Environmental Protection Agency March 19, 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

EPA has received a specific exemption request from the California Department of Pesticide Regulation to use the pesticide lavandulyl senecioate (CAS No 23960-07-8) to treat up to 80,000 acres of raisin and wine grapes to control the vine mealybug (VMB). The applicant proposes the use of a new chemical which has not been registered by the EPA. EPA is soliciting public comment before making the decision whether or not to grant the exemption.

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (``CERCLA'' or ``the Act''), as amended, requires that the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (``NCP'') include a list of national priorities among the known releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants throughout the United States. The National Priorities List (``NPL'') constitutes this list. The NPL is intended primarily to guide the Environmental Protection Agency (``EPA'' or ``the Agency'') in determining which sites warrant further investigation. These further investigations will allow EPA to assess the nature and extent of public health and environmental risks associated with the site and to determine what CERCLA-financed remedial action(s), if any, may be appropriate. This rule adds 12 sites to the General Superfund Section of the NPL.

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

Section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act (CWA) authorizes the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to prohibit, restrict, or deny the discharge of dredged or fill material at defined sites in waters of the United States (including wetlands) whenever it determines, after notice and opportunity for public hearing, that use of such sites for disposal would have an unacceptable adverse impact on various resources, including fisheries, wildlife, municipal water supplies, and recreational areas. Pursuant to section 404(c), EPA Region 4 is today requesting public comments on its proposal to prohibit or restrict the use of certain waters in the Yazoo River Basin in Issaquena County, Mississippi as disposal sites for dredged or fill material in connection with the construction of the proposed Yazoo Backwater Area Project (the project). As the primary component of this project, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg District (the Corps) and the Board of Mississippi Levee Commissioners (project sponsor) propose to construct a 14,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) pumping station at Steele Bayou with a pump-on operation elevation of 87.0 feet, National Geodetic Vertical Datum (NGVD). The construction and operation of the proposed pumps would degrade the critical functions and values of approximately 67,000 acres of wetland resources in the Yazoo River Basin. Of this total, approximately 26,300 acres would be hydrologically modified to the extent that they would no longer be defined as wetlands and would lose CWA regulatory protection. The natural timing, frequency, and duration of water reaching the remaining approximately 40,700 acres of wetlands would be impacted by the proposed pumping, altering the wetlands' ecological characteristics and significantly reducing their functions. EPA Region 4 believes that these extensive hydrological modifications of wetlands in the Yazoo River Basin could have an unacceptable adverse effect on fisheries and wildlife resources. EPA seeks comment on this proposed 404(c) determination to prohibit or restrict the discharge of dredged or fill material in wetlands and other waters in the Yazoo River Basin in connection with the construction of the project or any pumping proposal in the Yazoo Backwater Area that would involve significant adverse impacts on waters of the United States. See Solicitation of Comments, at the end of the public notice, for further details.

This notice announces EPA's intention to modify certain risk mitigation measures that were imposed as a result of the 2006 Reregistration Eligibility Decision (RED) for the pesticide cypermethrin. EPA conducted this reassessment of the cypermethrin RED in response to public comments directed towards product labeling, risk mitigation, and the upcoming registration review process for pyrethroids, pyrethrins, and synergist chemicals. In response to the commenters and continuing efforts to mitigate risk, the Agency has made several modifications to the cypermethrin RED label requirements for pre-construction termiticide applications, spray drift language for agricultural products, and ventilation for total release foggers.

EPA is finalizing its proposal to affirm its October 30, 2006, determination that the San Joaquin Valley nonattainment area (SJV or the Valley) in California has attained the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to a nominal 10 micrometers (PM-10). EPA proposed to affirm the determination of attainment in order to take comment on the exclusion from a determination of attainment of PM-10 exceedances that were caused by exceptional events. EPA is concurring with the State's request to flag exceedances which occurred in the SJV as being caused by exceptional events, i.e., high winds. EPA is also concurring with the Santa Rosa Rancheria Tribe's request to flag, as due to an exceptional event, PM- 10 exceedances which occurred on tribal lands located within the boundaries of the SJV. EPA is further finding that these exceedances at the Santa Rosa Rancheria (SRR) should be excluded from use in determining attainment because the exceedances occurred while the monitor was operating in very close proximity to construction activities and, as such, the monitor was not properly sited during that time for purposes of comparison to the NAAQS. As a result, EPA is affirming its determination that the SJV has attained the PM-10 standard based on EPA's evaluation of quality-assured data through 2006. In addition, EPA did not receive comments on how the Agency addressed the issues raised in petitions for reconsideration and withdrawal of EPA's 2006 determination of attainment, filed by Earthjustice on behalf of the Sierra Club, Latino Issues Forum and others, and thus we are denying the petitions.