[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 229 (Wednesday, November 29, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 69112-69114]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-20145]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OPP-2006-0661; FRL-8087-4]


Chloropicrin Risk Assessments (Phase 3 of 6-Phase Process); 
Notice of Availability

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the availability of EPA's human health 
and environmental fate and effects risk assessment(s) and related 
documents for the fumigant chloropicrin, and opens a public comment 
period on these documents. EPA is developing a Reregistration 
Eligibility Decision (RED) for chloropicrin through the full, 6-Phase 
public participation process that the Agency uses to involve the public 
in developing pesticide reregistration and tolerance reassessment 
decisions. EPA is also concurrently assessing the risks of five other 
soil fumigant pesticides to ensure that its assessment approaches are 
consistent and to ensure that risk trade offs and economic outcomes can 
be adequately predicted in reaching risk management decisions. Through 
these programs, EPA is ensuring that all pesticides meet current health 
and safety standards.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before January 29, 2007.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by docket identification 
(ID) number EPA-HQ-OPP-2006-0661, by one of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments.
     Mail: Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) Regulatory Public 
Docket (7502P), Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania 
Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460-0001.
     Delivery: OPP Regulatory Public Docket (7502P), 
Environmental Protection Agency, Rm. S-4400, One Potomac Yard (South 
Building), 2777 S. Crystal Drive, Arlington, VA. Deliveries are only 
accepted during the Docket's normal hours of operation (8:30 a.m. to 4 
p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays). Special 
arrangements should be made for deliveries of boxed information. The 
Docket telephone number is (703) 305-5805.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to docket ID number EPA-HQ-OPP-
2006-0661. EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included 
in the docket without change and may be made available on-line at 
http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information 
provided, unless the comment includes information claimed to be 
Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose 
disclosure is restricted by statute. Do not submit information that you 
consider to be CBI or otherwise protected through regulations.gov or e-
mail. The Federal regulations.gov website is an ``anonymous access'' 
system, which means EPA will not know your identity or contact 
information unless you provide it in the body of your comment. If you 
send an e-mail comment directly to EPA without going through 
regulations.gov, your e-mail address will be automatically captured and 
included as part of the comment that is placed in the docket and made 
available on the Internet. If you submit an electronic comment, EPA 
recommends that you include your name and other contact information in 
the body of your comment and with any disk or CD-ROM you submit. If EPA 
cannot read your comment due to technical difficulties and cannot 
contact you for clarification, EPA may not be able to consider your 
comment. Electronic files should avoid the use of special characters, 
any form of encryption, and be free of any defects or viruses.
    Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the docket index. 
Although listed in the index, some information is not publicly 
available, e.g., CBI or other information whose disclosure is 
restricted by statute. Certain other material, such as copyrighted 
material, is not placed on the Internet and will be publicly available 
only in hard copy form. Publicly available docket materials are 
available either in the electronic docket at http://www.regulations.gov, or, if only available in hard copy, at the OPP 
Regulatory Public Docket in Rm. S-4400, One Potomac Yard (South 
Building), 2777 S. Crystal Drive, Arlington, VA. The hours of operation 
of this Docket Facility are from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through 
Friday, excluding legal holidays. The Docket telephone number is (703) 
305-5805.
    Additional support documents for the soil fumigants in general can 
be viewed at EPA's electronic public docket www.regulations.gov under 
Docket ID EPA-HQ-OPP-2005-0168. The Agency has also established a soil 
fumigant web page at http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/reregistration/soil_fumigants/. The public may also want to view the individual chemical 
specific dockets for other soil fumigant pesticides. These chemical 
specific dockets include: Telone (1,3-dichloropropene) at EPA-HQ-OPP-
2005-0124, dazomet at EPA-HQ-OPP-2005-0128, metam sodium at EPA-HQ-OPP-
2005-0125, metam potassium at EPA-HQ-OPP-2005-0125, and methyl bromide 
at EPA-HQ-OPP-2005-0123. These sites are provided for reference and 
review. However, the Agency is requesting that comments pertaining to 
chloropicrin be submitted only to the chloropicrin docket at EPA-HQ-
OPP-2006-0061.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nathan Mottl, Special Review and 
Reregistration Division (7508P), Office of Pesticide Programs, 
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., 
Washington, DC 20460-0001; telephone number: (703) 305-0208; fax 
number: (703) 308-7070; e-mail 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, and agricultural advocates; the chemical industry; pesticide 
users; and members of the public interested in the sale, distribution, 
or use of pesticides. 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.

[[Page 69113]]

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 e-mail. 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 submitting comments, 
remember to:
    i. Identify the document by docket ID number and other identifying 
information (subject heading, Federal Register date and page number).
    ii. Follow directions. The Agency may ask you to respond to 
specific questions or organize comments by referencing a Code of 
Federal Regulations (CFR) part or section number.
    iii. Explain why you agree or disagree; suggest alternatives and 
substitute language for your requested changes.
    iv. Describe any assumptions and provide any technical information 
and/or data that you used.
    v. If you estimate potential costs or burdens, explain how you 
arrived at your estimate in sufficient detail to allow for it to be 
reproduced.
    vi. Provide specific examples to illustrate your concerns and 
suggest alternatives.
    vii. Explain your views as clearly as possible, avoiding the use of 
profanity or personal threats.
    viii. Make sure to submit your comments by the comment period 
deadline identified.

II. Background

A. What Action is the Agency Taking?

    EPA is making available the human health and environmental fate and 
effects risk assessments for chloropicrin. Chloropicrin is a non-
selective pre-plant soil fumigant with fungicidal, herbicidal, 
insecticidal, and nematicidal properties. Chloropicrin is also used in 
combination with other soil fumigants and as a warning agent for other 
soil fumigants such as methyl bromide and telone (1,3-dichloropropene) 
and structural fumigations using sulfuryl flouride. Chloropicrin is 
primarily used for pre-plant soil uses for agricultural crops and 
greenhouses. However, chloropicrin is also used for fumigations of 
empty grain and storage bins, tree replant sites, and wood telephone 
poles and timber. The Agency developed these risk assessments as part 
of its public process for making pesticide reregistration eligibility 
and tolerance reassessment decisions. Through these programs, EPA is 
ensuring that pesticides meet current standards under the Federal 
Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and the Federal 
Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), as amended by the Food Quality 
Protection Act of 1996 (FQPA).
    An estimated 5-9 million pounds of chloropicrin is applied 
annually. Crops on which over a million pounds are used annually 
include tobacco (3.6 million pounds), tomatoes (1.7 million pounds), 
and strawberries (1.4 million pounds). Strawberries (20 percent), 
tobacco (15 percent), and tomatoes (10 percent) are also the crops with 
the highest percentage of their overall acreage treated. Almost all of 
the pre-plant soil fumigation uses of chloropicrin occur in combination 
with either methyl bromide or telone.
    Plant metabolism and environmental fate studies demonstrate that 
chloropicrin is degraded in both anaerobic and aerobic soil to carbon 
dioxide which is subsequently taken up by the plant. Therefore, the use 
of chloropicrin as a pre-plant soil fumigant is considered to be a non-
food use and food tolerances are not required.
    EPA is providing an opportunity, through this notice, for 
interested parties to provide comments and input on the Agency's risk 
assessments for chloropicrin. Such comments and input could address, 
for example, the availability of additional data to further refine the 
risk assessments, or information about specific use practices for crops 
that are produced using chloropicrin. For example, the following 
information would be helpful to EPA in characterizing regional and crop 
differences in use practices and possible effects on potential risk. 
When providing this information to the Agency, consider providing 
pictures or video footage to help clarify your comments.
    1. Crop.
    2. Fumigant use.
    3. Average acres grown per enterprise.
    4. Maximum acres fumigated per day.
    5. Percent of the acres grown that are fumigated.
    6. Typical application rate (lb a.i./acre).
    7. Minimum application rate used (lb a.i./acre)(for high pest 
pressure situations).
    8. Time of year that soil is fumigated.
    9. Fumigation cycle (every crop cycle, 1 time/year, 1 time/2 
years).
    10. Target pests (by category or specific pests).
    11. Method of application (e.g., chemigation, soil injection, 
specific equipment used, etc.).
    12. Methods or actions taken to reduce emissions (polyethylene 
tarps or soil cap).
    13. Could high-density polyethylene (HDPE) or high barrier tarps be 
used on this crop?
    14. Time between treatment and next production activity (e.g., time 
until planting).
    15. Typical crops following the fumigated crop (only if they 
benefit from the fumigation).
    16. Regulatory restrictions in your area on this fumigant or an 
alternative fumigant (such as weather restrictions).
    17. Soil restrictions on this fumigant or an alternative fumigant.
    18. Any restrictions or concerns about minimum soil temperature, 
hilly terrain, etc.
    19. Best available alternative (another fumigant or strategy such 
as leaving land fallow, etc.).
    20. Could the use of different soil fumigants be alternated (e.g., 
metam sodium followed by (1,3-D)? Specify how.
    21. Yield or quality impacts that are likely to result from moving 
to the best available alternative (i.e., change in commodity price or 
grade).
    22. Would moving to the next best alternative impact key market 
windows? How?
    23. Cost per acre of active ingredient.
    24. Cost per acre of other fumigation inputs (e.g., tarps and 
equipment).
    25. Is there a crop budget available for your area and crop?
    26. Do you know of any other contacts or other sources of 
information for this crop who could provide information on acreage, 
prices, pests, etc.?
    27. Are there non-chemical alternatives that can be used in place 
of fumigants? Describe use.
    EPA seeks to achieve environmental justice, the fair treatment and 
meaningful involvement of all people, regardless of race, color, 
national origin, or income, 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

[[Page 69114]]

practices, or other factors, may have atypical, unusually high exposure 
to chloropicrin, compared to the general population.
    EPA is applying the principles of public participation to all 
pesticides undergoing reregistration and tolerance reassessment. The 
Agency's Pesticide Tolerance Reassessment and Reregistration; Public 
Participation Process, published in the Federal Register on May 14, 
2004, (69 FR 26819)(FRL-7357-9) explains that in conducting these 
programs, EPA is tailoring its public participation process to be 
commensurate with the level of risk, extent of use, complexity of 
issues, and degree of public concern associated with each pesticide. 
EPA plans to review chloropicrin through the full, 6-Phase public 
participation process.
    Comments should be limited to issues raised within the risk 
assessment(s) and associated documents. Failure to comment on any such 
issues as part of this opportunity will not limit a commenter's 
opportunity to participate in any later notice and comment processes on 
this matter. All comments should be submitted using the methods in 
ADDRESSES, and must be received by EPA on or before the closing date. 
Comments will become part of the Agency Docket for chloropicrin. 
Comments received after the close of the comment period will be marked 
``late.'' EPA is not required to consider these late comments.

B. What is the Agency's Authority for Taking this Action?

    Section 4(g)(2) of FIFRA as amended directs that, after submission 
of all data concerning a pesticide active ingredient, ``the 
Administrator shall determine whether pesticides containing such active 
ingredient are eligible for reregistration,'' before calling in product 
specific data on individual end-use products and either reregistering 
products or taking other ``appropriate regulatory action.''

List of Subjects

    Environmental protection, Pesticides and pests.

    Dated: October 20, 2006.
Debra Edwards,
Director, Special Review and Reregistration Division, Office of 
Pesticide Programs.
[FR Doc. E6-20145 Filed 11-28-06; 8:45 am]
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