Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 15 / Friday, January 23, 1998 / Notices 3565

January 27, 1998, in order to be

included on the agenda. Written

comments may be submitted to the

Accident Prevention Subcommittee up

through the date of the meeting. Please

address such material to Karen

Shanahan at the above address.

The Accident Prevention

Subcommittee expects that public

statements presented at its meetings will

not be repetitive or previously

submitted oral or written statements. In

general, for teleconference call

meetings, opportunities for oral

comment will be limited to no more

than three minutes per speaker and no

more than fifteen minutes total. Written

comments (twelve copies) received

sufficiently prior to a meeting date (one

week prior to a meeting or

teleconference), may be mailed to the

Subcommittee prior to its meeting.

Additional information on the

Accident Prevention Subcommittee is

available on the Internet at: http://

www.epa.gov/swercepp/rmp-wg.html

If you would like to automatically

receive future information on the

Accident Prevention Subcommittee by

email, please send an email to Karen

Shanahan at:

shanahan.karen@epamail.epa.gov

requesting to be put on the email list for

these groups. Please include your name,

address and phone number.

Dated: January 20, 1998.

Karen Shanahan,

Designated Federal Official.

[FR Doc. 98–1640 Filed 1–22–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY

[OPPTS–42191B; FRL–5768–2]

Endocrine Disruptors; Notice of Public

Meeting

AGENCY: Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of public meeting.

SUMMARY: EPA is announcing the

seventh meeting the Endocrine

Disruptors Screening and Testing

Advisory Committee (EDSTAC), a

committee established under the

provisions of the Federal Advisory

Committee Act (FACA) to advise EPA

on a strategy for screening chemicals

and pesticides for their potential to

disrupt endocrine function in humans

and wildlife.

DATES: The EDSTAC Plenary meeting

will begin on Tuesday, February 3, 1998

at 9 a.m. and end at 4 p.m. The meeting

on Wednesday, February 4, 1998, will

begin at 8:30 a.m. and end at 4 p.m.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at

The Madison Hotel located at 11777

15th Street, NW., Washington, D.C. The

telephone number is (202) 862–1600.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For

technical information about the

EDSTAC contact Dr. Anthony

Maciorowski (telephone: (202) 260–

3048; e-mail:

maciorowski.tony@epamail.epa.gov) or

Mr. Gary Timm (telephone (202) 260–

1859; e-mail:

timm.gary@epamail.epa.gov) at EPA. To

obtain additional information please

contact the contractor assisting EPA

with meeting facilitation and logistics:

Ms. Tutti Otteson, The Keystone Center,

P.O. Box 8606, Keystone, CO 80435;

telephone: (970) 468–5822; fax (970)

262–0152; e-mail totteson@keystone.org.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

tentative agenda for the February 3–4,

1998 plenary meeting includes status

reports from the Screening and Testing

and Priority Setting workgroups. This

plenary will not include a public

comment session.

List of Subjects

Environmental Protection.

Dated: January 20, 1998.

Susan H. Wayland,

Acting Assistant Administrator, Office of

Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances.

[FR Doc. 98–1768 Filed 1–22–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6560–50–F

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY

[OPP–00461A; FRL–5732–8]

Self-Certification of Product Chemistry

Data; Notice of Availability of PR

Notice

AGENCY: Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of availability.

SUMMARY: EPA is announcing the

availability of PR Notice 98–1, entitled

‘‘Self-Certification of Product Chemistry

Data.’’ This PR Notice describes the

Agency’s policy on self-certification of

certain product chemistry data of

manufacturing-use products and enduse products produced by a nonintegrated formulation system. Products

eligible for self-certification are

formulated from registered sources. This

program is voluntary and is intended to

streamline, simplify, and accelerate the

registration of pesticides while

protecting public health and the

environment.

ADDRESSES: The PR Notice is available

from, by mail: Sami Malak, Technical

Review Branch, Registration Division

(7505C), Office of Pesticide Programs,

Environmental Protection Agency, 401

M St., SW., Washington, DC 20460. The

public record, including all public

comments, as well as a summary of the

Agency review of comments are filed in

OPP’s Docket Office under docket

control number ‘‘OPP–00461,’’ located

in Room 1132 of the Public Information

and Records Integrity Branch,

Information Resources and Services

Division (7506C). The OPP’s Docket

Office is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.,

Monday through Friday, excluding legal

holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: By

mail: Sami Malak; at the address given

above. Office location and telephone

number: Room 256, CM #2, 1921

Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, VA,

(703) 308–9365; by FAX (703) 308–

9382; by e-mail:

malak.sami@epamail.epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Electronic Availability:

Internet

Electronic copies of this document

and the various support documents are

available from the EPA Home Page at

the Federal Register--Environmental

Documents entry for this document

under ‘‘Laws and Regulations’’ (http://

www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/).

Fax on Demand

Using a faxphone call 202–401–0527

and select item 6106 for a copy of the

PR Notice.

Under the self-certification program,

applicants will submit a one-page

summary of the product’s physical/

chemical properties, a self-certification

statement, and a Good Laboratory

Practice Standards statement (GLP), but

will no longer be required to submit the

supporting data for those studies.

However, registrants must retain in their

possession studies conducted in

substantial conformity with Agency

regulations and must submit such

studies if requested by EPA. The

requirements pertaining to the physical/

chemical properties for chemical

(conventional) pesticides are outlined in

the table in 40 CFR 158.190, OPPTS

Test Guidelines Series 830, Product

Properties (EPA publication 712–C–96–

310, 8/96), Series 880, Biochemical Test

Guidelines, and Series 885, Microbial

Pesticides Test Guidelines. It should be

noted that OPPTS Test Guidelines,

Series 830 supersedes the Pesticide
3566 Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 15 / Friday, January 23, 1998 / Notices

Assessment Guidelines, Subdivision-D,

Product Chemistry for chemical

pesticides, and Series 880 and 885

superseded Pesticide Assessment

Guidelines, Subdivision M.

The PR Notice was revised to reflect

public comments received by the

Agency on the draft PR Notice, 62 FR

5228, February 4, 1997 (FRL–5575–3).

Generally, revisions included:

(a) Some modifications to the

summary form and instructions.

(b) Conversion to the new OPPTS Test

Guidelines, Series 830 guideline

reference numbers.

(c) Clarification of the GLP

requirements.

(d) Revisions to the self-certification

statement.

List of Subjects

Environmental protection.

Dated: January 12, 1998.

Stephen L. Johnson,

Acting Director, Office of Pesticide Programs.

[FR Doc. 98–1528 Filed 1–22–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6560–50–F

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY

[OPPTS–400056; FRL–5762–2]

Phosphoric Acid; Toxic Chemical

Release Reporting; Community Rightto-Know

AGENCY: Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Denial of petition.

SUMMARY: EPA is denying a petition to

delete phosphoric acid from the

reporting requirements under section

313 of the Emergency Planning and

Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986

(EPCRA) and section 6607 of the

Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 (PPA).

This action is based on EPA’s

conclusion that phosphoric acid does

not meet the deletion criteria of EPCRA

section 313(d)(3). Specifically, EPA is

denying this petition because EPA’s

review of the petition and available

information resulted in the conclusion

that phosphoric acid meets the listing

criterion in EPCRA section 313(d)(2)(C)

in that the phosphates that result from

the neutralization of phosphoric acid

may cause algal blooms. Algal blooms

result in deoxygenation of the water and

other effects that may ultimately lead to

a number of serious adverse effects on

ecosystems, including fish kills and

changes in the composition of animal

and plant life.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Daniel R. Bushman, Petitions

Coordinator, 202-260-3882, e-mail:

bushman.daniel@epamail.epa.gov, for

specific information on this document,

or for more information on EPCRA

section 313, the Emergency Planning

and Community Right-to-Know Hotline,

Environmental Protection Agency, Mail

Code 5101, 401 M St., SW., Washington,

DC 20460, Toll free: 1-800-535-0202, in

Virginia and Alaska: 703-412-9877 or

Toll free TDD: 1-800-553-7672.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

A. Statutory Authority

This action is taken under sections

313(d) and (e)(1) of the Emergency

Planning and Community Right-toKnow Act of 1986 (EPCRA), 42 U.S.C.

11023. EPCRA is also referred to as Title

III of the Superfund Amendments and

Reauthorization Act of 1986 (SARA)

(Pub. L. 99-499).

B. Background

Section 313 of EPCRA requires certain

facilities that manufacture, process, or

otherwise use listed toxic chemicals in

amounts above reporting threshold

levels, to report their environmental

releases of such chemicals annually.

Beginning with the 1991 reporting year,

such facilities must also report pollution

prevention and recycling data for such

chemicals, pursuant to section 6607 of

the Pollution Prevention Act (42 U.S.C.

13106). Section 313 established an

initial list of toxic chemicals that was

comprised of more than 300 chemicals

and 20 chemical categories. Phosphoric

acid (PA) was included in the initial list

of chemicals and chemical categories.

Section 313(d) authorizes EPA to add

chemicals to or delete chemicals from

the list, and sets forth criteria for these

actions. Under section 313(e)(1), any

person may petition EPA to add

chemicals to or delete chemicals from

the list. EPA has added and deleted

chemicals from the original statutory

list. Pursuant to EPCRA section

313(e)(1), EPA must respond to petitions

within 180 days either by initiating a

rulemaking or by publishing an

explanation of why the petition has

been denied.

EPCRA section 313(d)(2) states that a

chemical may be listed if any of the

listing criteria are met. Therefore, in

order to add a chemical, EPA must

demonstrate that at least one criterion is

met, but does not need to examine

whether all other criteria are also met.

Conversely, in order to remove a

chemical from the list, EPA must

demonstrate that none of the criteria are

met.

EPA issued a statement of petition

policy and guidance in the Federal

Register of February 4, 1987 (52 FR

3479), to provide guidance regarding the

recommended content and format for

petitions. On May 23, 1991 (56 FR

23703), EPA issued a statement of

policy and guidance regarding the

recommended content of petitions to

delete individual members of the

section 313 metal compound categories.

EPA has issued a statement clarifying its

interpretation of the section 313(d)(2)

and (3) criteria for adding and deleting

chemicals from the section 313 toxic

chemical list (59 FR 61432; November

30, 1994) (FRL-4922-2).

II. Description of Petition

On November 9, 1990, The Fertilizer

Institute (TFI) petitioned the Agency to

delist PA from the list of toxic

chemicals subject to reporting under

section 313 of EPCRA (Ref. 1). The TFI

petition was very similar to a petition

that Ecolab, Inc. submitted on December

14, 1989, requesting EPA to delete PA

from the EPCRA section 313 list of toxic

chemicals (Ref. 2). During the final days

of the review on this first petition,

Ecolab, Inc. withdrew the petition.

Nevertheless, EPA issued a notice in the

Federal Register of June 25, 1990 (55 FR

25876), describing its technical review

and evaluation of the petition. As part

of the notice, the Agency stated that it

would have denied the petition and

noted that its concern for PA is due to

PA’s contribution to eutrophication,

which results from phosphate loading in

the environment. In that notice, the

Agency also requested public comment

on the creation of an EPCRA section 313

phosphates category that would include

PA. Although EPA is not proposing to

add a phosphates category at this time,

it intends to propose such a category in

a separate rulemaking at a later date.

Because it believes that the comments

received in response to the earlier notice

and EPA’s responses to those comments

provide information relevant to the

listing of PA under EPCRA section 313,

it addresses those comments in Unit V.

of this document.

The petition submitted by TFI was

reviewed to identify the issues that

differed from the Ecolab petition. The

assertions that TFI addressed in its

subsequent petition were: (1) PA does

not meet the statutory criteria of section

313 of EPCRA; (2) the vast majority of

PA releases are by sources not covered

by the requirements of EPCRA section

313 at that time and therefore, the

environmental effects attributed to

phosphate loading caused by PA are not