Environmental Protection Agency July 27, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In accordance with section 122(h)(1) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, as amended (CERCLA), 42 U.S.C. 9622(i), notice is hereby given of a proposed Administrative Order On Consent (AOC) for recovery of certain past response costs concerning the Plain City Drum Site in Weber County, Utah, with Mr. Shawn Callister, Respondent. The settlement requires Mr. Callister to pay $10,000.00 to the Hazardous Substance Superfund for partial payment of past response costs incurred by EPA. The AOC includes a covenant not to sue or to take judicial or administrative action against the Respondent pursuant to sections 106 and 107(a) of CERCLA, 42 U.S.C. 9606 and 9607(a). This covenant not to sue is conditioned upon the veracity and completeness of the Financial Information provided to EPA by Mr. Callister. The covenant not to sue extends only to Mr. Callister and does not extend to any other person. In response to the release or threatened release of hazardous substances at or from the Site, EPA undertook response actions at the Site pursuant to section 104 of CERCLA, 42 U.S.C. 9604, including emergency removal actions to overpack and properly dispose of twenty eight (28) 55-gallon drums containing flammable liquids. At the time of removal the drums were in poor condition. Some were bulging and some had rusting holes. On-site air monitoring showed the drums were releasing hazardous constituents in the air. The drums were located adjacent to a residence with horse corrals and were approximately 3.5 miles from the Harold's Crane Waterfowl Management Area.

In accordance with Section 122(i) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, as amended (``CERCLA''), 42 U.S.C. 9622(i), notice is hereby given of a proposed Administrative Order on Consent (``AOC, Region 9 Docket No. 2005-0005) pursuant to Section 122(h) of CERCLA concerning the PRC PATTERSON SUPERFUND REMOVAL SITE (the ``Site''), located in Patterson, California. The respondent to the AOC is the Ramos Environmental Services (``Ramos''). Through the proposed AOC, Ramos will reimburse the United States $70,000 in response costs incurred at the Site. The AOC provides Ramos with a covenant not to sue and contribution protection for the removal action at the Site. This AOC follows three previous administrative settlements, and will be the last enforcement action regarding this Site. Ramos is the last remaining viable party that is potentially responsible for federal costs at the Site, and is resolving its liability after EPA determined its financial strength and ability to make a reimbursement payment. In total, EPA will have recovered $570,001 for this Site, leaving an unrecovered balance of approximately $200,000. For thirty (30) days following the date of publication of this Notice, the Agency will receive written comments relating to the proposed AOC. The Agency's response to any comments received will be available for public inspection at EPA'S Region IX offices, located at 75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, California 94105.

The Agency is establishing 44 exemptions from the requirement of a tolerance for residues of various lignosulfonate chemicals in or on raw agricultural commodities when used as inert ingredients in pesticide formulations applied to growing crops or to raw agricultural commodities after harvest, or to animals under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), as amended by the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 (FQPA). This regulation eliminates the need to establish a maximum permissible level for residues of these lignosulfonate chemicals.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this document announces that EPA is planning to submit a continuing Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). This is a request to renew an existing approved collection. This ICR is scheduled to expire on January 31, 2005. Before submitting the ICR to OMB for review and approval, EPA is soliciting comments on specific aspects of the proposed information collection as described below.

EPA issued a final rule in the Federal Register of April 27, 2005, concerning tolerances for spiromesifen. This document is being issued to correct typographical errors regarding corn, sugar beet, and wheat tolerances in the tables of tolerances for 40 CFR Chapter I Part 180.607.

To enhance transparency in the EPA's decision making, this notice announces the availability of its guidance, comments from interested parties, its response to stakeholder input, and several other documents related to the use of activity-based reentry restrictions. Based on consideration of the extensive stakeholder input, the EPA intends to continue with its case-by-case consideration in setting worker field reentry restrictions described in its 2001 guidance document.

This notice announces amendments to terminate certain uses of products containing the pesticide DCPA, pursuant to section 6(f)(1) of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), as amended. This notice follows a February 16, 2005 Federal Register Notice of Receipt of Request from the DCPA registrant to voluntarily amend to terminate certain uses of their DCPA product registrations. These are not the last DCPA products registered for use in the United States. In the February 16 Notice, EPA indicated that it would issue an order implementing the amendments to terminate the subject uses, unless the Agency received substantive comments within the 30-day comment period that would merit its further review of the request. The Agency received three substantive comments on the Notice, two of which requested that several use sites proposed for termination be retained. EPA hereby issues in this notice an order to amend the subject registrations to terminate a subset of the uses initially requested for termination by the registrant. Any distribution, sale, or use of the DCPA products subject to this order is permitted only in accordance with the terms of this order, including any existing stocks provisions.

This notice announces the initial filing of a pesticide petition proposing the establishment of regulations for residues of a certain pesticide chemical in or on various food commodities.

This regulation establishes a tolerance for residues of pymetrozine in or on asparagus. Interregional Research Project Number 4 (IR-4) requested this tolerance under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), as amended by the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 (FQPA).