contain the information
claimed as CBI must be submitted for inclusion in the public docket.
Information so marked will not be disclosed except in accordance with
procedures set forth in 40 CFR part 2.
2. Tips for preparing your comments. When submitting comments,
remember to:
i. Identify the document by docket ID number and other identifying
information (subject heading, Federal Register date and page number).
ii. Follow directions. The Agency may ask you to respond to
specific questions or organize comments by referencing a Code of
Federal Regulations (CFR) part or section number.
iii. Explain why you agree or disagree; suggest alternatives and
substitute language for your requested changes.
iv. Describe any assumptions and provide any technical information
and/or data that you used.
v. If you estimate potential costs or burdens, explain how you
arrived at your estimate in sufficient detail to allow for it to be
reproduced.
vi. Provide specific examples to illustrate your concerns and
suggest alternatives.
vii. Explain your views as clearly as possible, avoiding the use of
profanity or personal threats.
viii. Make sure to submit your comments by the comment period
deadline identified.
II. Background
A. What Action Is the Agency Taking?
The Agency has recently completed impact assessments on endosulfan
for the following eight crops: Apple, cotton, cucumber, melon, potato,
pumpkin, squash, and tomato.
The impact assessments evaluate the impacts on growers that could
result from various risk management options, such as cancellation of
uses and longer Restricted Entry Intervals (REIs). All stakeholders are
encouraged to comment on these assessments, submit additional
information for the Agency to consider, and provide data with which the
Agency can better define the likely impacts. The impact assessments are
available in the electronic docket at http://www.regulations.gov under
docket ID number EPA-HQ-OPP-2002-0262.
The Agency chose to assess apple, cotton, cucumber, melon, potato,
pumpkin, squash, and tomato because they are crops for which endosulfan
use is more prevalent (when compared to other crops on which endosulfan
is used), and because the Agency received
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public comments on several of these crops in response to its 2007 usage
analysis available at regulations.gov under docket ID number EPA-HQ-
OPP-2002-0262-0063. With regard to the 2007 usage analysis, the Agency
received and considered comments from various stakeholders concerning
apple, cherry, cotton, peach, pear, potato, cucurbit, pepper, tomato,
Christmas tree, macadamia nut, and pineapple uses of endosulfan. The
Agency also received but did not consider comments from stakeholders
regarding grape and green bean uses of endosulfan because these uses
were cancelled as a result of the 2002 Reregistration Eligibility
Decision (RED).
In addition to comments on the eight impact assessments, the Agency
requests that stakeholders provide any additional information they may
have on the importance of endosulfan use in agriculture. In particular,
since publishing the 2007 usage analysis, the Agency has not received
any comments suggesting that use of endosulfan is important for the
following crops:
Almond,
Apricot,
Blueberry,
Broccoli,
Brussels spouts,
Cabbage,
Carrots,
Cauliflower,
Celery,
Citrus (nonbearing trees and nursery stock),
Collard greens,
Crops grown for seed (alfalfa, cabbage, collard greens,
cucumber, kale, kohlrabi, melons, pumpkin, radish, rutabaga, squash,
turnip),
Dry beans,
Dry peas,
Eggplant,
Filbert,
Kale,
Lettuce,
Mustard greens,
Nectarine,
Ornamental trees, Shrubs, and Woody plants,
Plum and Prune,
Sweet corn,
Sweet potato,
Strawberry,
Tobacco,
Turnip, and
Walnut.
When commenting on the eight impact assessments and the importance
of endosulfan use on the crops listed above, stakeholders may want to
consider the following questions:
1. What additional usage information is available to supplement the
2007 and 2009 analyses?
2. What effect would extended REIs or other risk management
measures have on the ability of growers to perform necessary post-
application activities?
3. For what crops and against what pests is the use of endosulfan
critical, and why?
4. Are there any local or niche uses of endosulfan that are
critical, and why?
5. What alternatives are available for control of the pests
targeted by endosulfan?
In the April 29, 2009 issue of the Federal Register, the Agency
published a separate Notice to solicit comments on petitions from the
National Resources Defense Council and the Pesticide Action Network
North America requesting that EPA cancel all uses of endosulfan. Please
see docket ID number EPA-HQ-OPP-2008-0615 (FRL-8410-2) in
regulations.gov to access the petitions and related documents, as well
as to submit comments on the petitioners' requests to cancel all uses
of endosulfan.
The Agency asks that comments on the Agency's eight impact
assessments and any additional information on the importance of
endosulfan use in agriculture be submitted to docket number EPA-HQ-OPP-
2002-0262 within 60 days.
B. What Is the Agency's Authority for Taking This Action?
This action is taken under authority of FFDCA section 408(d)(3), 21
U.S.C. 346a(d)(3).
List of Subjects
Environmental protection, Pesticides, and pests.
Dated: April 13, 2009.
Richard P. Keigwin, Jr.,
Director, Special Review and Reregistration Division, Office of
Pesticide Programs.
[FR Doc. E9-10149 Filed 5-5-09; 8:45 am]
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