64210 Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 208 / Monday, October 28, 2013 / Notices 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[EPA–HQ–OPPT–2011–0308; FRL–8869–3] 

Extension of Review Periods Under the 

Toxic Substances Control Act; Certain 

Chemicals and Microorganisms; 

Premanufacture, Significant New Use, 

and Exemption Notices; Delay in 

Processing Due to Lack of Authorized 

Funding 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: Due to the federal government 

shutdown related to the lack of 

authorized funding (i.e., a Fiscal Year 

2014 Appropriations Bill or a 

Continuing Resolution), EPA is 

extending the review periods for all 

Premanufacture Notices (PMNs), 

Significant New Use Notices (SNUNs), 

Microbial Commercial Activity Notices 

(MCANs), and exemption notices 

submitted to the Agency under section 

5 of the Toxic Substances Control Act 

(TSCA), received by EPA on or before 

October 1, 2013, and for which the 

review period had not expired as of 

October 1, 2013. Additionally, EPA did 

not receive notifications with respect to 

such submissions on or after October 1, 

2013, and before the date on which the 

shutdown terminated on October 16, 

2013, and the affected operations 

resumed on October 17, 2013. Also, 

during the shutdown, submissions made 

through e-PMN/CDX or other methods 

were not processed by EPA. 

Consequently, the review period for any 

TSCA section 5 notice submitted during 

the shutdown did not begin until 

operations resumed on October 17, 

2013. 

DATES: The duration of this extension 

period is equivalent to the duration of 

the shutdown, i.e., 16 days (equivalent 

to the number of days accruing from 

October 1, 2013 to October 16, 2013). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Greg 

Schweer, Chemical Control Division 

(7405M), Office of Pollution Prevention 

and Toxics, Environmental Protection 

Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., 

Washington, DC 20460–0001; telephone 

number: (202) 564–8469; email address: 

schweer.greg@epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. General Information 

A. Does this document apply to me? 

You may be affected by this document 

if you are, or may in the future be, a 

manufacturer, importer, or processor of 

a chemical substance that requires 

submission of a PMN, MCAN, SNUN, or 

exemption notice under section 5 of 

TSCA (15 U.S.C. 2604) and applicable 

EPA regulations. Potentially affected 

entities may include: 

• Manufacturers, importers, or 

processors of one or more subject 

chemical substances (NAICS codes 325 

and 324110), e.g., chemical 

manufacturing and petroleum refineries. 

The North American Industrial 

Classification System (NAICS) codes 

listed are not intended to be exhaustive, 

but rather provides a guide to help 

readers determine whether this 

document applies to them. 

To determine whether you or your 

business may be affected by this action, 

you should carefully examine the 

applicability provisions in 40 CFR 

721.5. 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. How can I get additional 

information? 

Information about the TSCA section 5 

requirements can be found at http://

www.epa.gov/oppt/newchems/. 

C. What is the agency’s authority for 

taking this action? 

Under TSCA section 5(c), 15 U.S.C. 

2604(c), EPA has authority for good 

cause to unilaterally extend the notice 

review period for PMNs, MCANs, and 

SNUNs, thereby extending the period 

before manufacturing or processing the 

subject chemical substances may begin. 

(See also 40 CFR 720.75(c) for PMNs 

and SNUNs, and 40 CFR 725.56 for 

MCANs.) TSCA section 26(c), 15 U.S.C. 

2625(c), authorizes EPA to take action 

with respect to a category of chemical 

substances; in this case, the category is 

all chemical substances that are the 

subject of the specified notices and 

exemption applications received before 

October 1, 2013, for which the notice 

review period would otherwise expire 

on or after October 1, 2013. Under TSCA 

section 5(c), extensions of the review 

period for an individual TSCA section 

5 notice shall not total more than 90 

days. Because the extension described 

in this Federal Register notice (i.e., 16 

days) is less than 90 days, EPA reserves 

the right under TSCA section 5(c) to 

issue, for good cause, future additional 

extensions for individual cases up to a 

total of 90 days. 

TSCA section 5(h), 15 U.S.C. 2604(h), 

authorizes EPA to exempt 

manufacturers and/or processors of 

chemical substances from all or part of 

the requirements of section 5 if EPA 

determines that the proposed 

manufacture, processing, distribution in 

commerce, use, or disposal of such 

chemical substance will not present an 

unreasonable risk to health or the 

environment. Pursuant to this and other 

authorities, EPA has concluded that the 

additional time specified in this notice 

is required to evaluate the exemption 

applications described in Unit II.A., and 

determine whether the chemical 

substances that are the subject of these 

exemption applications will not present 

an unreasonable risk. 

II. Extension of Review Periods 

A. Which TSCA review periods are 

affected? 

Section 5 of TSCA and 40 CFR part 

720 require any person who intends to 

manufacture (defined by statute to 

include import) a new chemical 

substance (i.e., a chemical not on the 

TSCA section 8(b) Inventory) to notify 

EPA at least 90 days before commencing 

non-exempt commercial manufacture in 

the form of a PMN. At least 90 days 

advance notice for manufacture of new 

microorganisms is required under 40 

CFR part 725, in the form of an MCAN. 

Under section 5 of TSCA and 40 CFR 

part 721, any person intending to 

manufacture or process a chemical 

substance for a significant new use, as 

designated by EPA in a SNUR, must also 

give EPA at least 90 days advance notice 

in the form of a SNUN. SNURs for 

microorganisms appear at 40 CFR part 

725, subpart M. 

There are a number of exemptions 

from the above-described 90-day PMN, 

MCAN, and SNUN notice requirements. 

Several of these exemptions require 

submitting to EPA a written notice or 

application, which is subject to a review 

period shorter than 90 days. For 

example, pursuant to TSCA section 

5(h)(1), EPA has promulgated a Test 

Market Exemption (TME) from the 

PMN, MCAN, and SNUN 90-day notice 

requirements. The TME from the PMN 

requirement appears at 40 CFR 720.38; 

the TME from the MCAN requirement is 

codified in 40 CFR part 725, subpart F 

(40 CFR 725.300 through 725.370); and 

the TME from the SNUN requirement 

appears at 40 CFR 721.45(a). Under 

TSCA section 5(h)(4), EPA promulgated 

at 40 CFR 723.50 a Low Volume 

Exemption (LVE) and a Low Release/

Low Exposure (LOREX) Exemption from 

the PMN requirement. The regulations 

at 40 CFR part 725 pertaining to 

genetically engineered microorganisms 

provide several exemptions from the 90- 

day MCAN requirement, including the 

TSCA Experimental Release Application 

(TERA) at 40 CFR part 725, subpart E, 


wreier-aviles on DSK5TPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 208 / Monday, October 28, 2013 / Notices 64211 

and the Tier I and Tier II Exemptions at 

40 CFR part 725, subpart G. 

B. What action is the agency taking? 

Effective October 1, 2013, due to the 

lack of authorized funding (i.e., a Fiscal 

Year 2014 Appropriations Bill or a 

Continuing Resolution), certain EPA 

functions were suspended. During the 

shutdown, no review work was 

performed on the TSCA section 5 

notifications received by EPA on or 

before October 1, 2013, and for which 

the review period had not yet expired as 

of October 1, 2013. Because of the 

shutdown, EPA is now extending, 

pursuant to TSCA sections 5(c) and 

26(c) and 40 CFR 720.75(c), the review 

periods of all TSCA section 5 

notifications received on or before 

October 1, 2013, and for which the 

review period has not yet expired as of 

October 1, 2013. 

There is a possibility that the 

chemical substances submitted for 

review in these TSCA section 5 

notifications may need to be regulated 

by EPA under TSCA. The Agency 

requires an extension of the review 

periods to complete its risk assessment, 

to examine its regulatory options, and to 

prepare the necessary documents, 

should regulatory action be required. 

Therefore, EPA has determined that 

good cause exists to extend, under 

TSCA section 5(c), the review period for 

each such TSCA section 5 notification. 

The duration of this extension period 

is equivalent to the duration of the 

shutdown, i.e., equivalent to the number 

of days accruing from October 1, 2013, 

and the date on which this shutdown 

terminated on October 16, 2013, and 

EPA operations resumed on October 17, 

2013, or a total of 16 days. Under TSCA 

section 5(c), the total extensions of the 

review period for an individual PMN 

shall in no event exceed 90 days. Thus, 

since the extension described in this 

notice is for less than 90 days, EPA 

reserves the right to issue additional 

extensions under TSCA section 5(c) in 

the future for good cause up to a total 

of 90 days. 

Because of these circumstances, EPA 

is taking the following actions and is 

requesting the assistance of notifiers as 

described in this unit: 

Category 1—TSCA section 5 notices 

and exemptions submitted to EPA on or 

after October 1, 2013, and before the 

date on which the affected operations 

resumed on October 17, 2013. During 

the shutdown, submissions made 

through e-PMN/CDX or other methods 

were not processed. Consequently, the 

review period for any TSCA section 5 

notice submitted during the shutdown 

did not begin until operations resumed 

on October 17, 2013. 

Category 2—TSCA section 5 

exemption notices scheduled to expire 

on or after October 1, 2013. For any 

exemption notices that have not been 

granted by EPA and for which the 

review period was scheduled to expire 

on or after October 1, 2013, EPA is 

hereby extending the notice review 

period by 16 days (the number of days 

equivalent to the duration of the 

shutdown). This additional time is 

required to ensure there is sufficient 

opportunity to determine that the 

chemical substances that are the subject 

of the exemption applications will not 

present an unreasonable risk. 

Category 3—TSCA section 5 PMNs, 

MCANs, and SNUNs scheduled to 

expire on or after October 1, 2013. For 

any PMN, MCAN, or SNUN for which 

the review period was scheduled to 

expire on or after October 1, 2013, EPA 

is hereby extending the notice review 

period by 16 days (the number of days 

equivalent to the duration of the 

shutdown). 

C. Congressional Review Act 

The Congressional Review Act, 5 

U.S.C. 801 et seq., generally provides 

that before the Agency can impose 

binding requirements like those 

contained in a rule, the Agency must 

submit a rule report, which includes a 

copy of the document, to each House of 

the Congress and to the Comptroller 

General of the United States. Although 

this document is not a rule, it is binding 

in the sense that the suspension of the 

review periods announced in this 

document are binding. EPA has 

submitted a report to the U.S. Senate, 

the U.S. House of Representatives, and 

the Comptroller General of the United 

States prior to publication of this 

document in the Federal Register. 

List of Subjects 

Environmental protection, Chemicals, 

Microbial Commercial Activity Notices, 

Microorganisms, Premanufacture 

Notices, Significant New Use Notices, 

Test Marketing Exemptions. 

Dated: October 21, 2013. 

Maria J. Doa, 

Director, Chemical Control Division, Office 

of Pollution Prevention and Toxics. 

[FR Doc. 2013–25386 Filed 10–25–13; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[EPA–HQ–OPP–2013–0490; FRL–9902–06] 

FIFRA Scientific Advisory Panel; 

Notice of Cancellation 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Agency is issuing this 

notice to cancel the 3-day meeting of the 

Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and 

Rodenticide Act Scientific Advisory 

Panel (FIFRA SAP) to consider and 

review scientific uncertainties 

associated with corn rootworm 

resistance monitoring for Bt corn Plant 

Incorporated Protectants (PIPs) 

scheduled for October 30—November 1, 

2013. The meeting was announced in 

the Federal Register on August 9, 2013. 

The meeting will be rescheduled. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Fred 

Jenkins, DFO, Office of Science 

Coordination and Policy (7201M), 

Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 

Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Washington, 

DC 20460–0001; telephone number: 

(202) 564–3327; fax number: (202) 564– 

8382; email address: jenkins.fred@

epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

meeting was announced in the Federal 

Register on August 9, 2013 (78 FR 

48672, FRL–9394–3). This meeting will 

be rescheduled in the near future and 

announced in the Federal Register. 

List of Subjects 

Environmental protection, Pesticides 

and pests. 

Dated: October 23, 2013. 

David Dix, 

Director, Office of Science Coordination and 

Policy. 

[FR Doc. 2013–25572 Filed 10–24–13; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[EPA–HQ–OPP–2013–0485; FRL–9902–08] 

FIFRA Scientific Advisory Panel; 

Notice of Cancellation 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Agency is issuing this 

notice to cancel the 1-day meeting of the 

Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and 

Rodenticide Act Scientific Advisory 

Panel (FIFRA SAP) to consider and 

review RNAi Technology as a Pesticide: 


wreier-aviles on DSK5TPTVN1PROD with NOTICES