[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 128 (Wednesday, July 6, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40233-40234]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-14338]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OGC-2022-0511; FRL-9986-01-OGC]
Proposed Consent Decree, Unreasonable Delay Claim Regarding
Petition Concerning Treated Seeds and Treated Article Exemption
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of proposed consent decree; request for public comment.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Administrator's March 18, 2022, Memorandum entitled Consent Decrees and
Settlement Agreements to Resolve Environmental Claims Against the
Agency, notice is hereby given of a proposed consent decree that
resolves Center for Food Safety, et al. v. U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, a case in the United States District Court for the
Northern District of California (3:21-cv-09640-JSC) that alleges EPA
unreasonably delayed responding to a petition for rulemaking, submitted
to EPA on or around April 26, 2017, relating to the regulatory
exemption of pesticide treated seed.
DATES: Written comments on the proposed consent decree must be received
by August 5, 2022.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-
OGC-2022-0511 online at https://www.regulations.gov (EPA's preferred
method). Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
Instructions: All submissions received must include the Docket ID
number for this action. Comments received may be posted without change
to https://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information
provided. For detailed instructions on sending comments, see the
``Additional Information about Commenting on the Proposed Consent
Decree'' heading under the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this
document.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Amber Aranda, Pesticides and Toxic
Substances Law Office; telephone (202) 564-3186; email address
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Obtaining a Copy of the Proposed Consent Decree
The official public docket for this action (identified by Docket ID
No. EPA-HQ-OGC-2022-0511) contains a copy of the proposed consent
decree. 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.
The electronic version of the public docket for this action
contains a copy of the proposed consent decree and is available through
https://www.regulations.gov. You may use https://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.''
II. Additional Information About the Proposed Consent Decree
Prior to this lawsuit being filed, EPA received a petition on or
around April 26, 2017, requesting that EPA (1) amend 40 CFR 152.25(a)
to exclude seeds for planting coated with systemic pesticides intended
to kill pests of the plant, or, (2) in the alternative, publish a
formal agency interpretation in the Federal Register stating that 40
CFR 152.25(a) does not apply to seeds for planting coated with systemic
pesticides intended to kill pests of the plant, and (3) aggressively
enforce FIFRA's numerous pesticide registration and labeling
requirements for each separate crop seed product that is coated with a
neonicotinoid or other systemic insecticidal chemical (hereinafter,
this petition will be referred to as the ``2017 Petition'' and the
three requests enumerated in this paragraph will be referred to as the
``2017 Petition Requests''). EPA sought public comment on the 2017
Petition. See ``Pesticides; Petition Seeking Rulemaking or a Formal
Agency Interpretation for Planted Seeds Treated with Systemic
Insecticides; Request for Comment,'' 83 FR 66260 (December 26, 2018)
(the ``Request for Comment''). EPA received approximately 100
substantive comments. Plaintiffs filed a Complaint on December 14,
2021, alleging that EPA's failure to respond to the petition
constitutes an unreasonable delay under Section 706(1) of the
Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. 706(1).
This proposed consent decree states that no later than September
30, 2022, the appropriate EPA official shall, by
[[Page 40234]]
letter, either grant, deny, or grant in part and deny in part each of
the 2017 Petition Requests. Court approval of this proposed consent
decree would resolve all claims in this case except for the claim for
the costs of litigation, including reasonable attorneys' fees.
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 consent decree from persons who are not named as parties to
the litigation in question. EPA or the Department of Justice may
withdraw or withhold consent to the proposed consent decree if the
comments disclose facts or considerations that indicate that such
consent is inappropriate, improper, inadequate, or inconsistent with
the requirements of the APA or FIFRA. Unless EPA or the Department of
Justice determines that consent should be withdrawn, the terms of the
proposed consent decree will be affirmed and entered with the Court.
III. Additional Information About Commenting on the Proposed Consent
Decree
Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OGC-2022-
0511 via https://www.regulations.gov. Once submitted, comments cannot
be edited or removed from this docket. EPA may publish any comment
received to its public docket. Do not submit to EPA's docket at https://www.regulations.gov 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. EPA will generally 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, the full EPA public comment policy, information about CBI or
multimedia submissions, and general guidance on making effective
comments, please visit https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets. For additional information about submitting information
identified as CBI, please contact the person listed in the FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document.
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. 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 https://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.
Please ensure that your comments are submitted within the specified
comment period. Comments received after the close of the comment period
will be marked ``late.'' EPA is not required to consider these late
comments.
Dated: June 30, 2022.
Randolph L. Hill,
Associate General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2022-14338 Filed 7-5-22; 8:45 am]
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