Environmental Protection Agency February 13, 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, in conjunction with the United States Department of Agriculture, will facilitate a public meeting with parties engaged in activities to reduce potential acute exposure of honey bees and pollinators to pesticides. Invited presenters will provide briefings on current activities in three key areas related to improving seed treatment techniques; reducing the generation of dust that occurs during planting operations; and raising awareness of current best management practices that are available to mitigate potential acute pesticide exposure to pollinators. Pollinators are an important component of agricultural production, critical to food and ecosystems, and must be protected so that they can continue to play this important role. The intended outcome of this meeting is to share information and look for areas of collaboration to lessen the unintended impacts of pesticides on pollinators during coming and future growing seasons. This meeting complements EPA's ongoing work through the Pesticide Program Dialogue Committee (PPDC) to support and take action to improve pollinator health.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or the Agency) is finalizing revisions to the 1989 Total Coliform Rule (TCR). The Revised Total Coliform Rule (RTCR) offers a meaningful opportunity for greater public health protection beyond the 1989 TCR. Under the RTCR there is no longer a monthly maximum contaminant level (MCL) violation for multiple total coliform detections. Instead, the revisions require systems that have an indication of coliform contamination in the distribution system to assess the problem and take corrective action that may reduce cases of illnesses and deaths due to potential fecal contamination and waterborne pathogen exposure. This final rule also updates provisions in other rules that reference analytical methods and other requirements in the 1989 TCR (e.g., Public Notification and Ground Water Rules). These revisions are in accordance with the 1996 Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) Amendments, which require EPA to review and revise, as appropriate, each national primary drinking water regulation no less often than every six years. These revisions also conform with the SDWA provision that requires any revision to ``maintain, or provide for greater, protection of the health of persons.'' As with the 1989 TCR, the RTCR applies to all public water systems.