DC:50555045.1 EMAIL ADDRESS mboucher@mckennalong.com M ICHAEL B OUCHER (202) 496-7729 1900 K Street, NW • Washington, DC 20006 Tel: 202.496.7500 • Fax: 202.496.7756 www.mckennalong.com A lban y
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June 25, 2008

B Y F ACSIMILE & E LECTRONIC M AIL
Frank T. Sanders, Director Antimicrobial Division Office of Pesticide Programs U.S. Environmental Protection Agency One Potomac Yard 2777 South Crystal Drive Arlington, Virginia 22202

Re: Petition to Cancel Registration of Busan ®1215, EPA Reg. No. 1448-433

Dear Mr. Sanders:
We are writing on behalf of our client Bu ckman Laboratories, Inc. (“Buckman”), the registrant of Busan 1215. In speaking with Dennis Edwards yesterday (June 24), we learned to our astonishment that EPA received a petition fr om Nalco Company (“Nalco”) in December of 2007 to cancel Buckman’s registration of Busan 1215, EPA Reg. No. 1448-433. Without yet having provided Buckman with notice of Nalco’s petition ( c.f. , 40 C.F.R. § 152.99(b)(2)), EPA has started to prepare a formal written respons e to the petition. In th e meantime, however, EPA also has granted Nalco’s petition in effect by authorizing Nalco to distribute and sell an unregistered pesticide product, Nalcon 60620, that is chemically equivalent to Busan 1215 and is marketed to the same customers for th e same commercial application, namely, in situ production of monochloramine (a microbiocide) by pulp and paper mills for use in manufacturing paper and paperboard for food packaging. Furthermore, EPA has accepted the fiction that Nalcon 60620 is a “halogen stabilizer,” even though Nalco’s technically sophi sticated pulp and paper mill customers intentionally use Nalcon 60620 to produce monochloramine, and Nalcon knows that its customers use Nalcon 60620 for this purpose.
Although Buckman’s registration of Busan 1215 is under attack by Nalco, EPA has kept Buckman in the dark about Nalco’s petition and deprived Buckman of the opportunity to defend its registration. Even though Nalco’s continued distribution and sale of Nalcon 60620 without a registration has a substantial ne gative effect on Buckman’s own product sales and its competitive position in the marketplace for pulp and paper biocides, EPA also has deprived Buckman of theFrank T. Sanders, Director June 25, 2008 Page 2

DC:50555045.1 opportunity to challenge EPA’s decision to a llow the distribution and sale of Nalcon 60620 without a registration, which contradicts the Agency’s rationale for registering Busan 1215, undermines EPA’s own regulatory authority under FIFRA, and pr esents imminent threats to worker safety and aquatic organisms, because EPA has not evaluated and approved Nalco’s label statements and directions for use to ensure that safe levels of monochloramine are produced and used in situ and, later, released to waste water.
Accordingly, we respectfully request that EPA immediately provide us with a copy of Nalco’s December 2007 petition and records of all EPA correspondence with Nalco to date regarding the petition, including but not limited to the Agency’s decision to allow the continued distribution and sale of Nalcon 60620 without a registration, in whatever form EPA communicated such decision to Nalco. We also request an immediate meeting with EPA in Washington, D.C. to address Nalc o’s petition and the Agency’s decision to allow the distribution and sale of Nalcon 60620 without a registration, since Buckman ha s been unfairly deprived of the opportunity to defend its registration and bu siness interests for six months, while EPA has entertained Nalco’s petition in secret and wh ile Nalco has actively undermined Buckman’s market position with Nalcon’s unregistered pesticide product. We also request EPA’s immediate assurance that it will not take any final action on Nalco’ s petition without having provided Buckman with a meaningful opportunity to addre ss Nalco’s petition and EPA’s decision to allow the distribution and sale of Na lcon 60620 without a registration.
We will telephone you later today to confirm your receipt of this letter and to discuss EPA’s availability for a face-to-face meeting in Washington, D.C. Given Buckman’s lengthy exclusion from the ongoing petition process to ca ncel Buckman’s registration of Busan 1215 and given the commercial damage alr eady done and still be ing done to Buckman by EPA’s decision to allow the distribution and sa le of Nalcon 60620 without a regi stration, we would appreciate the Agency’s prompt attention to our requests.
Very truly yours,

Michael Boucher /mb Attachment (2 pp.) cc: Betty Shackleford, Associate Dire ctor, EPA/OPP/AD (by electronic mail) Dennis Edwards, Branch Chief, EPA/OPP/AD (by electronic mail)