[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 164 (Friday, August 23, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44297-44299]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-18132]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OGC-2019-0478; FRL 9998-70-OGC]
Proposed Stipulated Partial Settlement Agreement, Endangered
Species Act Claims
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of proposed stipulated partial settlement agreement;
request for public comment.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the EPA Administrator's October 16, 2017,
Directive Promoting Transparency and Public Participation in Consent
Decrees and Settlement Agreements, notice is
[[Page 44298]]
hereby given of a proposed stipulated partial settlement agreement in
the United States District Court for the Northern District of
California in the case of Center for Biological Diversity et. al., v.
United States Environmental Protection Agency et al., No. 3:11 cv 0293
(N.D.Ca.). Plaintiffs filed the original case on January 20, 2011,
asserting a single claim against EPA for allegedly violating section
7(a)(2) of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by failing to initiate and
reinitiate consultation with the Services with respect to its ongoing
oversight of 382 pesticide active ingredients. After several motions to
narrow the case and an appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals,
the plaintiffs filed their fourth amended complaint on June 29, 2018
for failure to initiate ESA section 7(a)(2) consultation for certain
pesticide products containing 35 pesticide active ingredients. After
several settlement discussions, the parties reached a partial agreement
in this case. The parties are proposing to reach a settlement in the
form of a stipulated partial settlement agreement. Among other
provisions, this agreement would set a February 14, 2021, deadline for
EPA to complete ESA section 7(a)(2) effects determination for carbaryl
and methomyl, and, as appropriate, request initiation of any ESA
section 7(a)(2) consultations with the National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS) and/or the United States Fish and Wildlife Service
(USFWS) that EPA may determine to be necessary as a result of those
effects determinations. Additional deadlines would include August 14,
2021, for atrazine and simazine, and August 14, 2024, for brodifacoum,
bromadiolone, warfarin, and zinc phosphide for EPA to complete effects
determinations, and, as appropriate, request initiation of any ESA
consultations with NMFS and/or USFWS. The stipulated partial settlement
agreement would also include a meet and confer deadline of August 30,
2021, for all parties to discuss possible resolution of the remaining
issues in this case.
DATES: Written comments on the proposed stipulated partial settlement
agreement must be received by September 23, 2019.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID number EPA-HQ-
OGC-2019-0478 online at www.regulations.gov (EPA's preferred method).
For comments submitted at www.regulations.gov, follow the online
instructions for submitting comments. Once submitted, comments cannot
be edited or removed from www.regulations.gov. The EPA may publish any
comment received to its public docket. Do not submit electronically any
information you consider to be Confidential Business Information (CBI)
or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute.
Multimedia submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be accompanied by a
written comment. The written comment is considered the official comment
and should include discussion of all points you wish to make. The EPA
generally will not consider comments or comment contents located
outside of the primary submission (i.e., on the web, cloud, or other
file sharing system). For additional submission methods, please contact
the person identified in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section.
For the full EPA public comment policy, information about CBI or
multimedia submissions, and general guidance on making effective
comments, please visit http://www2.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michele Knorr, Pesticides and Toxic
Substances Law Office (2333A), Office of General Counsel, U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington,
DC 20460; telephone: (202) 564-5631; email address:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Additional Information About the Proposed Stipulated Settlement
Agreement
On January 20, 2011, Plaintiffs (non-governmental environmental
organizations) filed a complaint in the United States District Court in
the Northern District of California asserting a single claim against
EPA for allegedly violating section 7(a)(2) of the ESA by failing to
initiate and reinitiate consultation with the Services with respect to
382 pesticide active ingredients. After motions practice and an appeal
to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the plaintiffs filed their
fourth amended complaint on June 29, 2018 for failure to initiate
consultation under ESA section 7(a)(2) for certain pesticide products
containing 35 pesticide active ingredients. After several settlement
discussions, the parties reached a partial agreement in this case.
Specifically, Paragraph 1.a. of the proposed stipulated partial
settlement provides that EPA would agree to complete ESA section
7(a)(2) effects determinations, compiled into a biological evaluation,
by February 14, 2021, for carbaryl and methomyl, and, as appropriate,
request initiation of any ESA section 7(a)(2) consultations with the
NMFS and/or the USFWS that EPA may determine to be necessary as a
result of those effects determinations. Additional deadlines for
completing ESA section 7(a)(2) effects determinations, compiled into a
biological evaluation, included in Paragraphs 2.a. and 3.a.,
respectively, would be August 14, 2021, for atrazine and simazine, and
August 14, 2024, for brodifacoum, bromadiolone, warfarin, and zinc
phosphide, and, as appropriate, request initiation of any ESA
consultations with NMFS and/or USFWS.
The agreement also includes statements of EPA's intent to take
certain actions, in addition to the deadlines associated with specific
biological evaluations, including: (1) To complete draft biological
evaluations no later than one year prior to the deadline for the final
biological evaluations, as well to provide notice and a 60-day
opportunity for public comment on any such draft, (2) consistent with
current practice, EPA would, within 30 business days of receipt from
the USFWS of any draft biological opinions on the effects of
chlorpyrifos and diazinon, make the draft available to the public for a
60-day comment period, (3) consistent with current practice, conduct
nationwide-scale effects determinations, and (4) to complete biological
evaluations for glyphosate and propazine on the same schedule as
simazine and atrazine.
The stipulated partial settlement also includes provisions that
would require EPA to meet specific milestones connected to the
deadlines in Paragraphs 1.a, 2.a, and 3.a. These provisions included in
Paragraphs 1.b., 2.b., and 3.b would include: (1) No later than 90 days
prior to EPA's commitment to complete draft biological evaluations, EPA
would provide a status report to the Court and other parties on its
progress toward completing these drafts; and (2) EPA would provide a
status report to the Court and the parties 90 days prior to the
deadline to complete the final biological evaluations. Additionally,
Paragraphs 1.c., 2.c., and 3.c. would include provisions for modifying
the final biological evaluation deadlines. The stipulated partial
settlement agreement would also include a meet and confer deadline of
August 30, 2021 for all parties to discuss resolving the remaining
issues in this case.
For a period of thirty (30) days following the date of publication
of this notice, the Agency will accept written comments relating to the
proposed stipulated partial settlement from persons who are not named
as parties to the litigation in question. If so requested, EPA will
also consider holding a public hearing on whether to
[[Page 44299]]
agree to the proposed joint stipulation and stipulated notice of
dismissal. EPA or the Department of Justice may withdraw or withhold
consent to the proposed stipulated partial settlement if the comments
disclose facts or considerations that indicate that such consent is
inappropriate, improper, inadequate, or inconsistent with the
requirements of the ESA or FIFRA. Unless EPA or the Department of
Justice determines that consent should be withdrawn, the terms of the
proposed stipulation and stipulated notice of dismissal will be
affirmed.
II. Additional Information About Commenting on the Proposed Stipulation
and Stipulated Notice of Dismissal
A. How can I get a copy of the proposed stipulated partial settlement
agreement?
The official public docket for this action (identified by EPA-HQ-
OGC-2019-0478) contains a copy of the proposed stipulated partial
settlement agreement. The official public docket is available for
public viewing at the Office of Environmental Information (OEI) Docket
in the EPA Docket Center, EPA West, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave.
NW, Washington, DC. The EPA Docket Center 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 OEI Docket is (202) 566-
1752.
An electronic version of the public docket is available on EPA's
website at [Insert URL] and through www.regulations.gov. You may use
www.regulations.gov to submit or view public comments, access the index
listing of the contents of the official public docket, and access those
documents in the public docket that are available electronically. Once
in the system, key in the appropriate docket identification number then
select ``search.'' It is important to note that EPA's policy is that
public comments, whether submitted electronically or in paper, will be
made available for public viewing online at www.regulations.gov without
change, unless the comment contains copyrighted material, CBI, or other
information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Information
claimed as CBI and other information whose disclosure is restricted by
statute is not included in the official public docket or in the
electronic public docket.
EPA's policy is that copyrighted material, including copyrighted
material contained in a public comment, will not be placed in EPA's
electronic public docket but will be available only in printed, paper
form in the official public docket. Although not all docket materials
may be available electronically, you may still access any of the
publicly available docket materials through the EPA Docket Center.
B. How and to whom do I submit comments?
You may submit comments as provided in the ADDRESSES section.
Please ensure that your comments are submitted within the specified
comment period.
If you submit an electronic comment, EPA recommends that you
include your name, mailing address, and an email address or other
contact information in the body of your comment and with any disk or CD
ROM you submit. This ensures that you can be identified as the
submitter of the comment and allows EPA to contact you in case EPA
cannot read your comment due to technical difficulties or needs further
information on the substance of your comment. Any identifying or
contact information provided in the body of a comment will be included
as part of the comment that is placed in the official public docket,
and made available in EPA's electronic public docket. 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.
Use of the www.regulations.gov website to submit comments to EPA
electronically is EPA's preferred method for receiving comments. The
electronic public docket system is an ``anonymous access'' system,
which means EPA will not know your identity, email address, or other
contact information unless you provide it in the body of your comment.
In contrast to EPA's electronic public docket, EPA's electronic mail
(email) system is not an ``anonymous access'' system. If you send an
email comment directly to the Docket without going through
www.regulations.gov, your email address is automatically captured and
included as part of the comment that is placed in the official public
docket, and made available in EPA's electronic public docket.
Dated: August 13, 2019.
Joseph E. Cole,
Associate General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2019-18132 Filed 8-22-19; 8:45 am]
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