Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 125 / Wednesday, July 1, 2009 / Notices 31427 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[EPA–HQ–OPP–2009–0481; FRL–8425–1] 

Proposed Stipulated Injunction 

Involving Pesticides and Eleven 

Species Listed as Threatened or 

Endangered Under the Endangered 

Species Act; Notice of Availability 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice of availability; request 

for public comment. 

SUMMARY: EPA is making available for 

comment a proposed Stipulated 

Injunction that would establish a series 

of deadlines for the Agency to make 

‘‘effects determinations’’ and initiate 

consultation, as appropriate, with the 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for 

certain pesticides in regard to one or 

more of 11 species found in the greater 

San Francisco Bay area that are listed as 

endangered or threatened under the 

Endangered Species Act. EPA will 

evaluate all comments received during 

the public comment period to determine 

whether all or part of the proposed 

Stipulated Injunction warrants 

reconsideration or revision. This 

proposed Stipulated Injunction, if 

entered by the Court, would resolve a 

lawsuit brought against EPA by the 

Center for Biological Diversity in the 

United States District Court for the 

Northern District of California. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before July 16, 2009. 

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, 

identified by docket identification (ID) 

number EPA–HQ–OPP–2009–0481, 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 Drive, Arlington, VA. Deliveries 

are only accepted during the Docket’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– 

0481. 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 email. 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 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 Drive, 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: Arty 

Williams, Environmental Fate and 

Effects Division (7507P), Office of 

Pesticide Programs, Environmental 

Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania 

Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460– 

0001; telephone number: (703) 305– 

7695; fax number: (703) 305–6309; email address: williams.arty @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 particular 

interest to the Center for Biological 

Diversity (CBD), CropLife America, 

Responsible Industry for a Sound 

Environment, Reckitt Benckiser, other 

public interest groups, state regulatory 

partners, other interested federal 

agencies, and other pesticide registrants 

and pesticide users. Since other entities 

may also 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. 

31428 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 125 / Wednesday, July 1, 2009 / Notices 

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. What Action is the Agency Taking? 

EPA is making available for comment 

a proposed Stipulated Injunction that 

would establish a series of deadlines for 

the Agency to make ‘‘effects 

determinations’’ and initiate 

consultation, as appropriate, with the 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in 

connection with 74 pesticides and 11 

species listed under the Endangered 

Species Act (ESA) as either endangered 

or threatened. The species, found in the 

greater San Francisco Bay area, are: 

Alameda whipsnake, bay checkerspot 

butterfly, California clapper rail, 

California freshwater shrimp, California 

tiger salamander, delta smelt, salt marsh 

harvest mouse, San Francisco garter 

snake, San Joaquin kit fox, tidewater 

goby, and valley elderberry longhorn 

beetle. EPA will evaluate all comments 

received during the public comment 

period to determine whether all or part 

of the proposed Stipulated Injunction 

warrants reconsideration or revision. 

This proposed Stipulated Injunction, 

available in the public docket, if entered 

by the United States District Court for 

the Northern District of California, 

would resolve a lawsuit brought against 

EPA by CBD. 

III. Background 

On May 30, 2007, CBD filed a lawsuit 

in the Federal District Court for the 

Northern District of California alleging 

that EPA failed to comply with 16 

U.S.C. 1531–1544 in regard to 47 

pesticides and 11 species that are listed 

as endangered or threatened under the 

ESA (Center for Biological Diversity v. 

EPA, No. C 07-02794 JCS (N.D. Cal.)). 

Ultimately, 74 pesticides came to be at 

issue in this case. EPA has reached an 

agreement with CBD that would 

establish a schedule for EPA to come 

into compliance with section 7(a)(2) of 

the ESA for these 74 pesticides and 11 

species, and would include interim 

injunctive relief intended to reduce the 

potential exposure of the 11 species to 

these pesticides during the period of 

time in which EPA will be satisfying its 

section 7(a)(2) consultation obligations. 

The agreement is embodied in the 

proposed Stipulated Injunction that is 

being made available for review and 

comment through this notice. 

The 74 pesticide active ingredients 

named in the lawsuit are: 2,4-D, 

acephate, acrolein, alachlor, aldicarb, 

aluminum phosphide, atrazine, 

azinphos-methyl, bensulide, betacyfluthrin, bifenthrin, brodifacoum, 

bromadiolone, bromethalin, carbaryl, 

carbofuran, chlorophacinone, 

chlorothalonil, cholecalciferol, 

chlorpyrifos, cyfluthrin, cyhalothrin 

(lambda), cypermethrin, deltamethrin, 

diazinon, difethialone, dimethoate, 

diphacinone, diquat dibromide, 

disulfoton, endosulfan, EPTC (eptam), 

esfenvalerate, ethoprop, fenpropathrin, 

fipronil, fluvalinate, imidacloprid, 

magnesium phosphide, malathion, 

maneb, mancozeb, metam sodium, 

methamidophos, methidathion, 

methomyl, methoprene, methyl 

bromide, metolachlor, naled, oryzalin, 

oxydemeton-methyl, oxyfluorfen, PCNB, 

pendimethalin, permethrin, phenothrin, 

phomet, phorate, potassium nitrate, 

propargite, resmethrin, s-metolachlor, 

simazine, sodium cyanide, sodium 

nitrate, strychnine, tetramethrin, 

thiobencarb, tralomethrin, trifulralin, 

warfarin, zeta-cypermethrin, and zinc 

phosphide. EPA has already made effect 

determinations for 6 of these pesticides 

relative to a subset of the 11 species: 

2,4-D, alachlor, atrazine, endosulfan, 

permethrin, and phorate. For the 

remaining pesticides, EPA will make 

effect determinations for each of these 

pesticides and some subset of the 11 

species at issue on a rolling basis, 

starting with a first batch of effect 

determinations due October 20, 2009, 

and ending with a last batch of effect 

determinations due no later than June 

30, 2014. 

In addition, and as already mentioned 

above, the Stipulated Injunction would 

(with some exceptions) enjoin, vacate 

and set aside EPA’s authorization of use 

of the pesticides in and adjacent to 

certain habitat features associated with 

each of the 11 species in specific 

geographic areas within 8 California 

counties (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, 

Napa, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, 

and Sonoma). This interim injunctive 

relief would terminate automatically for 

a pesticide upon the completion of 

EPA’s consultation obligation under 

section 7(a)(2) of the ESA (including a 

‘‘no effect’’ determination) for the 

particular pesticide. The Stipulated 

Injunction would also require EPA to 

develop and distribute a brochure 

regarding the Stipulated Injunction and 

the 11 species, provide certain 

information to certified pesticide 

applicators in California, and provide 

certain information to the public 

through the EPA web site. 

Beginning July 1, 2009, EPA is 

opening a 15–day comment period on 

the proposed Stipulated Injunction. EPA 

will review any comments received to 

determine whether all or part of the 

proposed Stipulated Injunction warrants 

reconsideration or revision. If EPA 

determines that any part of the proposed 

Stipulated Injunction merits 

reconsideration or revision, EPA will 

contact CBD concerning this matter and 

the proposed Stipulated Injunction will 

not be submitted to the Court until EPA 

and CBD reach agreement on any such 

changes. If EPA determines that the 

proposed Stipulated Injunction does not 

need to be reconsidered or revised, the 

proposed Stipulated Injunction will be 

submitted to the Court and shall become 

effective upon entry of an Order by the 

Court ratifying the Stipulated 

Injunction. Once the Stipulated 

Injunction is ratified by Order of the 

Court, EPA will post on its web site at 

http:www.epa.gov/pesticides a notice 

indicating the Stipulated Injunction has 

been so entered. 

List of Subjects 

Environmental protection, 

Endangered species. 

Dated: June 25, 2009. 

James Jones, 

Acting Assistant Administrator, Office of 

Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances 

[FR Doc. E9–15531 Filed 6–30–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–S 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[EPA–HQ–OPP–2009–0321; FRL–8417–2] 

Sodium Dimethyldithiocarbamate; 

Notice of Receipt of Requests for 

Amendments to Delete Uses in a 

Pesticide Registration 

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 request for 

amendments by registrants to delete 

uses in a pesticide registration. 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 amended to delete one 

or more uses. FIFRA further provides 

that, before acting on the request, EPA 

must publish a notice of receipt of any 

request in the Federal Register.