2022-27024. Chlorpyrifos; Notice of Receipt of Requests To Voluntarily Cancel Certain Pesticide Registrations and Amend Registrations To Terminate/Amend Certain Uses

AGENCY:

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

In accordance with the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), EPA is issuing a notice of receipt of requests by the registrants to voluntarily cancel certain product registrations containing the pesticide chlorpyrifos and to amend their chlorpyrifos registrations to terminate one or more uses. EPA intends to grant these requests at the close of the comment period for this announcement, unless the Agency receives substantive comments within the comment period that would merit its further review, or the registrants withdraw their requests. If these requests are granted, any sale, distribution, or use of products listed in this notice will be permitted after the registrations have been cancelled or the uses terminated only if such sale, distribution, or use is consistent with the terms as described in the final order.

DATES:

Comments must be received on or before January 12, 2023.

ADDRESSES:

The docket for this action, identified by docket identification (ID) number EPA-HQ-OPP-2022-0223, is available at https://www.regulations.gov. Additional instructions on visiting the docket, along with more information about dockets generally, is available at https://www.epa.gov/​dockets. For the latest status information on EPA/DC services and docket access, visit https://www.epa.gov/​dockets.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Patricia Biggio, Pesticide Re-Evaluation Division (7508P), Office of Pesticide Programs, Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20460-0001; telephone number: 202-566-0700; email address: [e-mail].

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 interest to a wide range of stakeholders including environmental, human health, and agricultural advocates; the chemical industry; pesticide users; and members of the public interested in the sale, distribution, or use of pesticides. Since others also may be interested, the Agency has not attempted to describe all the specific entities that may be affected by this action.

B. What should I consider as I prepare my comments for EPA?

1. Submitting CBI. Do not submit this information to EPA through https://www.regulations.gov or email. 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 preparing and submitting your comments, see the commenting tips at https://www.epa.gov/​dockets/​commenting-epa-dockets.

II. What action is the Agency taking?

This notice announces receipt by the Agency of requests from registrants to cancel certain pesticide product registrations and terminate certain uses of product registrations. These affected registrations are listed in sequence by registration number in Table 1 and Table 2 of this Unit. Table 3 of this Unit includes the names and addresses of record for the registrants of the products listed in Table 1 and Table 2 of this Unit, in sequence by EPA company number. This company number corresponds to the first part of the EPA registration numbers of the products listed in Table 1 and Table 2 of this Unit.

Unless the Agency determines that there are substantive comments that warrant further review of the requests or the registrants withdraw their requests, EPA intends to issue an order in the Federal Register canceling all of the registrations and terminating uses as requested.

Table 1—Chlorpyrifos Product Registrations With Pending Requests for Cancellation

Registration No.	Company No.	Product name	Active ingredients
62719-34	62719	Lorsban 15G	Chlorpyrifos.
62719-79	62719	LOCK-ON	Chlorpyrifos.
62719-220	62719	Lorsban-4E	Chlorpyrifos.
62719-221	62719	Lorsban 50W in Water Soluble Packets	Chlorpyrifos.
62719-254	62719	Dursban 4E-N	Chlorpyrifos.
62719-301	62719	Lorsban 75WG	Chlorpyrifos.
62719-353	62719	Dursban F Insecticidal Chemical	Chlorpyrifos.
62719-355	62719	Dursban R Insecticidal Chemical	Chlorpyrifos.
62719-575	62719	Cobalt	Chlorpyrifos gamma-Cyhalothrin.
62719-591	62719	Lorsban advanced	Chlorpyrifos.
62719-615	62719	Cobalt advanced	Chlorpyrifos.
1381-243	1381	Tundra Supreme	Chlorpyrifos Bifenthrin.
83222-34	83222	CPF 15G	Chlorpyrifos.
83222-20	83222	CPF 4E	Chlorpyrifos.

Table 2—Chlorpyrifos Registrations With Pending Requests for Termination of Specific Use(s)

Registration No.	Company No.	Product name	Uses to be terminated
11678-58	11678	Pyrinex Chlorpyrifos Insecticide	Food uses: Agricultural Crops [Terrestrial Food Crop, Greenhouse Food Crop]: Alfalfa; apple; asparagus; banana; beet (sugar, garden/table, including crops grown for seed); blueberry; Brassica (cole) leafy vegetables (bok choy, broccoli, broccoli raab, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, collards, kale, kohlrabi); caneberries; cherimoya; cherries (sour, sweet); citrus fruits, corn (field corn, sweet corn (including corn grown for seed)); cotton; cranberry; cucumber; date; feijoa; fig; grape; kiwifruit; leek; legume vegetables (succulent or dried), mint; nectarine; onion (dry bulb); peach; peanut; pear; pepper; plum; prune; pumpkin; radish (including crops grown for seed); rutabaga; sapote; seed and pod vegetables; sorghum (milo); strawberry; sugarcane; sunflower; sweet potato; tree nuts, turnip; wheat; seed treatment. Commercial Livestock Housing: Cattle ear tags, poultry houses, turkey barns, swine barns, and dairy barns. Tobacco.
66222-19	66222	Chlorpyrifos 4E AG	Food uses: Alfalfa, apple tree trunk, asparagus, cherries, citrus fruits (calmondin, chironja, citrus citron, citrus hybrids, grapefruit, kumquat, lemons, limes, mandarin, tangerine, oranges, pummelo, Satsuma mandarin, tangelo, tangor, and other citrus fruit), cranberries, figs, grapes; legume vegetables including adzuki bean, asparagus bean, bean, blackeyed pea, broad bean (dry and succulent), catjang, chickpea, Chinese longbean, cowpea, crowder pea, dwarf pea, edible pod pea, English pea, fava bean, field bean, field pea, garbanzo bean, garden pea, grain lupin, green pea, guar, hyacinth bean, jackbean, kidney bean, lablab bean, lentil, lima bean, moth bean, mung bean, navy bean, pea, pigeon pea, pinto bean, rice bean, runner bean, snap bean snow pea, southern pea, sugar snap pea, sweet lupin, sword bean, tepary bean, urd bean, wax bean, white lupin, white sweet lupin, yardlong bean; mint (peppermint and spearmint), plums, prunes, nectarines, peaches, almonds, onions, peanuts, pears, sorghum, soybeans, strawberries, sugar beets, sunflowers, sweet potatoes, tree fruits, tree nuts, almonds, filberts, pecans, walnuts; almond, pecan, walnut orchard floors; vegetables, Brassica (cole) leafy vegetable (bok choy), cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, Chinese cabbage, collards, kale, kohlrabi, turnips, radishes, rutabagas, wheat, cotton; seed treatment. Tobacco.
66222-233	66222	Vulcan	Food uses: Alfalfa, apple, citrus fruits: calamondin, chironja, citrus citron, citrus hybrids, grapefruit, kumquat, lemons, limes, mandarin (tangerine), oranges, pummelo, Satsuma mandarin, tangelo, tangor, citrus orchard floors, corn (field and sweet) (including corn grown for seed), cotton, cranberries, figs, grapes; legume vegetables, including adzuki bean, asparagus bean, bean, blackeyed pea, broad bean (dry and succulent), catjang, chickpea, Chinese longbean, cowpea, crowder pea, dwarf pea, edible pod pea, English pea, fava bean, field bean, field pea, garbanzo bean, garden pea, grain lupin, green pea, guar, hyacinth bean, jackbean, kidney bean, lablab bean, lentil, lima bean, moth bean, mung bean, navy bean, pea, pigeon pea, pinto bean, rice bean, runner bean, snap bean, snow pea, southern pea, sugar snap pea, sweet lupin, sword bean, tepary bean, urd bean, wax bean, white lupin, white sweet lupin, yardlong bean; mint (peppermint and spearmint), nectarines, peaches, almonds, onions (dry bulb), peanuts, pears, sorghum, soybeans, strawberries, sugar beets, sunflowers, sweet potatoes, tree fruits and nuts: almond, cherry, nectarine, peach, pear, plum, prune, walnut, filberts; almond, pecan, and walnut orchard floors; vegetables: cauliflower, broccoli, broccoli raab, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, Chinese cabbage, collards, kale, kohlrabi, rutabaga, turnips, radish, wheat; seed treatment. Tobacco.

Table 3—Registrants Requesting Voluntary Cancellation or Termination of Uses

EPA company No.	Company name and address
11678	ADAMA US, 3120 Highwoods Boulevard, Suite 100, Raleigh, NC 27604.
66222	ADAMA US, 3120 Highwoods Boulevard, Suite 100, Raleigh, NC 27604.
62719	Corteva Agriscience, LLC, 9330 Zionsville Road, Indianapolis, IN 46268.
1381	Winfield Solutions, LLC, 1080 County Rd., F West, MS5705, P.O. Box 64589, St. Paul, MN 55164.
83222	Winfield Solutions, LLC, 1080 County Rd., F West, MS5705, P.O. Box 64589, St. Paul, MN 55164.

III. What is the Agency's authority for taking these actions?

Section 6(f)(1) of FIFRA (7 U.S.C. 136d(f)(1)) provides that a registrant of a pesticide product may at any time request that any of its pesticide registrations be cancelled or amended to terminate one or more registered uses. FIFRA further provides that, before acting on the request, EPA must publish a notice of receipt of any such request in the Federal Register .

Section 6(f)(1)(B) of FIFRA (7 U.S.C. 136d(f)(1)(B)) requires that before acting on a request for voluntary cancellation, EPA must provide a 30-day public comment period on the request for voluntary cancellation or use termination. In addition, FIFRA section 6(f)(1)(C) (7 U.S.C. 136d(f)(1)(C)) requires that EPA provide a 180-day comment period on a request for voluntary cancellation or termination of any minor agricultural use before granting the request, unless:

1. The registrants request a waiver of the comment period, or

2. The EPA Administrator determines that continued use of the pesticide would pose an unreasonable adverse effect on the environment.

The registrants in Table 2 of Unit II have requested that EPA waive the 180-day comment period. Accordingly, EPA will provide a 30-day comment period on the proposed requests.

IV. Procedures for Withdrawal of Request

Registrants who choose to withdraw a request for cancellation should submit such withdrawal in writing to the person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT . If the products have been subject to a previous cancellation action, the effective date of cancellation and all other provisions of any earlier cancellation action are controlling.

V. Provisions for Disposition of Existing Stocks

Existing stocks are those stocks of registered pesticide products that are currently in the United States and that were packaged, labeled, and released for shipment prior to the effective date of the cancellation action.

If the requests for voluntary cancellation and amendments to terminate uses are granted, the Agency intends to publish a final cancellation order in the Federal Register . In any order issued in response to these requests for cancellation of product registrations and for amendments to terminate uses, EPA proposes to include the following provisions for the treatment of any existing stocks of the products listed in Tables 1 and 2 of Unit II.

EPA proposes prohibiting all use of existing stocks of chlorpyrifos products identified in Tables 1 and 2 for food uses. Because all chlorpyrifos tolerances expired on February 28, 2022, use of chlorpyrifos in or on food will result in adulterated food, which cannot be delivered into interstate commerce. Such use would be inconsistent with the purposes of FIFRA. EPA is proposing to allow use of existing stocks of chlorpyrifos products identified in Tables 1 and 2 for non-food uses identified on the existing labels, as long as such use is consistent with the label. All other use of existing stocks of chlorpyrifos products would be prohibited.

Moreover, EPA proposes prohibiting all sale and distribution of existing stocks of the chlorpyrifos products identified in Tables 1 and 2 of Unit II, except for export consistent with FIFRA section 17 (7 U.S.C. 136o) or for proper disposal, in accordance with state regulations. In addition, EPA is working with Corteva and Adama to develop plans for the return of existing stocks of chlorpyrifos to the registrants. Corteva and Adama are developing plans for the return of existing stocks of chlorpyrifos to the registrants. Subject to EPA approval, the terms and conditions of these plans will be implemented through the Cancellation Orders governing the distribution of these products under those return programs. If EPA and Corteva and Adama can come to agreement on those plans, EPA intends to include in the final cancellation order terms allowing for distribution consistent with those return programs.

Authority:7 U.S.C. 136 et seq.

Dated: December 8, 2022.

Mary Reaves,

Director, Pesticide Re-Evaluation Division, Office of Pesticide Programs.