Environmental Protection Agency September 20, 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This regulation establishes a tolerance for residues of metrafenone, (3-bromo-6-methoxy-2-methylphenyl)(2,3,4-trimethoxy-6- methylphenyl)methanone, in or on imported grape at 0.6 parts per million (ppm), with no U.S. registration. BASF Corporation requested this tolerance under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), as amended by the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 (FQPA).

On September 1, 2006, EPA issued a Notice of Receipt of Requests for Amendments by Registrants to Delete Uses in Certain Pesticide Registrations. 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 amended to delete one or more uses. FIFRA further provides that, before acting on the request, EPA must publish a notice of receipt of any request in the Federal Register. The September 1 Notice inadvertently included a request to delete both cotton and pome fruit from EPA Registration 264-805, Thiacloprid Technical, and EPA Registration 264-806, Calypso 4 Flowable Insecticide. The Notice should have listed a request to delete only cotton from these registrations.

This regulation establishes an exemption from the requirement of a tolerance for residues of the Pantoea agglomerans strain E325 on apples and pears when applied/used as a microbial pesticide. Northwest Agricultural Products submitted a petition to EPA under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), as amended by the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 (FQPA), requesting an exemption from the requirement of a tolerance. This regulation eliminates the need to establish a maximum permissible level for residues of Pantoea agglomerans strain E325.

This action amends the credit generation provisions of the Geographic Phase-in Area (GPA) gasoline sulfur program to yield the correct number of credits for refineries and importers that produce GPA gasoline and eliminate the generation of windfall credits by refineries or importers that have gasoline sulfur baselines below 150 ppm sulfur. In June 2002, we published a Direct Final Rule (DFR) and concurrent Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to amend certain provisions of the gasoline sulfur program concerning Geographic Phase-in Area (GPA) gasoline. Specifically, we replaced the variable standard for GPA gasoline with a flat standard of 150 parts per million (ppm) sulfur for the duration of the GPA program. To prevent the generation of windfall credits by refineries or importers that had gasoline sulfur baselines below 150 ppm sulfur, we also amended the program's credit generation provisions. As stated in the preamble to the Direct Final Rule, we believed that the amendment would result in an equivalent number of credits generated during the amended GPA program as compared to the original program described under the Tier 2 final rule. Despite our intent for the revised calculations to yield the equivalent number of credits, the amended credit provisions were incorrect as pointed out by an adverse comment received on the DFR. Based on this adverse comment, we issued a partial withdrawal notice on August 26, 2002, to withdraw the amendments to the credit provisions and reinstate the provisions that were previously in effect. However, we also stated that we would address the adverse comments in a subsequent final action, this action, based on the concurrent NPRM.

The EPA Headquarters Library will close its doors to walk-in patrons and visitors on October 1, 2006. This notice provides information regarding how members of the public can access EPA documents held in the Headquarters Repository Library collection and in electronic format.