Document ID: EPA-HQ-OGC-2022-0511-0001
Agency: epa
Document Type: Notice
Title: Proposed Consent Decree: Unreasonable Delay Claim Regarding Petition Concerning Treated Seeds and Treated Article Exemption
Posted Date: 2022-07-06T04:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 128 (Wednesday, July 6, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40233-40234]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-14338]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OGC-2022-0511; FRL-9986-01-OGC]

Proposed Consent Decree, Unreasonable Delay Claim Regarding 
Petition Concerning Treated Seeds and Treated Article Exemption

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of proposed consent decree; request for public comment.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 
Administrator's March 18, 2022, Memorandum entitled Consent Decrees and 
Settlement Agreements to Resolve Environmental Claims Against the 
Agency, notice is hereby given of a proposed consent decree that 
resolves Center for Food Safety, et al. v. U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, a case in the United States District Court for the 
Northern District of California (3:21-cv-09640-JSC) that alleges EPA 
unreasonably delayed responding to a petition for rulemaking, submitted 
to EPA on or around April 26, 2017, relating to the regulatory 
exemption of pesticide treated seed.

DATES: Written comments on the proposed consent decree must be received 
by August 5, 2022.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-
OGC-2022-0511 online at https://www.regulations.gov (EPA's preferred 
method). Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the Docket ID 
number for this action. Comments received may be posted without change 
to https://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information 
provided. For detailed instructions on sending comments, see the 
``Additional Information about Commenting on the Proposed Consent 
Decree'' heading under the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this 
document.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Amber Aranda, Pesticides and Toxic 
Substances Law Office; telephone (202) 564-3186; email address 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Obtaining a Copy of the Proposed Consent Decree

    The official public docket for this action (identified by Docket ID 
No. EPA-HQ-OGC-2022-0511) contains a copy of the proposed consent 
decree. The official public docket is available for public viewing at 
the Office of Environmental Information (OEI) Docket in the EPA Docket 
Center, EPA West, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC. 
The EPA Docket Center Public Reading Room is open from 8:30 a.m. to 
4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The 
telephone number for the Public Reading Room is (202) 566-1744, and the 
telephone number for the OEI Docket is (202) 566-1752.
    The electronic version of the public docket for this action 
contains a copy of the proposed consent decree and is available through 
https://www.regulations.gov. You may use https://www.regulations.gov to 
submit or view public comments, access the index listing of the 
contents of the official public docket, and access those documents in 
the public docket that are available electronically. Once in the 
system, key in the appropriate docket identification number then select 
``search.''

II. Additional Information About the Proposed Consent Decree

    Prior to this lawsuit being filed, EPA received a petition on or 
around April 26, 2017, requesting that EPA (1) amend 40 CFR 152.25(a) 
to exclude seeds for planting coated with systemic pesticides intended 
to kill pests of the plant, or, (2) in the alternative, publish a 
formal agency interpretation in the Federal Register stating that 40 
CFR 152.25(a) does not apply to seeds for planting coated with systemic 
pesticides intended to kill pests of the plant, and (3) aggressively 
enforce FIFRA's numerous pesticide registration and labeling 
requirements for each separate crop seed product that is coated with a 
neonicotinoid or other systemic insecticidal chemical (hereinafter, 
this petition will be referred to as the ``2017 Petition'' and the 
three requests enumerated in this paragraph will be referred to as the 
``2017 Petition Requests''). EPA sought public comment on the 2017 
Petition. See ``Pesticides; Petition Seeking Rulemaking or a Formal 
Agency Interpretation for Planted Seeds Treated with Systemic 
Insecticides; Request for Comment,'' 83 FR 66260 (December 26, 2018) 
(the ``Request for Comment''). EPA received approximately 100 
substantive comments. Plaintiffs filed a Complaint on December 14, 
2021, alleging that EPA's failure to respond to the petition 
constitutes an unreasonable delay under Section 706(1) of the 
Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. 706(1).
    This proposed consent decree states that no later than September 
30, 2022, the appropriate EPA official shall, by

[[Page 40234]]

letter, either grant, deny, or grant in part and deny in part each of 
the 2017 Petition Requests. Court approval of this proposed consent 
decree would resolve all claims in this case except for the claim for 
the costs of litigation, including reasonable attorneys' fees.
    For a period of thirty (30) days following the date of publication 
of this notice, the Agency will accept written comments relating to the 
proposed consent decree from persons who are not named as parties to 
the litigation in question. EPA or the Department of Justice may 
withdraw or withhold consent to the proposed consent decree if the 
comments disclose facts or considerations that indicate that such 
consent is inappropriate, improper, inadequate, or inconsistent with 
the requirements of the APA or FIFRA. Unless EPA or the Department of 
Justice determines that consent should be withdrawn, the terms of the 
proposed consent decree will be affirmed and entered with the Court.

III. Additional Information About Commenting on the Proposed Consent 
Decree

    Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OGC-2022-
0511 via https://www.regulations.gov. Once submitted, comments cannot 
be edited or removed from this docket. EPA may publish any comment 
received to its public docket. Do not submit to EPA's docket at https://www.regulations.gov any information you consider to be Confidential 
Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is 
restricted by statute. Multimedia submissions (audio, video, etc.) must 
be accompanied by a written comment. The written comment is considered 
the official comment and should include discussion of all points you 
wish to make. EPA will generally not consider comments or comment 
contents located outside of the primary submission (i.e., on the web, 
cloud, or other file sharing system). For additional submission 
methods, the full EPA public comment policy, information about CBI or 
multimedia submissions, and general guidance on making effective 
comments, please visit https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets. For additional information about submitting information 
identified as CBI, please contact the person listed in the FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document.
    If you submit an electronic comment, EPA recommends that you 
include your name, mailing address, and an email address or other 
contact information in the body of your comment. This ensures that you 
can be identified as the submitter of the comment and allows EPA to 
contact you in case EPA cannot read your comment due to technical 
difficulties or needs further information on the substance of your 
comment. Any identifying or contact information provided in the body of 
a comment will be included as part of the comment that is placed in the 
official public docket and made available in EPA's electronic public 
docket. 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.
    Use of the https://www.regulations.gov website to submit comments 
to EPA electronically is EPA's preferred method for receiving comments. 
The electronic public docket system is an ``anonymous access'' system, 
which means EPA will not know your identity, email address, or other 
contact information unless you provide it in the body of your comment.
    Please ensure that your comments are submitted within the specified 
comment period. Comments received after the close of the comment period 
will be marked ``late.'' EPA is not required to consider these late 
comments.

    Dated: June 30, 2022.
Randolph L. Hill,
Associate General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2022-14338 Filed 7-5-22; 8:45 am]
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