[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 52 (Tuesday, March 17, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15168-15170]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-05445]
[[Page 15168]]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OPP-2020-0090; FRL-10006-38]
Carbaryl and Methomyl Registration Review; Draft Endangered
Species Act Biological Evaluations; Notice of Availability
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: This notice announces the availability of the Environmental
Protection Agency's (EPA or the Agency) draft biological evaluations
(BEs) for the registration review of the pesticides carbaryl and
methomyl and opens a public comment period on these documents.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before May 18, 2020.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by docket identification
(ID) number EPA-HQ-OPP-2020-0090, 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), (28221T), 1200 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.html.
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: Tracy Perry, Pesticide Re-Evaluation
Division (7508P), Office of Pesticide Programs, Environmental
Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20460-
0001; telephone number: (703) 308-0128; email address:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. General Information
A. Does this action apply to me?
This action is directed to the public in general, and may be of
interest to a wide range of stakeholders including environmental, human
health, farm worker, and agricultural advocates; the chemical industry;
pesticide users; and members of the public interested in the sale,
distribution, or use of pesticides and/or the potential impacts of
pesticide use on threatened or endangered (listed) species and
designated critical habitat. Since others also may be interested, the
Agency has not attempted to describe all the specific entities that may
be affected by this action. If you have any questions regarding the
applicability of this action to a particular entity, consult the person
listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
B. What should I consider as I prepare my comments for EPA?
1. Submitting CBI. Do not submit this information to EPA through
regulations.gov or email. Clearly mark the part or all of the
information that you claim to be CBI. For CBI information in a disk or
CD-ROM that you mail to EPA, mark the outside of the disk or CD-ROM as
CBI and then identify electronically within the disk or CD-ROM the
specific information that is claimed as CBI. In addition to one
complete version of the comment that includes information claimed as
CBI, a copy of the comment that does not contain the information
claimed as CBI must be submitted for inclusion in the public docket.
Information so marked will not be disclosed except in accordance with
procedures set forth in 40 CFR part 2.
2. Tips for preparing your comments. When preparing and submitting
your comments, see the commenting tips at http://www.epa.gov/dockets/comments.html.
3. Environmental justice. EPA seeks to achieve environmental
justice, the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of any group,
including minority and/or low income populations, in the development,
implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and
policies. To help address potential environmental justice issues, the
Agency seeks information on any groups or segments of the population
who, as a result of their location, cultural practices, or other
factors, may have atypical or disproportionately high and adverse human
health impacts or environmental effects from exposure to the pesticides
discussed in this document, compared to the general population.
II. What action is the Agency taking?
A. Authority
The Endangered Species Act (ESA) requires federal agencies, such as
EPA, to ensure that their actions are not likely to jeopardize the
continued existence of species listed as threatened or endangered under
the ESA or destroy or adversely modify the designated critical habitat
of such species. The registration review process of reevaluating a
pesticide under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act
(FIFRA) constitutes an EPA ``action'' under the ESA. If EPA determines
a pesticide may affect a listed species or its designated critical
habitat, EPA must initiate consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service and/or the National Marine Fisheries Service (collectively
referred to as the Services), as appropriate. EPA initiates formal
consultation with the Services through the conduct and transmittal of a
BE with its findings.
B. Background
The Agency has completed comprehensive, nationwide draft BEs for
all carbaryl and methomyl uses relative to the potential effects on
listed species and their designated critical habitats. The schedule for
conducting the carbaryl and methomyl BEs was negotiated as part of a
partial settlement agreement pursuant to a joint stipulation filed on
October 18, 2019 and entered by the court on October 22, 2019, in
Center for Biological Diversity et al. v. EPA et al. (N.D. Ca) (3:11-
cv-00293).
In preparation for conducting the carbaryl and methomyl BEs and
consistent with the objective to revise and refine the method used for
the first three pilot BEs (final pilot BEs for chlorpyrifos, malathion,
and diazinon were completed in January 2017), EPA proposed refinements
to the BE process with its Draft Revised Method. EPA sought public
comments on this Draft from May to August 2019 (45-day public comment
period, extended for an additional 45 days), held a public meeting on
June 10, 2019, and conducted tribal outreach and formal tribal
consultation from July to October 2019. The Services and the U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA) provided input on the Draft Revised
Method through an interagency workgroup prior to public release of the
document for comment. EPA evaluated public input and met again with the
Services and USDA to discuss the comments from the public and input
from the agencies.
After reviewing comments received during the public comment period
on the draft carbaryl and methomyl BEs, EPA will issue final BEs and a
response to public comments document. If EPA determines that these
pesticides may affect listed species and/or their designated critical
habitats, EPA will initiate consultation with the Services.
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Based on the BEs, the Services will then develop Biological Opinions
for carbaryl and methomyl.
Along with the draft BEs, EPA is posting an updated Revised Method
document in this BE docket, as a supporting document. The updated
Revised Method will also be posted in the Draft Revised Method docket
(see docket ID number EPA-HQ-OPP-2019-0195 at www.regulations.gov),
along with a response to public comments document. Some elements of the
Revised Method include: (1) Incorporation of usage data to inform the
likelihood that an ESA-listed species or designated critical habitat
may be exposed to a pesticide; (2) incorporation of probabilistic
approaches to determine the likelihood that an ESA-listed species will
be adversely affected by a pesticide given the variability in the range
of potential exposures and toxicological responses to listed species;
and (3) incorporation of a weight-of-evidence framework for informing
effects determinations.
C. Public Comments Sought
Pursuant to 40 CFR 155.53(c) and consistent with the enhanced
stakeholder engagement practices (see docket ID number EPA-HQ-OPP-2012-
0442), EPA is providing an opportunity, through this notice of
availability, for interested parties to provide comments and input
concerning the Agency's draft BEs for carbaryl and methomyl. Such
comments could address, among other things, the application of the
Agency's revised risk assessment methodologies and assumptions to these
draft BEs for methomyl and carbaryl. In particular, EPA is seeking
comment regarding the following specific aspects of the draft BEs.
First, there are uncertainties in the spatial footprint associated
with the non-agricultural uses (e.g., residential, forestry, rangeland)
of carbaryl and there are limited data available to inform the extent
of usage in any given area for these types of uses. EPA has previously
requested input on availability of spatial data to define use sites and
on usage data for non-agricultural uses, including seeking public
comment on: The registration review plan for carbaryl in 2010; the NMFS
biological opinion on chlorpyrifos, diazinon, and malathion in 2018;
and the draft Revised Method for conducting national level endangered
species risk assessments for pesticides in 2019. In light of these data
limitations and associated uncertainties, EPA is seeking input on the
evaluation of the likelihood of effects to an individual of a listed
species from the use of carbaryl on non-agricultural use areas.
Second, EPA has developed a systematic process, using the best
available data, to determine if a pesticide is likely to adversely
affect an individual of a listed species and, if so, then characterizes
the strength of evidence associated with likely to be adversely
affected (LAA) determinations. The criteria used to characterize the
strength of evidence are described in Attachment 4-1 of the BEs. EPA is
seeking input on these strength-of-evidence criteria.
Third, a number of draft LAA determinations were made for methomyl
and carbaryl based on potential impacts on prey, pollination, habitat,
or dispersal (PPHD) of a listed species using endpoints identified in
Table 3 of the Revised Method document and chapter 2 of the BEs. There
are uncertainties associated with the magnitude of impact to a
particular species' prey base or habitat for a given pesticide that
could result in a discernible effect to that listed species. EPA
requests public input regarding properties of methomyl and carbaryl or
particular characteristics of listed species or their habitats that
affect the confidence in the link between thresholds used to evaluate
PPHD effects and resulting potential effects to an individual of a
listed species.
The file sizes of the draft BEs for carbaryl and methomyl exceed
the docket system's file size limitation, therefore these documents are
not posted to this BE docket. Instead, the BEs are posted on EPA's
endangered species web page (see web links provided in the Table
below). Commenters are instructed to post comments on the BEs to this
BE docket (EPA-HQ-OPP-2020-0090) in www.regulations.gov, as indicated
in the Table below.
Table--Pesticide Docket ID Numbers for Posting Comments on the Carbaryl
and Methomyl Draft BEs and Links to the Draft Carbaryl and Methomyl BEs
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Pesticide docket
Document ID No. for public Links to the draft
comments BEs
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Carbaryl BE................... EPA-HQ-OPP-2020-0 https://www.epa.gov/
090. endangered-species/
draft-biological-
evaluation-chapters-
carbaryl-esa-
assessment.
Methomyl BE................... EPA-HQ-OPP-2020-0 https://www.epa.gov/
090. endangered-species/
draft-biological-
evaluation-chapters-
methomyl-esa-
assessment.
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1. Other related information. Additional information on endangered
species risk assessment and the NAS report recommendations are
available at https://www.epa.gov/endangered-species/implementing-nas-report-recommendations-ecological-risk-assessment-endangered-and.
Information on the Agency's registration review program and its
implementing regulation is available at https://www.epa.gov/pesticide-reevaluation.
2. Information submission requirements. Anyone may submit data or
information in response to this document. To be considered during a
pesticide's registration review, the submitted data or information must
meet the following requirements:
To ensure that EPA will consider data or information
submitted, interested persons must submit the data or information
during the comment period. The Agency may, at its discretion, consider
data or information submitted at a later date.
The data or information submitted must be presented in a
legible and useable form. For example, an English translation must
accompany any material that is not in English and a written transcript
must accompany any information submitted as an audiographic or
videographic record. Written material may be submitted in paper or
electronic form.
Submitters must clearly identify the source of any
submitted data or information.
Submitters may request the Agency to reconsider data or
information that the Agency rejected in a previous review. However,
submitters must explain why they believe the Agency should reconsider
the data or information in the pesticide's registration review.
As provided in 40 CFR 155.58, the registration review docket for
each pesticide case will remain publicly accessible through the
duration of the registration review process; that is, until
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all actions required in the final decision on the registration review
case have been completed.
(Authority: 7 U.S.C. 136 et seq.)
Dated: March 11, 2020.
Alexandra Dapolito Dunn,
Assistant Administrator, Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution
Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2020-05445 Filed 3-16-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P