[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 160 (Friday, August 17, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49792-49793]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-20237]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OPP-2012-0442; FRL-9356-5]
FIFRA Pesticide Registration Review and ESA Consultation
Processes; Proposal Regarding Stakeholder Input; Request for Comment
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: EPA is seeking public comment on a proposal to enhance
opportunities for stakeholders to provide input during its review of
pesticide registrations under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and
Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and associated consultations under Section 7 of
the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The proposal was jointly prepared by
EPA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the National Marine
Fisheries Service (NMFS) in the U.S. Department of Commerce and the
Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in the U.S. Department of Interior.
The proposal describes significant changes to EPA's registration review
process which are intended to facilitate ESA pesticide consultations
and coordination across these Federal agencies, and calls for a greater
role for USDA.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before October 16, 2012.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by docket identification
(ID) number EPA-HQ-OPP-2012-0442, by one of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the online instructions for submitting comments. Do not submit
electronically any information you consider to be Confidential Business
Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted
by statute.
Mail: OPP Docket, Environmental Protection
Agency Docket Center (EPA/DC), Mail Code: 28221T, 1200
[[Page 49793]]
Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20460-0001.
Hand Delivery: To make special arrangements for
hand delivery or delivery of boxed information, please follow the
instructions at http://www.epa.gov/dockets/contacts.htm. Additional
instructions on commenting or visiting the docket, along with more
information about dockets generally, is available at http://www.epa.gov/dockets.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Richard P. Keigwin, Jr., Pesticide Re-
evaluation Division (7510P), Office of Pesticide Programs,
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW.,
Washington, DC 20460-0001; telephone number: (703) 308-8000; fax
number: (703) 308-8005; email address: keigwin.richard@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. What action is the Agency taking?
EPA is taking public comment on a document entitled, ``Proposal for
Enhancing Stakeholder Input in the Pesticide Registration Review and
ESA Consultation Processes and Development of Economically and
Technologically Feasible Reasonable and Prudent Alternatives,'' a copy
of which is available in the docket at http://www.regulations.gov under
docket ID number EPA-HQ-OPP-2012-0442. The document describes proposed
changes to EPA's pesticide registration review program and how it
conducts consultation with the Services under Section 7 of the ESA.
II. Why is the Agency taking this action?
In an effort to be responsive to stakeholders' desires for a
mechanism to get information into the registration review process as
early as possible, EPA proposes to hold ``Focus'' meetings at the start
of registration review for each active ingredient. In response to
stakeholders' desires for a more open, reliable, and transparent
pesticide consultation process, EPA proposes to initiate any needed
formal ESA consultations at a later stage in the review process.
Consulting later in the registration review process allows EPA to
develop more refined ecological risk assessments and to engage affected
stakeholders in discussions that should result in more focused
consultation packages inclusive of mitigation for listed species. There
is an emerging consensus that EPA and the Services should engage
informally and early in the consultation process, but that formal
consultation should be reserved until EPA's ecological risk assessment
and proposed decision are more fully formed. This approach has the
potential to maximize the opportunity to effect changes that provide
protections for species and their designated critical habitat, lessen
the impacts on agriculture, and narrow the scope of the Federal action.
Additionally, the proposal describes EPA's plans to reach out to
pesticide users potentially affected to discuss the technological and
economic feasibility of ``Reasonable and Prudent Alternatives'' (RPAs)
intended to avoid jeopardy to threatened and/or endangered species. The
USDA's relationships with the agricultural community provide a critical
link between EPA's expertise on pesticides and the Services' expertise
on listed species' locations, status and biology.
Finally, the proposal describes the process by which public
comments received on RPAs will be summarized and organized by EPA and
provided to the Services, who will prepare a document to be included in
the administrative record of the consultation explaining how comments
were considered, and if appropriate, how the final biological opinion
was modified to address the comments. The Services will provide the
document to EPA, and both the Services and EPA will make the document
available to the public upon request. These process changes are
intended to provide clarity and transparency to the ESA Section 7
consultation process for pesticides.
EPA and the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, and Interior are
taking this action because many stakeholders have expressed concerns
regarding the apparent lack of transparency surrounding ESA
consultations on pesticide registration review decisions, and the need
for increased access to the decision-making process by states and other
stakeholders for the purpose of providing relevant data for
consideration during registration review and accompanying ESA
consultation. Increasing public participation opportunities during both
the registration review and accompanying ESA consultation processes,
and improving clarity and transparency during these processes are
important goals of this action.
In the interest of facilitating discussion and providing
clarification on the process changes described in the proposal, EPA and
the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, and Interior are willing to
meet with affected stakeholders. Individuals and/or organizations
wanting to meet with the agencies to discuss this proposal should
submit a request to the docket.
List of Subjects
Environmental protection, Endangered species, Pesticides and pests,
Threatened species.
Dated: August 3, 2012.
Steven Bradbury,
Director, Office of Pesticide Programs.
[FR Doc. 2012-20237 Filed 8-16-12; 8:45 am]
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