[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 95 (Thursday, May 16, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22120-22122]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-10177]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OPP-2019-0185; FRL-9993-03]
Pesticides; Draft Revised Method for National Level Endangered
Species Risk Assessment Process for Biological Evaluations of
Pesticides; Notice of Availability and Public Meeting
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is seeking comment
on a draft revised method for conducting national level threatened and
endangered (listed) species biological evaluations (BEs) for
pesticides. EPA is also announcing a public meeting on June 10, 2019,
where EPA will present the draft revised method and provide an
additional opportunity for the public to provide feedback.
DATES: Meeting: The public meeting will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00
noon, Eastern Standard Time, on June 10, 2019, and you must register to
participate in the meeting using the instructions in Unit III. on or
before May 30, 2019.
Accommodations requests: To request accommodation of a disability,
please contact the person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATON CONTACT,
preferably at least 10 days prior to the meeting, to give EPA as much
time as possible to process your request.
Comments: Comments must be received on or before July 1, 2019.
ADDRESSES: Meeting: The meeting will be held in the Lobby-level
Conference Center of EPA's Potomac Yard South Bldg. (One Potomac Yard),
2777 South Crystal Drive, Arlington, VA 22202-4501. EPA's Potomac Yard
South Bldg. is approximately 1 mile from the Crystal
[[Page 22121]]
City Metro Station. Register to participate in the meeting using the
instructions in Unit III.
Comments: Submit your comments, identified by docket identification
(ID) number EPA-HQ-OPP-2019-0185, 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 is directed to the public in general and may be of interest to
a wide range of stakeholders including environmental, 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 listed
species and designated critical habitat. Given the broad interest, the
Agency has not attempted to identify or describe all the specific
entities that may be affected by this action.
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.
C. How can I get copies of this document and other related information?
A copy of the EPA Draft Revised Method for National Level
Endangered Species Risk Assessment Process for Biological Evaluations
of Pesticides is available in the docket. The docket, identified by
docket ID number EPA-HQ-OPP-2019-0185, is available at http://www.regulations.gov or at the Office of Pesticide Programs Regulatory
Public Docket (OPP Docket) in the Environmental Protection Agency
Docket Center (EPA/DC), West William Jefferson Clinton Bldg., Rm. 3334,
1301 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20460-0001. The Public
Reading Room is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through
Friday, excluding legal holidays. The telephone number for the Public
Reading Room is (202) 566-1744, and the telephone number for the OPP
Docket is (703) 305-5805. Please review the visitor instructions and
additional information about the docket available at http://www.epa.gov/dockets.
II. What action is the agency taking?
A. Authority
The Endangered Species Act (ESA), 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq., 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 of a
pesticide under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act
(FIFRA), 7 U.S.C. 136 et seq., 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 biological evaluation (BE) with its findings.
B. Background
On January 18, 2017, EPA released its first nationwide BEs for
pesticides conducted using a pilot interagency method developed by EPA
and the Services, with collaboration from the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA). The pilot method was developed following the
recommendations of the April 2013 National Academy of Sciences' (NAS)
report, Assessing Risks to Endangered and Threatened Species from
Pesticides. When developing the pilot process, EPA and the Services
intended to revisit and refine the method to address limitations
identified through evaluation of the pilot chemicals (i.e.,
chlorpyrifos, diazinon and malathion). A full description of the pilot
method and the NAS report recommendations are available at: https://www.epa.gov/endangered-species/implementing-nas-report-recommendations-ecological-risk-assessment-endangered-and.
EPA believes that the pilot method had the following major
limitations: (1) The method did not meaningfully distinguish species
that are likely to be exposed to and affected by the assessed
pesticides from those that are not likely; (2) The level of effort was
too high for EPA to sustain for all pesticides; and (3) The amount of
documentation produced was too great for the public to review and
comment upon in a reasonable timeframe. Consistent with the pilot
process, EPA has developed and is proposing a revised method for the
nationwide evaluation of pesticide risks to listed species that is
based on the experience gained through the pilot BEs and on information
received in public comments on the draft pilot BEs and through several
stakeholder meetings. EPA's draft revised method, which continues to
follow NAS's recommendations, is designed to be: (1) Efficient, relying
upon automation as much as possible; (2) Protective without being
overly conservative; (3) Transparent; and (4) Scientifically
defensible, relying on the best available data.
C. Summary of Major Aspects of Draft Revised Method
The following is a summary of the major aspects for which the EPA
is seeking comment on the draft revised method for assessing risk to
listed species.
First, to more accurately represent where and to what extent a
pesticide is likely to be applied, EPA is proposing an approach for
incorporating pesticide-
[[Page 22122]]
specific usage data into the listed species consultation process. The
pilot BEs relied on use assumptions from pesticide product labels to
represent where the pilot chemicals were likely to be applied (e.g.,
applied to all labelled crops at maximum application rates
simultaneously). The revised method proposes to incorporate usage data
(e.g., survey data, including actual application rates) in the
determination of where a pesticide is likely to be applied.
Second, based on the accuracy of the spatial data utilized and the
conservative assumptions related to the action area and potential
drift, EPA is interpreting a <1% overlap of listed species' ranges with
potential use sites as unreliable and not representative of real
exposure potential.
Third, EPA's revised method proposes the use of probabilistic
methods to determine the likelihood of a species to be adversely
affected by a pesticide. The goal of the probabilistic analysis is to
more fully capture and characterize the variability in the range of
potential exposures and toxicological effects to listed species and to
better inform the biological opinion.
The fourth major area of revision is to apply a weight-of-evidence
framework to distinguish those listed species that are likely to be
adversely affected (LAA) from those that are not likely to be adversely
affected (NLAA), based on criteria (e.g., dietary preferences,
migration patterns, extent of range potentially exposed) associated
with the likelihood that an individual will be exposed and affected.
D. Public Comments Sought
EPA is seeking comment on the draft revised method for assessing
risk to listed species, and is specifically interested in comments
regarding the degree to which the following aspects of its draft
revised method are reasonable and represent advances in the pilot
methodologies for assessing risk to listed species: (1) The proposed
methodology for incorporating usage data in Steps 1 and 2 of the BE;
(2) The proposed interpretation that a <1% overlap of listed species'
ranges with potential use sites is unreliable, based on the accuracy of
the underlying data, and does not represent real-world exposure; (3)
The proposed approach for introducing components of probabilistic
analyses into the BE; and (4) The proposed weight-of-evidence
framework.
III. Public Meeting
EPA will host a public meeting, along with representatives from the
Services and USDA, to present the draft revised method and to provide
an additional opportunity for the public to provide feedback. This
meeting is an opportunity for stakeholders and agencies to continue
their dialogue on the technical aspects of implementing the NAS
recommendations, building on public meetings held in November 2013,
April and October 2014, April 2015, and June 2016, and furthers the
agencies' goal of developing a sustainable methodology and process for
assessing pesticide impacts on listed species that is efficient,
inclusive, and transparent.
Date: The meeting will be held on Monday, June 10, 2019 from 9:00
a.m. to 12:00 noon, E.S.T. Additional meeting details, including an
agenda, teleconference and webinar information, will be available
shortly in the docket.
Accommodations requests: To request accommodation of a disability,
please contact the person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT,
preferably at least 10 days prior to the meeting to give EPA as much
time as possible to accommodate your request.
Requests to participate: You must register by Thursday, May 30,
2019 to attend either in person or via teleconference/webinar. Public
comments may be made during the oral comment session of the meeting.
Requests to participate in the meeting and to make oral comments must
be submitted to the person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT.
Authority: 7 U.S.C. 136 et seq.
Dated: May 10, 2019.
Alexandra Dapolito Dunn,
Assistant Administrator, Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution
Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2019-10177 Filed 5-15-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P