EPA Pesticide Registration and ESA Compliance

Executive Summary

EPA wants to collect more information on the use of nanoscale ingredients in pesticide products.  EPA’s currently proposed process for collecting and evaluating this information is marred by

• the lack of a clear definition of what constitutes a pesticide nanoscale material;
• the need to determine additional core data requirements (product chemistry, toxicology, environmental fate, ecotoxicology, etc.) and standard testing methodologies based on new information gathered since the 2009 SAP on nanosilver pesticides (http://www.epa.gov/scipoly/sap/meetings/2009/110309ameeting.html); and
• the need to propose regulatory processes, including the appropriate use of bridging data and identifying chemical classes of concern/triggers.

On October 31, 2011, the United States District Court for Maryland rejected industry challenges to a biological opinion issued by NMFS for the pesticides chlorpyrifos, malathion and Diazinon, and their effects on salmon.  This BiOp is part of court ordered consultation between EPA and NMFS during EPA’s FIFRA pesticides registration process. Dow AgroSciences, LLC, Makhteshim Agan of North America, Inc., and Cheminova, Inc. USA, challenged NMFS’ BiOp, alleging various violations of the Administrative Procedure Act and the Endangered Species Act.

The Court’s opinion is attached below.

esadowbiopdecision

Tier 1 of EPA’s Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program focuses on pesticides.  EPA recently published a Weight of Evidence guidance document to be used in assessing Tier 1 test results from the EDSP. The WoE document is available online at http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=EPA-HQ-OPPT-2010-0877-0021 .

EPA has also published Standard Evaluation Procedures to be used during Tier 1 of the EDSP. [1] The SEPs are available online at http://www.epa.gov/endo/pubs/toresources/seps.htm .

EPA representatives at the October 17, 2011, SFIREG meeting stated that operators covered by EPA’s imminent pesticides general permit will have until January 12, 2012, to file a notice of intent under the PGP.  EPA hopes that this grace period will relieve some of the pressured caused by the PGP’s October 31, 2011, court-ordered publication/compliance date.    At the meeting, one of the SFIREG members asked EPA to move the court for a six-month extension of the publication/compliance date.  The SFIREG member said that in his state there will be many persons unable to comply with the current deadline.   The EPA representatives at the meeting responded by saying that EPA does not intend to request that the court extend the deadline.

The California Association of Sanitation Agencies, a state-wide association of publicly owned wastewater treatment agencies, sent a letter dated September 20, 2011, to Sen. Barbara Boxer, who is Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.  This letter states the public owned treatment works’ opposition to the Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act of 2011, H.R. 872) that is pending before the U.S. Senate.  Their letter states in part: