[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 212 (Wednesday, November 4, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57166-57168]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-26594]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0628; FRL-8794-9]
Pesticides; Draft Guidance for Pesticide Registrants on Pesticide
Drift Labeling
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: The Agency is announcing the availability of and seeking
public comment on two documents - a draft Pesticide Registration Notice
(draft PR Notice) entitled ``Pesticide Drift Labeling'' (PRN 2009-X)
and a draft explanatory document entitled ``Pesticide Drift Labeling
Interpretation.'' PR Notices are issued by the Office of Pesticide
Programs (OPP) to inform pesticide registrants and other interested
persons about important policies, procedures, and registration related
decisions, and serve to provide guidance to pesticide registrants and
OPP personnel. This particular draft PR Notice provides guidance to the
applicants and registrants of certain pesticide products for revising
labeling statements intended to protect people and other non-target
organisms and sites from adverse effects that may be caused by off-
target pesticide drift. The draft explanatory document provides
guidance for state and tribal regulatory officials responsible for
enforcement of user compliance with the requirements of pesticide
labeling on how to interpret the labeling statements contained in the
draft PR Notice. An additional supporting document, entitled ``Draft PR
Notice 2009-X: Additional Information and Questions for Commenters,''
provides background and supplemental information that explain the
Agency's rationale for its proposed guidance on drift labeling. This
document also requests responses by readers to specific questions
concerning draft PR Notice 2009-X. All three documents are available in
the public docket.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before January 4, 2010.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by docket identification
(ID) number EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0628, by one of the following methods:
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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 to docket ID number EPA-HQ-OPP-
2009-0628. 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: V[eacute]ronique LaCapra, Pesticide
Re-evaluation Division (7508P), Office of Pesticide Programs,
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.,
Washington, DC 20460-0001; telephone number: (703) 605-1525; fax
number: (703) 308-8005; e-mail address: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. General Information
A. Does this Action Apply to Me
This action is directed to those persons who manufacture,
distribute, sell, apply, or regulate pesticide products that are for
use outdoors, including agricultural, commercial, and residential
products (NAICS codes 32532 and 32561). Since other entities may also
be interested, the Agency has not attempted to describe all the
specific entities that may be affected by this action. The North
American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) codes have been
provided to assist you and others in determining whether this action
might apply to certain entities. If you have any questions regarding
the information in this notice, 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.
EPA has identified questions about the PR Notice on which the
Agency would like to receive specific input from commenters. These
questions are presented in a supporting document entitled ``Draft PR
Notice 2009-X: Additional Information and Questions for Commenters,''
which is available in the public docket.
II. What Guidance Does this PR Notice Provide?
EPA's purpose in issuing draft PR Notice 2009-X is to provide
guidance to registrants and applicants for registration on labeling
statements concerning pesticide drift, and to inform the public of
EPA's policies with regard to the prevention of pesticide drift. The
draft PR Notice proposes labeling statements and formats intended to
improve communication of drift management requirements to pesticide
applicators and as a result, to improve protection of people and other
non-target organisms and sites from potential adverse effects that may
be caused by off-target pesticide drift. The recommended statements
should appear on products whose application may result in drift.
The draft PR Notice contains two types of statements: (1) A general
drift statement containing a risk-protective standard which varies
according to product type, and (2) examples of
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product-specific drift use restrictions, along with a format for
presenting these statements on product labeling. The draft PR Notice
also informs registrants about the procedures they should use to amend
their registrations to adopt these statements. The Agency believes the
use of these statements and formats on labels will provide users
consistent, understandable, and enforceable directions about how to
protect human health and the environment from harm that might result
from pesticide drift.
Along with draft PR Notice 2009-X, EPA is issuing for comment a
draft ``Pesticide Drift Labeling Interpretation'' guidance document,
which provides guidance to state and tribal officials about how EPA
intends the new drift labeling statements to be interpreted, as well as
typical examples of how the labeling could be interpreted in real-world
spray drift cases.
A supporting document entitled ``Draft PR Notice 2009-X: Additional
Information and Questions for Commenters'' is also being made available
in the public docket. This document contains background information on
pesticide drift, and a description of current and planned EPA actions
to address drift, including the PR Notice, guidance to state
enforcement officials on interpreting the new labeling, information on
best management practices to reduce drift, and EPA's drift reduction
technology (DRT) project. The document also provides a reader's guide
to the draft PR Notice, including a description of key terms and
concepts, explanatory rationales, and specific questions on which EPA
is seeking input from stakeholders.
III. Do PR Notices Contain Binding Requirements?
The draft PR Notice discussed in this notice is intended to provide
guidance to EPA personnel and decision-makers and to pesticide
registrants. While the requirements in the statutes and Agency
regulations are binding on EPA and the applicants, the PR Notice is not
binding on EPA personnel, pesticide registrants and applicants, or the
public. EPA may depart from the guidance where circumstances warrant
and without prior notice. Likewise, pesticide registrants may assert
that the guidance is not appropriate generally or not applicable to a
specific pesticide or situation.
The draft Notice is not intended to limit EPA's authority under
FIFRA to require additional mitigation measures, on a case-by case
basis, when appropriate. Nor is it intended to limit the authority of a
state or tribe to impose additional restrictions on the use of a
pesticide.
List of Subjects
Environmental protection, Administrative practice and procedure,
Agricultural commodities, Pesticides and pests, Pesticide drift, Spray
drift, Labeling.
Dated: October 26, 2009.
Debra Edwards,
Director, Office of Pesticide Programs.
[FR Doc. E9-26594 Filed 11-3-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-S