[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 71 (Wednesday, April 14, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19391-19392]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-8403]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OPP-2008-0842; FRL-8820-6]


Methamidophos; Registration Review Proposed Decision; Notice of 
Availability

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the availability of EPA's proposed 
registration review decision for the pesticide methamidophos and opens 
a public comment period on the proposed decision. Registration review 
is EPA's periodic review of pesticide registrations to ensure that each 
pesticide continues to satisfy the statutory standard for registration, 
that is, that the pesticide can perform its intended function without 
unreasonable adverse effects on human health or the environment. 
Through this program, EPA is ensuring that each pesticide's 
registration is based on current scientific and other knowledge, 
including its effects on human health and the environment.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before June 14, 2010.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by docket identification 
(ID) number EPA-HQ-OPP-2008-0842, 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 
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 identification (ID) 
number EPA-HQ-OPP-2008-0842. 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: For pesticide specific information, 
contact: Joy Schnackenbeck, Chemical Review Manager, Pesticide Re-
evaluation Division (7508P), Office of Pesticide Programs, 
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., 
Washington, DC 20460-0001; telephone number: (703) 308-8072; fax 
number: (703) 308-7070; e-mail address: [email protected].
    For general information on the registration review program, 
contact: Kevin Costello, Pesticide Re-evaluation Division (7508P), 
Office of Pesticide Programs, Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 
Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460-0001; telephone number: 
(703) 305-5026; fax number: (703) 308-8090; 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; farm worker; 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 chemical review manager 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

[[Page 19392]]

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?

    Pursuant to 40 CFR 155.58, this notice announces the availability 
of EPA's proposed registration review decision for the pesticide shown 
in the following table, and opens a 60-day public comment period on the 
proposed decision. Methamidophos is an organophosphate insecticide, 
which in 2009 was registered for use on potato, cotton, tomato, and 
alfalfa grown for seed.


                                  Table--Registration Review Proposed Decision
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                                                                                         Chemical Review
  Registration Review Case Name and Number       Pesticide Docket ID Number        Manager,Telephone Number, E-
                                                                                           mail Address
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Methamidophos; Case Number 0043                            EPA-HQ-OPP-2008-0842  Joy Schnackenbeck,
                                                                                 (703) 308-8072,
                                                                                 [email protected]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The registration review docket for a pesticide includes earlier 
documents related to the registration review of the case. For example, 
the review opened with the posting of a Summary Document, containing a 
Preliminary Work Plan for public comment. A Final Work Plan was posted 
to the docket following public comment on the initial docket.
    As stated in the Methamidophos Preliminary and Final Work Plan for 
registration review, the Agency had intended to revise the existing 
risk assessments for methamidophos. However, after the publication of 
the Methamidophos Final Work Plan, pursuant to Section 6(f)(1) of the 
Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), as 
amended, the Agency announced receipt of requests to voluntarily cancel 
all methamidophos product registrations and then granted the voluntary 
cancellation requests, establishing December 31, 2009, as the effective 
cancellation date as published in the Federal Register on September 23, 
2009 (74 FR 48551; FRL-8437-1) for all of the products registered for 
use in the United States containing the active ingredient 
methamidophos. Due to the cancellation order issued affecting all 
methamidophos product registrations in the United States, the Agency 
has found that it is not necessary to conduct new risk assessments for 
methamidophos and is therefore issuing a proposed decision pursuant to 
40 CFR 155.53(c)(2) and 40 CFR 155.58. The Agency believes that 
mitigation measures put into effect on product labeling through the re-
registration process are adequate to protect human health and the 
environment until existing stocks of methamidophos are exhausted. This 
proposed registration review decision is described in more detail in 
the Methamidophos Proposed Registration Review Decision, available in 
the methamidophos docket.
    Following public comment, the Agency will issue a registration 
review decision for products containing methamidophos.
    The registration review program is being conducted under 
congressionally mandated time frames, and EPA recognizes the need both 
to make timely decisions and to involve the public. Section 3(g) of 
FIFRA, as amended, required EPA to establish by regulation procedures 
for reviewing pesticide registrations, originally, with a goal of 
reviewing each pesticide's registration every 15 years to ensure that a 
pesticide continues to meet the FIFRA standard for registration. The 
Agency's final rule to implement this program was issued in August 2006 
and became effective in October 2006, and appears at 40 CFR part 155, 
subpart C. The Pesticide Registration Improvement Act of 2003 (PRIA) 
was amended and extended in September 2007. FIFRA, as amended by PRIA 
in 2007, requires EPA to complete registration review decisions by 
October 1, 2022, for all pesticides registered as of October 1, 2007.
    The registration review final rule at 40 CFR 155.58(a) provides for 
a minimum 60-day public comment period on all proposed registration 
review decisions. This comment period is intended to provide an 
opportunity for public input and a mechanism for initiating any 
necessary amendments to the proposed decision. All comments should be 
submitted using the methods in ADDRESSES, and must be received by EPA 
on or before the closing date. These comments will become part of the 
docket for methamidophos. Comments received after the close of the 
comment period will be marked ``late.'' EPA is not required to consider 
these late comments.
    The Agency will carefully consider all comments received by the 
closing date and will provide a ``Response to Comments Memorandum'' in 
the docket. The registration review decision will explain the effect 
that any comments had on the decision and provide the Agency's response 
to significant comments.
    Background on the registration review program is provided at: 
http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/registration_review. A link to earlier 
documents related to the registration review of methamidophos is 
provided at: http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/registration_review/reg_review_status.htm.

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

    Section 3(g) of FIFRA and 40 CFR part 155, subpart C, provides 
authority for this action.

List of Subjects

    Environmental protection, Administrative practice and procedure, 
Pesticides and pests, Methamidophos.

    Dated: April 5, 2010.
Richard P. Keigwin, Jr.,
Director, Pesticide Re-evaluation Division, Office of Pesticide 
Programs.

[FR Doc. 2010-8403 Filed 4-13-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-S