Environmental Protection Agency February 20, 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This regulation establishes an exemption from the requirement of a tolerance for residues of 1-propanesulfonic acid, 2-methyl-2-[(1- oxo-2-propenyl)amino]-, monosodium salt, polymer with ethenol and ethenyl acetate (CAS Reg. No. 107568-12-7) when used as an inert ingredient in a pesticide chemical formulation. Keller and Heckman, LLP 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 1-propanesulfonic acid, 2-methyl-2-[(1-oxo-2- propenyl)amino]-, monosodium salt, polymer with ethenol and ethenyl acetate.

This regulation establishes tolerances for residues of mesotrione in or on asparagus, grass grown for seed, oats, okra, rhubarb, grain sorghum, sweet sorghum, and sugarcane. Syngenta Crop Protection requested this tolerance under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA).

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office announces a public meeting of the SAB Ecological Processes and Effects Committee to provide advice on the EPA Ecological Research Program's Multi-Year Plan.

This notice publishes EPA's order for the cancellations and amendments to terminate uses, voluntarily requested by the registrants and accepted by the Agency, of products containing the pesticide azinphos-methyl (AZM), pursuant to section 6(f)(1) of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), as amended. This cancellation order follows an August 8, 2007 Federal Register Notice of Receipt of Requests from the AZM registrants to voluntarily cancel and amend to terminate uses of all their AZM product registrations by September 30, 2012. Subject to the terms and conditions described in Unit II below and except as provided in the existing stocks provisions of the cancellation order, the order terminates distribution, sale and use of AZM products labeled for use on Brussels sprouts and nursery stock effective as of today's date; and prohibits use of such products on Brussels spouts and nursery stock effective September 30, 2008; terminates AZM use on walnuts, almonds, and pistachios effective October 30, 2009; and cancels all AZM products effective September 30, 2012. The cancellation of AZM products serves to terminate the six remaining uses of AZM (apples, pears, cherries, blueberries, alkali bee beds, and parsley) on September 30, 2012. All distribution, sale and use of such products will be prohibited as of that date except as provided in the existing stocks order of the notice. While the alkali bee bed use was not specifically identified in the registrants' voluntary cancellation requests, the registrants requested cancellation of all AZM products, which includes products labeled for the bee bed use. These are the last AZM products registered for use in the United States. In the August 8, 2007 notice, EPA indicated that it would issue an order implementing the cancellations and amendments to terminate uses, unless the Agency received substantive comments within the 30-day comment period that would merit its further review of these requests. The Agency did not receive any comments on the notice. Accordingly, EPA hereby issues in this notice a cancellation order granting the requested cancellations and amendments to terminate uses. Any distribution, sale, or use of the AZM products subject to this cancellation order is permitted only in accordance with the terms of this order, including any existing stocks provisions.

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 December 1, 2007 thru December 31, 2007 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.

EPA is approving a March 30, 2007, request from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) to revise the Indiana State Implementation Plan (SIP) by adding a volatile organic compound (VOC) rule for fuel grade ethanol production at dry mills as amendments to 326 IAC 8-5. This rule revision creates an industry-specific Best Available Control Technology (BACT) standard for new fuel grade ethanol production dry mills that replaces the otherwise required case-by-case SIP BACT determination for new facilities with the potential to emit 25 tons or more of VOC per year. Indiana believes that this rule will increase the clarity, predictability and timeliness of its air permits for this particular group of sources. These rules were proposed for approval on September 13, 2007, and comments were received on October 8, 2007.

The EPA is proposing to approve a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the State of Maine for the purpose of making the SIP consistent with recent additions to the Federal general conformity regulation. This revision incorporates by reference new definitions and establishes de minimis emission levels for fine particular matter (PM2.5) into Maine's existing general conformity criteria and procedures previously approved into the Maine SIP.

On December 31, 2006, the State of Georgia, through the Environmental Protection Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, submitted a voluntary State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision requesting approval of an Early Progress Plan for the sole purpose of establishing motor vehicle emission budgets (MVEBs) for the Atlanta 8-hour ozone nonattainment area. The Atlanta 8-hour ozone nonattainment area is comprised of the following twenty counties: Barrow, Bartow, Carroll, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Hall, Henry, Newton, Paulding, Rockdale, Spalding and Walton counties in their entireties (hereafter referred to as the ``Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone Area''). EPA is proposing to approve Atlanta's Early Progress Plan, including the new regional MVEBs for nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds for 2006. This proposed approval of the Early Progress Plan for the Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone Area is based on EPA's determination that Georgia has demonstrated that the SIP revision containing these MVEBs, when considered with the emissions from all sources, shows some progress toward attainment from the base year (i.e., 2002) through an interim target year (i.e., 2006). In the Final Rules Section of this Federal Register, EPA is approving the SIP revision as a direct final rule without prior proposal because the Agency views this as a noncontroversial submittal and anticipates no adverse comments. A detailed rationale for the approval is set forth in the direct final rule. If no significant, material, and adverse comments are received in response to this rule, no further activity is contemplated. If EPA receives adverse comments, the direct final rule will be withdrawn and all public comments received will be addressed in a subsequent final rule based on this proposed rule. EPA will not institute a second comment period on this document. Any parties interested in commenting on this document should do so at this time.