FIFRA Scientific Advisory Panel; Notice of Public Meeting, 71023-71026 [2011-29602]
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Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 221 / Wednesday, November 16, 2011 / Notices
71023
TABLE 2—REGISTRANT OF AMENDED PRODUCTS
EPA Company No.
Company name and address
10163 .......................................................
Gowan Company, P.O. Box 5569, Yuma, AZ 85366–5569.
III. Summary of Public Comments
Received and Agency Response to
Comments
During the public comment period
provided, EPA received no comments in
response to the December 1, 2010
Federal Register notice (75 FR 230)
(FRL–8854–3) announcing the Agency’s
receipt of the request to voluntary
amend to delete DCNA use on potatoes
for products listed in Table 1 of Unit II.
IV. Cancellation Order
Pursuant to FIFRA section 6(f), EPA
hereby approves the requested
amendment to terminate use of DCNA
on potatoes for registrations identified
in Table 1 of Unit II. Accordingly, the
Agency hereby orders that the product
registrations identified in Table 1 of
Unit II. are amended to terminate use on
potatoes. The effective date of the
cancellations that are subject of this
notice is November 16, 2011. Any
distribution, sale, or use of existing
stocks of the products identified in
Table 1 of Unit II. in a manner
inconsistent with any of the provisions
for disposition of existing stocks set
forth in Unit VI. will be a violation of
FIFRA.
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V. What is the agency’s authority for
taking this action?
Section 6(f)(1) of FIFRA provides that
a registrant of a pesticide product may
at any time request that any of its
pesticide registrations be canceled or
amended to terminate one or more uses.
FIFRA further provides that, before
acting on the request, EPA must publish
a notice of receipt of any such request
in the Federal Register. Thereafter,
following the public comment period,
the EPA Administrator may approve
such a request. The notice of receipt for
this action was published for comment
on December 1, 2010. The comment
period closed on May 31, 2011.
VI. Provisions for Disposition of
Existing Stocks
Existing stocks are those stocks of
registered pesticide products which are
currently in the United States and
which were packaged, labeled, and
released for shipment prior to the
effective date of the action. The existing
stocks provision for the products subject
to this order is as follows.
The registrant may continue to sell
and distribute existing stocks of
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products listed in Table 1 whose labels
include the deleted use until November
16, 2012, which is 1 year after
publication of this cancellation order in
the Federal Register. Thereafter, the
registrant is prohibited from selling or
distributing products listed in Table 1 of
Unit II. whose labels include the deleted
use, except for export in accordance
with FIFRA section 17 or for proper
disposal.
Persons other than the registrant may
sell, distribute, or use existing stocks of
products whose labels include the
deleted use until supplies are
exhausted, provided that such sale,
distribution, or use is consistent with
the terms of the previously approved
labeling on, or that accompanied, the
deleted use.
List of Subjects
Environmental protection, Pesticides
and pests.
Dated: October 6, 2011.
Peter Caulkins,
Acting Director, Pesticide Re-evaluation
Division, Office of Pesticide Programs.
[FR Doc. 2011–29612 Filed 11–15–11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560–50–P
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY
[EPA–HQ–OPP–2011–0898; FRL–9326–7]
FIFRA Scientific Advisory Panel;
Notice of Public Meeting
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
There will be a 3-day meeting
of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide,
and Rodenticide Act Scientific Advisory
Panel (FIFRA SAP) to consider and
review Common Effects Assessment
Methodology developed in the Office of
Pesticide Programs and Office of Water.
DATES: The meeting will be held on
January 31, 2012 to February 2, 2012,
from 9 a.m. to approximately 5:30 p.m.
Comments. The Agency encourages
that written comments be submitted by
January 17, 2012 and requests for oral
comments be submitted by January 24,
2012. However, written comments and
requests to make oral comments may be
submitted until the date of the meeting,
but anyone submitting written
SUMMARY:
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comments after January 17, 2012 should
contact the Designated Federal Official
(DFO) listed under FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT. For additional
instructions, see Unit I.C. of the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.
Nominations. Nominations of
candidates to serve as ad hoc members
of FIFRA SAP for this meeting should
be provided on or before November 30,
2011.
Webcast. This meeting may be
webcast. Please refer to the FIFRA SAP’s
Web site, https://www.epa.gov/scipoly/
SAP for information on how to access
the webcast. Please note that the
webcast is a supplementary public
process provided only for convenience.
If difficulties arise resulting in
webcasting outages, the meeting will
continue as planned.
Special accommodations. For
information on access or services for
individuals with disabilities, and to
request accommodation of a disability,
please contact the DFO listed under FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT at least
10 days prior to the meeting to give EPA
as much time as possible to process
your request.
ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at
the Environmental Protection Agency,
Conference Center, Lobby Level, One
Potomac Yard (South Bldg.), 2777 S.
Crystal Dr., Arlington, VA 22202.
Comments. Submit your comments,
identified by docket identification (ID)
number EPA–HQ–OPP–2011–0898, by
one of the following methods:
• Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://
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–2011–
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Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 221 / Wednesday, November 16, 2011 / Notices
0898. If your comments contain any
information that you consider to be CBI
or otherwise protected, please contact
the DFO listed under FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT to obtain special
instructions before submitting your
comments. EPA’s policy is that all
comments received will be included in
the docket without change and may be
made available on-line at https://
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
email. The regulations.gov Web site 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 email comment directly
to EPA without going through
regulations.gov, your email 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 https://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 https://
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.
Nominations, requests to present oral
comments, and requests for special
accommodations. Submit nominations
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to serve as ad hoc members of FIFRA
SAP, requests for special seating
accommodations, or requests to present
oral comments to the DFO listed under
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Sharlene R. Matten, Office of Science
Coordination and Policy (7201M),
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200
Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Washington,
DC 20460–0001; telephone number:
(202) 564–0130; fax number: (202) 564–
8382; email address:
matten.sharlene@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. General Information
A. Does this action apply to me?
This action is directed to the public
in general. This action may, however, be
of interest to persons who are or may be
required to conduct testing of chemical
substances under the Federal Food,
Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA),
FIFRA, and the Food Quality Protection
Act of 1996 (FQPA). 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. If you have any questions
regarding the applicability of this action
to a particular entity, consult the DFO
listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT.
B. What should I consider as I prepare
my comments for EPA?
When submitting comments,
remember to:
1. Identify the document by docket ID
number and other identifying
information (subject heading, Federal
Register date and page number).
2. 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.
3. Explain why you agree or disagree;
suggest alternatives and substitute
language for your requested changes.
4. Describe any assumptions and
provide any technical information and/
or data that you used.
5. If you estimate potential costs or
burdens, explain how you arrived at
your estimate in sufficient detail to
allow for it to be reproduced.
6. Provide specific examples to
illustrate your concerns and suggest
alternatives.
7. Explain your views as clearly as
possible, avoiding the use of profanity
or personal threats.
8. Make sure to submit your
comments by the comment period
deadline identified.
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C. How may I participate in this
meeting?
You may participate in this meeting
by following the instructions in this
unit. To ensure proper receipt by EPA,
it is imperative that you identify docket
ID number EPA–HQ–OPP–2011–0898 in
the subject line on the first page of your
request.
1. Written comments. The Agency
encourages that written comments be
submitted, using the instructions in
ADDRESSES, no later than January 17,
2012, to provide FIFRA SAP the time
necessary to consider and review the
written comments. Written comments
are accepted until the date of the
meeting, but anyone submitting written
comments after January 17, 2012 should
contact the DFO listed under FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. Anyone
submitting written comments at the
meeting should bring 30 copies for
distribution to FIFRA SAP.
2. Oral comments. The Agency
encourages that each individual or
group wishing to make brief oral
comments to FIFRA SAP submit their
request to the DFO listed under FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT no later
than January 24, 2012, in order to be
included on the meeting agenda.
Requests to present oral comments will
be accepted until the date of the meeting
and, to the extent that time permits, the
Chair of FIFRA SAP may permit the
presentation of oral comments at the
meeting by interested persons who have
not previously requested time. The
request should identify the name of the
individual making the presentation, the
organization (if any) the individual will
represent, and any requirements for
audiovisual equipment (e.g., overhead
projector, 35 mm projector, chalkboard).
Oral comments before FIFRA SAP are
limited to approximately 5 minutes
unless prior arrangements have been
made. In addition, each speaker should
bring 30 copies of his or her comments
and presentation slides for distribution
to the FIFRA SAP at the meeting.
3. Seating at the meeting. Seating at
the meeting will be open and on a firstcome basis.
4. Request for nominations to serve as
ad hoc members of FIFRA SAP for this
meeting. As part of a broader process for
developing a pool of candidates for each
meeting, FIFRA SAP staff routinely
solicits the stakeholder community for
nominations of prospective candidates
for service as ad hoc members of FIFRA
SAP. Any interested person or
organization may nominate qualified
individuals to be considered as
prospective candidates for a specific
meeting. Individuals nominated for this
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meeting should have expertise in one or
more of the following areas: Aquatic
toxicity estimation tools, aquatic plant
toxicity, aquatic animal toxicity,
statistics, species sensitivity
distributions, and application of toxicity
data to development of aquatic life
criteria. Nominees should be scientists
who have sufficient professional
qualifications, including training and
experience, to be capable of providing
expert comments on the scientific issues
for this meeting. Nominees should be
identified by name, occupation,
position, address, and telephone
number. Nominations should be
provided to the DFO listed under FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT on or
before November 30, 2011. The Agency
will consider all nominations of
prospective candidates for this meeting
that are received on or before this date.
However, final selection of ad hoc
members for this meeting is a
discretionary function of the Agency.
The selection of scientists to serve on
FIFRA SAP is based on the function of
the panel and the expertise needed to
address the Agency’s charge to the
panel. No interested scientists shall be
ineligible to serve by reason of their
membership on any other advisory
committee to a Federal department or
agency or their employment by a
Federal department or agency except the
EPA. Other factors considered during
the selection process include
availability of the potential panel
member to fully participate in the
panel’s reviews, absence of any conflicts
of interest or appearance of lack of
impartiality, independence with respect
to the matters under review, and lack of
bias. Although financial conflicts of
interest, the appearance of lack of
impartiality, lack of independence, and
bias may result in disqualification, the
absence of such concerns does not
assure that a candidate will be selected
to serve on FIFRA SAP. Numerous
qualified candidates are identified for
each panel. Therefore, selection
decisions involve carefully weighing a
number of factors including the
candidates’ areas of expertise and
professional qualifications and
achieving an overall balance of different
scientific perspectives on the panel. In
order to have the collective breadth of
experience needed to address the
Agency’s charge for this meeting, the
Agency anticipates selecting
approximately 10 to12 ad hoc scientists.
FIFRA SAP members are subject to
the provisions of 5 CFR part 2634,
Executive Branch Financial Disclosure,
as supplemented by the EPA in 5 CFR
part 6401. In anticipation of this
requirement, prospective candidates for
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service on the FIFRA SAP will be asked
to submit confidential financial
information which shall fully disclose,
among other financial interests, the
candidate’s employment, stocks and
bonds, and where applicable, sources of
research support. The EPA will evaluate
the candidate’s financial disclosure
form to assess whether there are
financial conflicts of interest,
appearance of a lack of impartiality or
any prior involvement with the
development of the documents under
consideration (including previous
scientific peer review) before the
candidate is considered further for
service on FIFRA SAP. Those who are
selected from the pool of prospective
candidates will be asked to attend the
public meetings and to participate in the
discussion of key issues and
assumptions at these meetings. In
addition, they will be asked to review
and to help finalize the meeting
minutes. The list of FIFRA SAP
members participating at this meeting
will be posted on the FIFRA SAP Web
site at https://epa.gov/scipoly/sap or may
be obtained from the OPP Regulatory
Public Docket at https://
www.regulations.gov.
II. Background
A. Purpose of FIFRA SAP
FIFRA SAP serves as the primary
scientific peer review mechanism of
EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and
Pollution Prevention (OCSPP) and is
structured to provide scientific advice,
information and recommendations to
the EPA Administrator on pesticides
and pesticide-related issues as to the
impact of regulatory actions on health
and the environment. FIFRA SAP is a
Federal advisory committee established
in 1975 under FIFRA that operates in
accordance with requirements of the
Federal Advisory Committee Act. FIFRA
SAP is composed of a permanent panel
consisting of seven members who are
appointed by the EPA Administrator
from nominees provided by the National
Institutes of Health and the National
Science Foundation. FIFRA, as
amended by FQPA, established a
Science Review Board consisting of at
least 60 scientists who are available to
the SAP on an ad hoc basis to assist in
reviews conducted by the SAP. As a
peer review mechanism, FIFRA SAP
provides comments, evaluations and
recommendations to improve the
effectiveness and quality of analyses
made by Agency scientists. Members of
FIFRA SAP are scientists who have
sufficient professional qualifications,
including training and experience, to
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71025
provide expert advice and
recommendation to the Agency.
B. Public Meeting
Both the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (USEPA), Office of
Pesticide Programs (OPP) and the Office
of Water (OW) assess the effects of
pesticides on aquatic ecosystems using
approaches that afford a high degree of
protection for aquatic life. EPA’s
stakeholders have identified differences
in the approaches that the OW and the
OPP use to evaluate possible effects
from pesticides on fish, other aquatic
organisms, and aquatic plants. While
there are differences in the effects
characterization approaches used by
EPA under the Clean Water Act (CWA)
and FIFRA, both were developed with
high quality data using rigorously peerreviewed assessment methodologies. In
characterizing pesticide effects, both
programs consider acute effects as well
as chronic and sub-lethal effects on
growth, survival, and reproduction in
their risk assessments.
EPA is now exploring how to build on
the substantial high quality science
already developed by both programs to
develop additional toxicity estimation
tools and approaches to support a
consistent and common set of effects
characterization methods using best
available information. EPA’s goal in this
effort is to develop tools, methods, and
approaches that:
• Continue to be based upon sound
science and utilize available data,
• Are legally defensible under our
statutory mandates,
• Are based upon methodologies that
are as consistent and practical as
possible,
• Are implementable at the Federal
and State levels,
• Are developed as quickly and
efficiently as possible, and
• Reflect stakeholder input and
comments.
In order to characterize potential
adverse effects of chemicals in the
aquatic environment, EPA uses
available toxicity data from studies
involving individual test species, which
serve as surrogates for untested species.
These data are collected for individual
organisms exposed to chemicals (e.g.,
pesticides) and are then frequently
extended to represent effects to
populations of the same species,
populations of similar genera/taxa, or to
aquatic ecosystems. The focus of the
current efforts is to examine how
limited test results can best be used to
characterize adverse effects on aquatic
animals and plants. To that end, EPA is
exploring two general types of methods
that may be used to extrapolate from
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toxicity test results to taxa-specific and
community-based measures of effects
relevant to the regulatory needs of OPP
and OW, as well as the ability of
predictive tools to augment in data
limited situations. These methods
include sensitivity distributions and
assessment factors (AFs) both of which
may be used to account for uncertainty,
particularly in situations where toxicity
data are limited. A portion of this work
will address the derivation of an
‘‘Aquatic Life Screening Value’’ (ALSV)
that is related to the fifth percentile in
a sensitivity distribution. ALSVs may be
used to screen concentrations of
pesticides and effluents in ambient
waters and may be used by States and
Tribes in the development of water
quality standards. Other portions of this
work will address other percentiles in
sensitivity distributions that can be used
to evaluate concentrations of pesticides
in ambient water in other ways.
EPA is requesting the SAP provide
advice on several proposed tools and
methods to characterize the toxicity and
effects of chemical stressors on aquatic
animals and plants.
1. Use of Predictive Toxicology Tools
in Characterizing Effects of Chemical
Stressors to Aquatic Animals;
2. Use of Assessment Factors (AF) in
Characterizing Acute Effects of
Chemical Stressors on Aquatic Animals;
3. Use of Species Sensitivity
Distributions (SSD) in Characterizing
Acute Effects of Chemical Stressors on
Aquatic Animals;
4. Evaluation of Chronic Toxicity Data
and the Estimation of Acute to Chronic
Ratios (ACR) in Characterizing Chronic
Effects of Stressors on Aquatic Animals;
5. Methods for Characterizing Effects
of Chemical Stressors to Aquatic Plants;
and
6. Approaches for Characterizing
Effects of Chemicals with Limited Data.
C. FIFRA SAP Documents and Meeting
Minutes
EPA’s background paper, related
supporting materials, charge/questions
to FIFRA SAP, FIFRA SAP composition
(i.e., members and ad hoc members for
this meeting), and the meeting agenda
will be available in early January 2012.
In addition, the Agency may provide
additional background documents as the
materials become available. You may
obtain electronic copies of these
documents, and certain other related
documents that might be available
electronically, at https://
www.regulations.gov and the FIFRA
SAP homepage at https://www.epa.gov/
scipoly/sap.
FIFRA SAP will prepare meeting
minutes summarizing its
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recommendations to the Agency
approximately 90 days after the
meeting. The meeting minutes will be
posted on the FIFRA SAP Web site or
may be obtained from the OPP
Regulatory Public Docket at https://
www.regulations.gov.
List of Subjects
Environmental protection, Pesticides
and pests.
Dated: November 3, 2011.
Frank Sanders,
Director, Office of Science Coordination and
Policy.
[FR Doc. 2011–29602 Filed 11–15–11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560–50–P
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY
[FRL–9492–7]
Proposed Settlement Agreement
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of Proposed Settlement
Agreement; Request for Public
Comment.
AGENCY:
In accordance with section
113(g) of the Clean Air Act, as amended
(‘‘Act’’), 42 U.S.C. 7413(g), notice is
hereby given of a proposed settlement
agreement to address a lawsuit filed by
the American Forest & Paper
Association, Inc. (‘‘Petitioner’’) in the
United States Court of Appeals for the
District of Columbia: American Forest
and Paper Association, Inc. v. EPA, No.
10–1284 (DC Cir.) for review of EPA’s
final rule entitled ‘‘Mandatory Reporting
of Greenhouse Gases from Magnesium
Production, Underground Coal Mines,
Industrial Wastewater Treatment, and
Industrial Waste Landfills’’, published
at 75 FR 39,736 (July 12, 2010). Under
the terms of the proposed settlement
agreement, Petitioner would dismiss its
claims if EPA signs a letter interpreting
the rule in substantially similar format
as proposed as it applies to Petitioner.
DATES: Written comments on the
proposed settlement agreement must be
received by December 16, 2011.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments,
identified by Docket ID number EPA–
HQ–OGC–2011–0904, online at
www.regulations.gov (EPA’s preferred
method); by email to
oei.docket@epa.gov; by mail to EPA
Docket Center, Environmental
Protection Agency, Mailcode: 2822T,
1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW.,
Washington, DC 20460–0001; or by
hand delivery or courier to EPA Docket
Center, EPA West, Room 3334, 1301
SUMMARY:
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Constitution Ave. NW., Washington,
DC, between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
Monday through Friday, excluding legal
holidays. Comments on a disk or CD–
ROM should be formatted in Word or
ASCII file, avoiding the use of special
characters and any form of encryption,
and may be mailed to the mailing
address above.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Ragan Tate, Air and Radiation Law
Office (2344A), Office of General
Counsel, U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW.,
Washington, DC 20460; telephone: (202)
564–7382; fax number: (202) 564–5603;
email address: tate.ragan@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Additional Information About the
Proposed Settlement Agreement
On September 22, 2009, EPA finalized
the first comprehensive Reporting
program for greenhouse gases (‘‘GHGs’’)
under the Clean Air Act (‘‘CAA’’ or ‘‘the
Act’’). 75 FR 56,260 (October 30, 2009)
(‘‘2009 Final GHG Reporting Rule’’). The
2009 Final GHG Reporting Rule requires
reporting of greenhouse gas emissions
from large sources and suppliers in the
United States, and is intended to collect
accurate and timely emissions data to
inform future policy decisions. Under
the rule, suppliers of fossil fuels or
industrial greenhouse gases,
manufacturers of vehicles and engines,
and facilities that emit 25,000 metric
tons or more per year of GHG emissions
are required to submit annual reports to
EPA. The rule became effective
December 29, 2009. In proposing the
2009 Final GHG Reporting Rule, EPA
proposed but did not finalize Subpart II
‘‘Industrial Wastewater Treatment’’ of
the 2009 Rule. On June 28, 2010 EPA
finalized an amendment to the 2009
Final GHG Reporting Rule, ‘‘Mandatory
Reporting of Greenhouse Gases from
Magnesium Production, Underground
Coal Mines, Industrial Wastewater
Treatment, and Industrial Waste
Landfills’’, published at 75 FR 39,736
(July 12, 2010) (‘‘Subpart II Rule).
The American Forest & Paper
Association filed a petition for review in
the DC Circuit challenging the Subpart
II Rule (10–1284). The petition for
review in the DC Circuit raises issues
with the final requirements of the
Subpart II Rule. Upon EPA’s motion, on
October 20, 2010, the court issued an
order holding the case in abeyance
pending the parties’ settlement
discussions.
Under the proposed settlement
agreement being noticed today, the
petition for review would be dismissed
in its entirety if EPA signs a letter
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 221 (Wednesday, November 16, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71023-71026]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-29602]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OPP-2011-0898; FRL-9326-7]
FIFRA Scientific Advisory Panel; Notice of Public Meeting
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: There will be a 3-day meeting of the Federal Insecticide,
Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act Scientific Advisory Panel (FIFRA SAP) to
consider and review Common Effects Assessment Methodology developed in
the Office of Pesticide Programs and Office of Water.
DATES: The meeting will be held on January 31, 2012 to February 2,
2012, from 9 a.m. to approximately 5:30 p.m.
Comments. The Agency encourages that written comments be submitted
by January 17, 2012 and requests for oral comments be submitted by
January 24, 2012. However, written comments and requests to make oral
comments may be submitted until the date of the meeting, but anyone
submitting written comments after January 17, 2012 should contact the
Designated Federal Official (DFO) listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT. For additional instructions, see Unit I.C. of the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.
Nominations. Nominations of candidates to serve as ad hoc members
of FIFRA SAP for this meeting should be provided on or before November
30, 2011.
Webcast. This meeting may be webcast. Please refer to the FIFRA
SAP's Web site, https://www.epa.gov/scipoly/SAP for information on how
to access the webcast. Please note that the webcast is a supplementary
public process provided only for convenience. If difficulties arise
resulting in webcasting outages, the meeting will continue as planned.
Special accommodations. For information on access or services for
individuals with disabilities, and to request accommodation of a
disability, please contact the DFO listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT at least 10 days prior to the meeting to give EPA as much time
as possible to process your request.
ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at the Environmental Protection
Agency, Conference Center, Lobby Level, One Potomac Yard (South Bldg.),
2777 S. Crystal Dr., Arlington, VA 22202.
Comments. Submit your comments, identified by docket identification
(ID) number EPA-HQ-OPP-2011-0898, by one of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://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-
2011-
[[Page 71024]]
0898. If your comments contain any information that you consider to be
CBI or otherwise protected, please contact the DFO listed under FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT to obtain special instructions before
submitting your comments. EPA's policy is that all comments received
will be included in the docket without change and may be made available
on-line at https://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 email. The regulations.gov Web site 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 email comment directly to EPA without
going through regulations.gov, your email 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 https://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 https://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.
Nominations, requests to present oral comments, and requests for
special accommodations. Submit nominations to serve as ad hoc members
of FIFRA SAP, requests for special seating accommodations, or requests
to present oral comments to the DFO listed under FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sharlene R. Matten, Office of Science
Coordination and Policy (7201M), Environmental Protection Agency, 1200
Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20460-0001; telephone number:
(202) 564-0130; fax number: (202) 564-8382; email address:
matten.sharlene@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. General Information
A. Does this action apply to me?
This action is directed to the public in general. This action may,
however, be of interest to persons who are or may be required to
conduct testing of chemical substances under the Federal Food, Drug,
and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), FIFRA, and the Food Quality Protection Act of
1996 (FQPA). 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. If you have any questions regarding the
applicability of this action to a particular entity, consult the DFO
listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
B. What should I consider as I prepare my comments for EPA?
When submitting comments, remember to:
1. Identify the document by docket ID number and other identifying
information (subject heading, Federal Register date and page number).
2. 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.
3. Explain why you agree or disagree; suggest alternatives and
substitute language for your requested changes.
4. Describe any assumptions and provide any technical information
and/or data that you used.
5. If you estimate potential costs or burdens, explain how you
arrived at your estimate in sufficient detail to allow for it to be
reproduced.
6. Provide specific examples to illustrate your concerns and
suggest alternatives.
7. Explain your views as clearly as possible, avoiding the use of
profanity or personal threats.
8. Make sure to submit your comments by the comment period deadline
identified.
C. How may I participate in this meeting?
You may participate in this meeting by following the instructions
in this unit. To ensure proper receipt by EPA, it is imperative that
you identify docket ID number EPA-HQ-OPP-2011-0898 in the subject line
on the first page of your request.
1. Written comments. The Agency encourages that written comments be
submitted, using the instructions in ADDRESSES, no later than January
17, 2012, to provide FIFRA SAP the time necessary to consider and
review the written comments. Written comments are accepted until the
date of the meeting, but anyone submitting written comments after
January 17, 2012 should contact the DFO listed under FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT. Anyone submitting written comments at the meeting
should bring 30 copies for distribution to FIFRA SAP.
2. Oral comments. The Agency encourages that each individual or
group wishing to make brief oral comments to FIFRA SAP submit their
request to the DFO listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT no
later than January 24, 2012, in order to be included on the meeting
agenda. Requests to present oral comments will be accepted until the
date of the meeting and, to the extent that time permits, the Chair of
FIFRA SAP may permit the presentation of oral comments at the meeting
by interested persons who have not previously requested time. The
request should identify the name of the individual making the
presentation, the organization (if any) the individual will represent,
and any requirements for audiovisual equipment (e.g., overhead
projector, 35 mm projector, chalkboard). Oral comments before FIFRA SAP
are limited to approximately 5 minutes unless prior arrangements have
been made. In addition, each speaker should bring 30 copies of his or
her comments and presentation slides for distribution to the FIFRA SAP
at the meeting.
3. Seating at the meeting. Seating at the meeting will be open and
on a first-come basis.
4. Request for nominations to serve as ad hoc members of FIFRA SAP
for this meeting. As part of a broader process for developing a pool of
candidates for each meeting, FIFRA SAP staff routinely solicits the
stakeholder community for nominations of prospective candidates for
service as ad hoc members of FIFRA SAP. Any interested person or
organization may nominate qualified individuals to be considered as
prospective candidates for a specific meeting. Individuals nominated
for this
[[Page 71025]]
meeting should have expertise in one or more of the following areas:
Aquatic toxicity estimation tools, aquatic plant toxicity, aquatic
animal toxicity, statistics, species sensitivity distributions, and
application of toxicity data to development of aquatic life criteria.
Nominees should be scientists who have sufficient professional
qualifications, including training and experience, to be capable of
providing expert comments on the scientific issues for this meeting.
Nominees should be identified by name, occupation, position, address,
and telephone number. Nominations should be provided to the DFO listed
under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT on or before November 30, 2011.
The Agency will consider all nominations of prospective candidates for
this meeting that are received on or before this date. However, final
selection of ad hoc members for this meeting is a discretionary
function of the Agency.
The selection of scientists to serve on FIFRA SAP is based on the
function of the panel and the expertise needed to address the Agency's
charge to the panel. No interested scientists shall be ineligible to
serve by reason of their membership on any other advisory committee to
a Federal department or agency or their employment by a Federal
department or agency except the EPA. Other factors considered during
the selection process include availability of the potential panel
member to fully participate in the panel's reviews, absence of any
conflicts of interest or appearance of lack of impartiality,
independence with respect to the matters under review, and lack of
bias. Although financial conflicts of interest, the appearance of lack
of impartiality, lack of independence, and bias may result in
disqualification, the absence of such concerns does not assure that a
candidate will be selected to serve on FIFRA SAP. Numerous qualified
candidates are identified for each panel. Therefore, selection
decisions involve carefully weighing a number of factors including the
candidates' areas of expertise and professional qualifications and
achieving an overall balance of different scientific perspectives on
the panel. In order to have the collective breadth of experience needed
to address the Agency's charge for this meeting, the Agency anticipates
selecting approximately 10 to12 ad hoc scientists.
FIFRA SAP members are subject to the provisions of 5 CFR part 2634,
Executive Branch Financial Disclosure, as supplemented by the EPA in 5
CFR part 6401. In anticipation of this requirement, prospective
candidates for service on the FIFRA SAP will be asked to submit
confidential financial information which shall fully disclose, among
other financial interests, the candidate's employment, stocks and
bonds, and where applicable, sources of research support. The EPA will
evaluate the candidate's financial disclosure form to assess whether
there are financial conflicts of interest, appearance of a lack of
impartiality or any prior involvement with the development of the
documents under consideration (including previous scientific peer
review) before the candidate is considered further for service on FIFRA
SAP. Those who are selected from the pool of prospective candidates
will be asked to attend the public meetings and to participate in the
discussion of key issues and assumptions at these meetings. In
addition, they will be asked to review and to help finalize the meeting
minutes. The list of FIFRA SAP members participating at this meeting
will be posted on the FIFRA SAP Web site at https://epa.gov/scipoly/sap
or may be obtained from the OPP Regulatory Public Docket at https://www.regulations.gov.
II. Background
A. Purpose of FIFRA SAP
FIFRA SAP serves as the primary scientific peer review mechanism of
EPA's Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP) and is
structured to provide scientific advice, information and
recommendations to the EPA Administrator on pesticides and pesticide-
related issues as to the impact of regulatory actions on health and the
environment. FIFRA SAP is a Federal advisory committee established in
1975 under FIFRA that operates in accordance with requirements of the
Federal Advisory Committee Act. FIFRA SAP is composed of a permanent
panel consisting of seven members who are appointed by the EPA
Administrator from nominees provided by the National Institutes of
Health and the National Science Foundation. FIFRA, as amended by FQPA,
established a Science Review Board consisting of at least 60 scientists
who are available to the SAP on an ad hoc basis to assist in reviews
conducted by the SAP. As a peer review mechanism, FIFRA SAP provides
comments, evaluations and recommendations to improve the effectiveness
and quality of analyses made by Agency scientists. Members of FIFRA SAP
are scientists who have sufficient professional qualifications,
including training and experience, to provide expert advice and
recommendation to the Agency.
B. Public Meeting
Both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), Office of
Pesticide Programs (OPP) and the Office of Water (OW) assess the
effects of pesticides on aquatic ecosystems using approaches that
afford a high degree of protection for aquatic life. EPA's stakeholders
have identified differences in the approaches that the OW and the OPP
use to evaluate possible effects from pesticides on fish, other aquatic
organisms, and aquatic plants. While there are differences in the
effects characterization approaches used by EPA under the Clean Water
Act (CWA) and FIFRA, both were developed with high quality data using
rigorously peer-reviewed assessment methodologies. In characterizing
pesticide effects, both programs consider acute effects as well as
chronic and sub-lethal effects on growth, survival, and reproduction in
their risk assessments.
EPA is now exploring how to build on the substantial high quality
science already developed by both programs to develop additional
toxicity estimation tools and approaches to support a consistent and
common set of effects characterization methods using best available
information. EPA's goal in this effort is to develop tools, methods,
and approaches that:
Continue to be based upon sound science and utilize
available data,
Are legally defensible under our statutory mandates,
Are based upon methodologies that are as consistent and
practical as possible,
Are implementable at the Federal and State levels,
Are developed as quickly and efficiently as possible, and
Reflect stakeholder input and comments.
In order to characterize potential adverse effects of chemicals in
the aquatic environment, EPA uses available toxicity data from studies
involving individual test species, which serve as surrogates for
untested species. These data are collected for individual organisms
exposed to chemicals (e.g., pesticides) and are then frequently
extended to represent effects to populations of the same species,
populations of similar genera/taxa, or to aquatic ecosystems. The focus
of the current efforts is to examine how limited test results can best
be used to characterize adverse effects on aquatic animals and plants.
To that end, EPA is exploring two general types of methods that may be
used to extrapolate from
[[Page 71026]]
toxicity test results to taxa-specific and community-based measures of
effects relevant to the regulatory needs of OPP and OW, as well as the
ability of predictive tools to augment in data limited situations.
These methods include sensitivity distributions and assessment factors
(AFs) both of which may be used to account for uncertainty,
particularly in situations where toxicity data are limited. A portion
of this work will address the derivation of an ``Aquatic Life Screening
Value'' (ALSV) that is related to the fifth percentile in a sensitivity
distribution. ALSVs may be used to screen concentrations of pesticides
and effluents in ambient waters and may be used by States and Tribes in
the development of water quality standards. Other portions of this work
will address other percentiles in sensitivity distributions that can be
used to evaluate concentrations of pesticides in ambient water in other
ways.
EPA is requesting the SAP provide advice on several proposed tools
and methods to characterize the toxicity and effects of chemical
stressors on aquatic animals and plants.
1. Use of Predictive Toxicology Tools in Characterizing Effects of
Chemical Stressors to Aquatic Animals;
2. Use of Assessment Factors (AF) in Characterizing Acute Effects
of Chemical Stressors on Aquatic Animals;
3. Use of Species Sensitivity Distributions (SSD) in Characterizing
Acute Effects of Chemical Stressors on Aquatic Animals;
4. Evaluation of Chronic Toxicity Data and the Estimation of Acute
to Chronic Ratios (ACR) in Characterizing Chronic Effects of Stressors
on Aquatic Animals;
5. Methods for Characterizing Effects of Chemical Stressors to
Aquatic Plants; and
6. Approaches for Characterizing Effects of Chemicals with Limited
Data.
C. FIFRA SAP Documents and Meeting Minutes
EPA's background paper, related supporting materials, charge/
questions to FIFRA SAP, FIFRA SAP composition (i.e., members and ad hoc
members for this meeting), and the meeting agenda will be available in
early January 2012. In addition, the Agency may provide additional
background documents as the materials become available. You may obtain
electronic copies of these documents, and certain other related
documents that might be available electronically, at https://www.regulations.gov and the FIFRA SAP homepage at https://www.epa.gov/
scipoly/sap.
FIFRA SAP will prepare meeting minutes summarizing its
recommendations to the Agency approximately 90 days after the meeting.
The meeting minutes will be posted on the FIFRA SAP Web site or may be
obtained from the OPP Regulatory Public Docket at https://www.regulations.gov.
List of Subjects
Environmental protection, Pesticides and pests.
Dated: November 3, 2011.
Frank Sanders,
Director, Office of Science Coordination and Policy.
[FR Doc. 2011-29602 Filed 11-15-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
