Environmental Protection Agency September 23, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Director of the Office of Ecosystem Protection, Environmental Protection Agency-Region 1, is today providing notice of availability of the final National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) general permits for certain Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTWs) and other treatment works treating domestic sewage in the States of Massachusetts and New Hampshire and Indian Country Lands located in the State of Massachusetts. These general permits establish notification requirements, permit eligibility conditions, effluent limitations, standards, and prohibitions for discharges to fresh and marine waters. Coverage under these general permits is available to facilities in Massachusetts classified as minor facilities and to facilities in New Hampshire classified as major or minor facilities. Owners and/or operators of POTWs and other treatment works treating domestic sewage, including those facilities currently authorized to discharge under individual NPDES permits, are eligible to apply for coverage under the final general permit and will receive a written notification from EPA whether permit coverage and authorization to discharge under one of the general permits is approved. The eligibility requirements, including the requirement that the facility have a dilution factor equal to or greater than 50:1 in the receiving water, are provided in the general permits. These general permits do not cover new sources as defined under 40 CFR 122.2.

This regulation establishes tolerances for residues of fenpropathrin in or on bushberry subgroup 13B; lingonberry; juneberry; salal; pea, succulent; and vegetable, fruiting, group 8. Interregional Research Project Number 4 (IR-4) requested these tolerances under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), as amended by the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 (FQPA).

Section 5 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) requires any person who intends to manufacture (defined by statute to include import) a new chemical (i.e., a chemical not on the TSCA Inventory) to notify EPA and comply with the statutory provisions pertaining to the manufacture of new chemicals. Under sections 5(d)(2) and 5(d)(3) of TSCA, EPA is required to publish a notice of receipt of a premanufacture notice (PMN) or an application for a test marketing exemption (TME), and to publish periodic status reports on the chemicals under review and the receipt of notices of commencement to manufacture those chemicals. This status report, which covers the period from August 15, 2005 to August 26, 2005, consists of the PMNs pending or expired, and the notices of commencement to manufacture a new chemical that the Agency has received under TSCA section 5 during this time period.

This regulation establishes tolerances for residues of pyridaben in or on hop, dried cones; papaya; star apple; sapote, black; mango; sapodilla; sapote, mamey; canistel, fruit, stone, group 12; strawberry; and tomato. Interregional Research Project Number 4 (IR-4) requested these tolerances under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), as amended by the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 (FQPA). EPA is also deleting certain pyridaben tolerances that are no longer needed as result of this action.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region 2 office, announces the deletion of the Jones Sanitation Superfund Site (Site), located in Hyde Park, New York, from the National Priorities List (NPL). The NPL is appendix B to the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP), 40 CFR part 300, which EPA promulgated pursuant to section 105 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980, as amended. EPA and the State of New York, through the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), have determined that potentially responsible parties have implemented all appropriate response actions required. Moreover, EPA and NYSDEC have determined that with proper monitoring, operation and maintenance, this Site poses no significant threat to public health or the environment.

This notice announces EPA's progress in meeting its performance measures and goals for pesticide reregistration during fiscal year 2004. The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) requires EPA to publish information about EPA's annual achievements in this area. This notice discusses the integration of tolerance reassessment with the reregistration process, and describes the status of various regulatory activities associated with reregistration and tolerance reassessment. The notice gives total numbers of chemicals and products reregistered, tolerances reassessed, Data Call-Ins issued, and products registered under the ``fast-track'' provisions of FIFRA. Finally, this notice contains the schedule for completion of activities for specific chemicals during fiscal years 2005 through 2008.

This notice announces the availability of EPA's revised human health risk assessment and as well as the start of a 60-day comment period ecological risk assessment for the organophosphate pesticide malathion. A revised human health assessment on malathion was conducted to incorporate toxicity data which EPA received after 2000. Since no additional ecological data on malathion has been received after 2000, EPA's ecological risk characterization has remained unchanged. This notice also solicits information or data from stakeholders and interested parties to help refine the malathion risk assessment, and encourages parties to suggest risk management ideas or proposals to address the potential risks which have been identified. EPA is developing an Interim Reregistration Eligibility Decision (IRED) for malathion through the full, 6-Phase public participation process, which in this case includes reissuing the revised risk assessment for an additional Phase 5 public comment period. The Agency uses this process to involve the public in developing pesticide reregistration and tolerance reassessment decisions. Through these programs, EPA is ensuring that all pesticides meet current health and safety standards.