Public Comment Period Now Open for OTT Dicamba Registrations
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Collapse ▲The EPA has opened the public comment period for proposed registrations of over-the-top (OTT, i.e., post-emergent) dicamba herbicides. Individuals wishing to provide comments on the registrations can submit comments to the EPA from now until August 22nd.
One notable change has been added to the proposed registrations. The initial proposed registrations provided application cutoff dates for two of the three proposed labels, with Bayer’s XtendiMax prohibiting any OTT applications. On the latest proposed labels, the application cutoff dates and growth stage restrictions have been replaced with a prohibition on applications where temperature is above 95 degrees Fahrenheit. In practice, the temperature-based prohibition would prevent a farmer from spraying the proposed dicamba products when temperatures reach or exceed 95 degrees Fahrenheit on the day of the application or the day following the application, with temperature measured by NOAA or the National Weather Service at the hottest part of each day. While applications are permissible where the temperature is below 95 degrees Fahrenheit, there is a staggered system of additional restrictions that begin when temperatures reach 75 degrees Fahrenheit on the day of the application or the following day.
In a memorandum discussing the proposed registrations, the EPA stated that temperature-based cutoffs provide applicators with more flexibility in the timing of dicamba applications. Other restrictions on applications of dicamba under the proposed registrations include a 240-foot downwind buffer, volatility-reduction agents, an outright prohibition on aerial applications, among other measures.
Incorporation of the Herbicide Strategy into FIFRA Registration
The public comment period also extends to the EPA’s draft effects determination, which relates to the proposed dicamba registrations’ effects on endangered species, threatened species, and critical habitat.
In recent years, the EPA has been developing the ‘Herbicide Strategy,’ which is the incorporation of Endangered Species Act (ESA) requirements into the registration process for herbicides under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). As an aside, the EPA has also developed an ‘Insecticide Strategy’ to accomplish the same goal for the FIFRA registration process for insecticides.
As part of the Herbicide Strategy, the EPA has to conduct a Section 7 consultation under the ESA – essentially an evaluation to see if the proposed herbicide will affect species listed as endangered or threatened or critical habitats under the ESA. For species or habitats that are likely to be affected, the EPA is required to propose mitigations.
For the proposed dicamba registrations, the EPA found in its draft effects determination that the herbicides would be not likely to adversely affect 83 listed species and 39 critical habitats. In the same draft effects determination, the EPA found that the proposed registrations would be likely to adversely affect 329 listed species and 81 critical habitats. However, with subsequent mitigations, the EPA found that there was no potential likelihood of future jeopardy for any listed species or adverse modification.
Unlike the pre-Herbicide Strategy era where FIFRA registration occurred without a Section 7 consultation, the EPA, after the end of the public comment period, will initiate a biological evaluation to determine if dicamba will in fact affect endangered species, threatened species, or critical habitat. This biological evaluation will be shared with both the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), who are required to form their own biological opinions. If the FWS or NMFS determine in their biological opinions that additional mitigations are necessary, the EPA is required to work with registrants (i.e., the pesticide companies submitting applications for FIFRA registration) to ensure necessary changes are made to the registration and/or labeling changes. Given the recency of the requirement for a Section 7 consultation, it is unclear at this time as to when OTT dicamba might be available again.
Further Reading
Readers who are interested in why OTT dicamba herbicides are not currently available can read this article in the N.C. State Economist.