Environmental Protection Agency July 30, 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This regulation establishes tolerances for combined residues of pyraclostrobin and its desmethoxy metabolite in or on the following commodities: Borage, seed; castor oil plant, seed; chinese tallowtree, seed; crambe, seed; cuphea, seed; echium, seed; euphorbia, seed; evening primrose, seed; flax, seed; gold of pleasure, seed; hare's ear mustard, seed; jojoba, seed; lesquerella, seed; lunaria, seed; meadowfoam, seed; milkweed, seed; mustard, seed; niger seed, seed; oil radish, seed; poppy, seed; rapeseed, seed; rose hip, seed; safflower, seed; sesame, seed; stokes aster, seed; sweet rocket, seed; tallowwood, seed; tea oil plant, seed; and vernonia, seed. It also increases the existing tolerance for residues of pyraclostrobin and its desmethoxy metabolite in or on sunflower. BASF Corporation requested these tolerances under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA).

This notice announces EPA's amendment to the order for the termination of uses, voluntarily requested by the registrant and accepted by the Agency, of products containing the pesticide molinate, pursuant to section 6(f)(1) of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), as amended. This amendment follows an April 7, 2004 Federal Register Notice of Order to Amend Registrations to Terminate Uses of molinate to control water grass in rice grown in California and the south central/south eastern states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Tennessee, and Texas. Nothing in today's action changes the previous stop production date of June 30, 2008, nor does it change the stop use date of August 31, 2009. Today's action only clarifies the deadline for persons other than the registrant to sell and distribute molinate until July 1, 2009.

The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), as amended in 1996, requires the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to periodically publish a list of unregulated contaminants (known as the Contaminant Candidate List or CCL) and determine whether to regulate at least five contaminants on each list. Today's action announces the Agency's final determinations on whether to issue national primary drinking water regulations (NPDWRs) for 11 contaminants listed on the second Contaminant Candidate List (CCL 2). On May 1, 2007, EPA published preliminary regulatory determinations for 11 of the 51 contaminants listed on CCL 2 and requested public comment on the determinations, process, rationale, and supporting technical information for each contaminant. The 11 regulatory determination contaminants are boron; the dacthal mono- and di-acid degradates; 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethylene (DDE); 1,3- dichloropropene; 2,4-dinitrotoluene; 2,6-dinitrotoluene; s-ethyl dipropylthiocarbamate (EPTC); fonofos; terbacil; and 1,1,2,2- tetrachloroethane. In the May 2007 notice, the Agency made a preliminary determination that no regulatory action was appropriate for any of these 11 contaminants. EPA received comments from nine individuals or organizations on the preliminary regulatory determinations for the 11 contaminants and additional comments for other contaminants on CCL 2: perchlorate, methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), metolachlor, and cyanotoxins. After careful review and consideration of these comments, the Agency is making a final determination that no regulatory action is appropriate at this time for any of the 11 CCL 2 contaminants for which the Agency made preliminary regulatory determinations in the May 2007 notice.

EPA is proposing to approve revisions to the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) portion of the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). These revisions concern oxides of nitrogen (NOX ) emissions from gaseous- and liquid-fueled internal combustion engines. We are approving a local rule that regulates these emission sources under the Clean Air Act as amended in 1990 (CAA or the Act). We are taking comments on this proposal and plan to follow with a final action.

This regulation establishes a time-limited tolerance for residues of gentamicin in or on apples. This action is in response to EPA's granting of an emergency exemption under section 18 of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) authorizing use of the pesticide on apples. This regulation establishes a maximum permissible level for residues of gentamicin in this food commodity. The time-limited tolerance expires and is revoked on December 31, 2010.

EPA has received a quarantine exemption request from the Hawaii Department of Agriculture to use the pesticide calcium hydroxide (CAS No. 1305-62-0) to treat up to 4,000 acres of outdoor plants in nurseries, residential areas, parks, hotels and resorts, forest habitats, and natural areas to control Coqui and Greenhouse frogs. The applicant proposes the use of a new chemical which has not been registered by EPA. This is the second request by the State of Hawaii. EPA is soliciting public comment before making the decision whether or not to grant the exemption.

This advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) presents information relevant to, and solicits public comment on, how to respond to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Massachusetts v. EPA. In that case, the Supreme Court ruled that the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act) authorizes regulation of greenhouse gases (GHGs) because they meet the definition of air pollutant under the Act. In view of the potential ramifications of a decision to regulate GHGs under the Act, the notice reviews the various CAA provisions that may be applicable to regulate GHGs, examines the issues that regulating GHGs under those provisions may raise, provides information regarding potential regulatory approaches and technologies for reducing GHG emissions, and raises issues relevant to possible legislation and the potential for overlap between legislation and CAA regulation. In addition, the notice describes and solicits comment on petitions the Agency has received to regulate GHG emissions from ships, aircraft and nonroad vehicles such as farm and construction equipment. Finally, the notice discusses several other actions concerning stationary sources for which EPA has received comment regarding the regulation of GHG emissions. The implications of a decision to regulate GHGs under the Act are so far-reaching that a number of other federal agencies have offered critical comments and raised serious questions during interagency review of EPA's ANPR. Rather than attempt to forge a consensus on matters of great complexity, controversy, and active legislative debate, the Administrator has decided to publish the views of other agencies and to seek comment on the full range of issues that they raise. These comments appear in the Supplemental Information, below, followed by the June 17 draft of the ANPR preamble prepared by EPA, to which the comments apply. None of these documents represents a policy decision by the EPA, but all are intended to advance the public debate and to help inform the federal government's decisions regarding climate change.