[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 212 (Wednesday, November 4, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57166-57168]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-26594]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0628; FRL-8794-9]


Pesticides; Draft Guidance for Pesticide Registrants on Pesticide 
Drift Labeling

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: The Agency is announcing the availability of and seeking 
public comment on two documents - a draft Pesticide Registration Notice 
(draft PR Notice) entitled ``Pesticide Drift Labeling'' (PRN 2009-X) 
and a draft explanatory document entitled ``Pesticide Drift Labeling 
Interpretation.'' PR Notices are issued by the Office of Pesticide 
Programs (OPP) to inform pesticide registrants and other interested 
persons about important policies, procedures, and registration related 
decisions, and serve to provide guidance to pesticide registrants and 
OPP personnel. This particular draft PR Notice provides guidance to the 
applicants and registrants of certain pesticide products for revising 
labeling statements intended to protect people and other non-target 
organisms and sites from adverse effects that may be caused by off-
target pesticide drift. The draft explanatory document provides 
guidance for state and tribal regulatory officials responsible for 
enforcement of user compliance with the requirements of pesticide 
labeling on how to interpret the labeling statements contained in the 
draft PR Notice. An additional supporting document, entitled ``Draft PR 
Notice 2009-X: Additional Information and Questions for Commenters,'' 
provides background and supplemental information that explain the 
Agency's rationale for its proposed guidance on drift labeling. This 
document also requests responses by readers to specific questions 
concerning draft PR Notice 2009-X. All three documents are available in 
the public docket.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before January 4, 2010.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by docket identification 
(ID) number EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0628, by one of the following methods:

[[Page 57167]]

     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 
Bldg.), 2777 S. Crystal Dr., Arlington, VA. Deliveries are only 
accepted during the Docket Facility'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 Facility telephone number is (703) 305-5805.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to docket ID number EPA-HQ-OPP-
2009-0628. 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 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 
available at http://www.regulations.gov. 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 Bldg.), 2777 S. Crystal Dr., 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 Facility telephone 
number is (703) 305-5805.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: V[eacute]ronique LaCapra, Pesticide 
Re-evaluation Division (7508P), Office of Pesticide Programs, 
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., 
Washington, DC 20460-0001; telephone number: (703) 605-1525; fax 
number: (703) 308-8005; e-mail address: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. General Information

A. Does this Action Apply to Me

    This action is directed to those persons who manufacture, 
distribute, sell, apply, or regulate pesticide products that are for 
use outdoors, including agricultural, commercial, and residential 
products (NAICS codes 32532 and 32561). Since other entities may also 
be interested, the Agency has not attempted to describe all the 
specific entities that may be affected by this action. The North 
American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) codes have been 
provided to assist you and others in determining whether this action 
might apply to certain entities. If you have any questions regarding 
the information in this notice, 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 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.
    EPA has identified questions about the PR Notice on which the 
Agency would like to receive specific input from commenters. These 
questions are presented in a supporting document entitled ``Draft PR 
Notice 2009-X: Additional Information and Questions for Commenters,'' 
which is available in the public docket.

II. What Guidance Does this PR Notice Provide?

    EPA's purpose in issuing draft PR Notice 2009-X is to provide 
guidance to registrants and applicants for registration on labeling 
statements concerning pesticide drift, and to inform the public of 
EPA's policies with regard to the prevention of pesticide drift. The 
draft PR Notice proposes labeling statements and formats intended to 
improve communication of drift management requirements to pesticide 
applicators and as a result, to improve protection of people and other 
non-target organisms and sites from potential adverse effects that may 
be caused by off-target pesticide drift. The recommended statements 
should appear on products whose application may result in drift.
    The draft PR Notice contains two types of statements: (1) A general 
drift statement containing a risk-protective standard which varies 
according to product type, and (2) examples of

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product-specific drift use restrictions, along with a format for 
presenting these statements on product labeling. The draft PR Notice 
also informs registrants about the procedures they should use to amend 
their registrations to adopt these statements. The Agency believes the 
use of these statements and formats on labels will provide users 
consistent, understandable, and enforceable directions about how to 
protect human health and the environment from harm that might result 
from pesticide drift.
    Along with draft PR Notice 2009-X, EPA is issuing for comment a 
draft ``Pesticide Drift Labeling Interpretation'' guidance document, 
which provides guidance to state and tribal officials about how EPA 
intends the new drift labeling statements to be interpreted, as well as 
typical examples of how the labeling could be interpreted in real-world 
spray drift cases.
    A supporting document entitled ``Draft PR Notice 2009-X: Additional 
Information and Questions for Commenters'' is also being made available 
in the public docket. This document contains background information on 
pesticide drift, and a description of current and planned EPA actions 
to address drift, including the PR Notice, guidance to state 
enforcement officials on interpreting the new labeling, information on 
best management practices to reduce drift, and EPA's drift reduction 
technology (DRT) project. The document also provides a reader's guide 
to the draft PR Notice, including a description of key terms and 
concepts, explanatory rationales, and specific questions on which EPA 
is seeking input from stakeholders.

III. Do PR Notices Contain Binding Requirements?

    The draft PR Notice discussed in this notice is intended to provide 
guidance to EPA personnel and decision-makers and to pesticide 
registrants. While the requirements in the statutes and Agency 
regulations are binding on EPA and the applicants, the PR Notice is not 
binding on EPA personnel, pesticide registrants and applicants, or the 
public. EPA may depart from the guidance where circumstances warrant 
and without prior notice. Likewise, pesticide registrants may assert 
that the guidance is not appropriate generally or not applicable to a 
specific pesticide or situation.
    The draft Notice is not intended to limit EPA's authority under 
FIFRA to require additional mitigation measures, on a case-by case 
basis, when appropriate. Nor is it intended to limit the authority of a 
state or tribe to impose additional restrictions on the use of a 
pesticide.

List of Subjects

    Environmental protection, Administrative practice and procedure, 
Agricultural commodities, Pesticides and pests, Pesticide drift, Spray 
drift, Labeling.


    Dated: October 26, 2009.
Debra Edwards,
Director, Office of Pesticide Programs.

[FR Doc. E9-26594 Filed 11-3-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-S