Organic Arsenicals; Notice of Receipt of Requests to Voluntarily Cancel or to Amend to Terminate Uses of Certain Pesticide Registrations

AGENCY:

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

In accordance with section 6(f)(1) of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), as amended, EPA is issuing a notice of receipt of requests by the registrants to voluntarily cancel and/or amend their registrations to terminate uses of certain products containing the pesticide organic arsenicals. The organic arsenicals include the pesticides monosodium methanearsonate (MSMA), disodium methanearsonate (DSMA), calcium acid methanearsonate (CAMA), and cacodylic acid and its sodium salt. The requests would terminate the following uses of MSMA: Residential; forestry; non-bearing fruit and nuts; citrus, bearing and non-bearing; bluegrass, fescue and ryegrass grown for seed; drainage ditch banks; railroad, pipeline, and utility rights of way; fence rows; storage yards; and similar non-crop areas. In addition, the requests terminate all uses of MSMA in Florida except for use on cotton grown in Calhoun, Columbia, Escambia, Gadsden, Hamilton, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Suwannee, Walton, and Washington counties. The requests would not terminate the last MSMA products registered for use in the United States. These requests for voluntary cancellation and amendment of MSMA containing products are the result of an agreement in principle signed by the EPA and the technical registrants of the organic arsenicals on January 16 and February 5, 2009. As part of the agreement, the registrants have requested voluntary cancellation of all products containing DSMA, CAMA, and cacodylic acid and its sodium salt. The requests would terminate the last DSMA, CAMA, and cacodylic acid and its sodium salt products registered for use in the United States. EPA intends to grant these requests at the close of the comment period for this announcement unless the Agency receives substantive comments within the comment period that would merit its further review of the requests, or unless the registrants withdraw their requests within this period. Upon acceptance of these requests, any sale, distribution, or use of products listed in this notice will be permitted only if such sale, distribution, or use is consistent with the terms as described in the final order.

DATES:

Comments must be received on or before August 7, 2009.

ADDRESSES:

Submit your comments, identified by docket identification (ID) number EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0191, 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 ID number EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0191. 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:

Tom Myers, Special Review and Reregistration Division (7508P), Office of Pesticide Programs, Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460-0001; telephone number: (703) 308-8589; fax number: (703) 308-8005; e-mail address: myers.tom@epa.gov.

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, 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 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.

II. Background on the Receipt of Requests to Cancel and/or Amend Registrations to Delete Uses

This notice announces receipt by EPA of requests from registrants to cancel or amend organic arsenical product registrations. The organic arsenicals are herbicides registered for application to cotton, bearing and non-bearing fruit and nut trees, commercial turf, golf courses, athletic fields, parks and residential lawns among other sites. In letters received by the Agency, the registrants have requested EPA to cancel affected product registrations and/or to amend to terminate uses of pesticide product registrations identified in this notice in Tables 1 and 2. Specifically, the registrants have requested voluntary cancellation of all products containing DSMA, CAMA, cacodylic acid and its sodium salt. In addition, the registrants have requested that certain uses of MSMA be terminated in accordance with the agreement in principle. The requests would terminate the following uses of MSMA: Residential; forestry; non-bearing fruit and nuts; citrus, bearing and non-bearing; bluegrass, fescue and ryegrass grown for seed; drainage ditch banks; railroad, pipeline, and utility rights of way; fence rows; storage yards; and similar non-crop areas. In addition, the requests terminate all uses of MSMA in Florida except for use on cotton grown in Calhoun, Columbia, Escambia, Gadsden, Hamilton, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Suwannee, Walton, and Washington counties. The requests would not terminate the last MSMA products registered for use in the United States. The requests would terminate the last DSMA, CAMA, and cacodylic acid and its sodium salt products registered for use in the United States.

III. What Action is the Agency Taking?

This notice announces receipt by the Agency of requests from registrants to cancel or amend to terminate uses of organic arsenicals product registrations. The affected products and the registrants making the requests are identified in Tables 1-3 of this unit.

Under section 6(f)(1)(A) of FIFRA, registrants may request, at any time, that their pesticide registrations be canceled or amended to terminate one or more pesticide uses. Section 6(f)(1)(B) of FIFRA requires that before acting on a request for voluntary cancellation, EPA must provide a 30-day public comment period on the request for voluntary cancellation or use termination. In addition, section 6(f)(1)(C) of FIFRA requires that EPA provide a 180-day comment period on a request for voluntary cancellation or termination of any minor agricultural use before granting the request, unless:

1. The registrants request a waiver of the comment period, or

2. The Administrator determines that continued use of the pesticide would pose an unreasonable adverse effect on the environment.

The organic arsenical registrants have requested that EPA waive the 180-day comment period. EPA will provide a 30-day comment period on the proposed requests.

Unless a request is withdrawn by the registrant within 30 days of publication of this notice, or if the Agency determines that there are substantive comments that warrant further review of this request, an order will be issued canceling or amending the affected registrations.

Table 3 of this unit includes the names and addresses of record for the registrants of the products listed in Table 1 and Table 2 of this unit.

Section 6(f)(1) of FIFRA provides that a registrant of a pesticide product may at any time request that any of its pesticide registrations be canceled or amended to terminate one or more uses. FIFRA further provides that, before acting on the request, EPA must publish a notice of receipt of any such request in the Federal Register. Thereafter, following the public comment period, the Administrator may approve such a request.

V. Procedures for Withdrawal of Request and Considerations for Reregistration of Organic Arsenicals

Registrants who choose to withdraw a request for cancellation must submit such withdrawal in writing to the person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT, postmarked before August 7, 2009. This written withdrawal of the request for cancellation will apply only to the applicable FIFRA section 6(f)(1) request listed in this notice. If the products(s) have been subject to a previous cancellation action, the effective date of cancellation and all other provisions of any earlier cancellation action are controlling.

VI. Provisions for Disposition of Existing Stocks

Existing stocks are those stocks of registered pesticide products which are currently in the United States and which were packaged, labeled, and released for shipment prior to the effective date of the cancellation action. In any order issued in response to these requests for cancellation of product registrations, EPA proposes to include the following provisions for the treatment of any existing stocks of the products identified or referenced in Table 1 in Unit III.

In any order issued in response to these requests for amendments to terminate uses, the Agency proposes to include the following provisions for the treatment of any existing stocks of the products identified or referenced in Table 2 in Unit III.

The registrants have requested voluntary cancellation of the arsenic registrations identified in Table 1 and voluntary amendment to terminate certain uses of the arsenic registrations identified in Table 2. Pursuant to section 6(f) of FIFRA, EPA intends to grant the requests for voluntary cancellation and amendment.

As outlined in the organic arsenicals Agreement in Principle the following existing stocks dates are being proposed. EPA encourages stakeholders to submit comments on these existing stocks timeframes. Comments will be evaluated and the final existing stocks timeframes will be incorporated into the cancellation order which will be published in the Federal Register.

After December 31, 2009, registrants would be prohibited from selling or distributing existing stocks of products containing MSMA labeled for all uses, except cotton, sod farms, golf courses, and highway rights-of-way. Also, after December 31, 2009, registrants would be prohibited from selling or distributing existing stocks of products containing DSMA, CAMA, cacodylic acid and its sodium salt.

After June 30, 2010, persons other than registrants would be prohibited from selling or distributing existing stocks of products containing MSMA labeled for all uses, except cotton, sod farms, golf courses, and highway rights-of-way, and products containing DSMA, CAMA, and/or cacodylic acid and its sodium salt.

After December 31, 2010, use of products containing MSMA labeled for all uses, except cotton, sod farms, golf courses, and highway rights-of-way and products containing DSMA, CAMA, cacodylic acid and its sodium salt would be prohibited.

After December 31, 2012, registrants would be prohibited from selling or distributing existing stocks of products containing MSMA labeled for use on sod farms, golf courses, and highway rights-of-way.

After June 30, 2013, persons other than registrants would be prohibited from selling or distributing existing stocks of products containing MSMA labeled for use on sod farms, golf courses, and highway rights-of-way.

After December 31, 2013, use of products containing MSMA labeled for all uses, except cotton, would be prohibited.

If the request for voluntary cancellation and use termination is granted, the Agency intends to publish the cancellation order in the Federal Register.

List of Subjects

• Environmental protection
• Pesticides and pests