Notice2024-01457
Pesticides; Request for Stakeholder Input on the Proposed Design of Assistance Agreements for a National Farmworker Training and Education Program; Notice of Availability and Opportunity for Comment
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Published
January 25, 2024
Issuing agencies
Environmental Protection Agency
Abstract
EPA is announcing the availability of a Request for Information (RFI) that seeks public comment to inform the design of its National Farmworker Training and Education Program (NFTEP). The NFTEP will be a series of assistance agreements to conduct pesticide safety trainings for farmworkers and farmworker communities, create pesticide safety educational and training materials, and develop innovative outreach and delivery strategies. The Pesticide Registration Improvement Act of 2022 (PRIA 5) included set-asides of up to $7.5 million in total for fiscal years 2023-2027 to fund the NFTEP. PRIA 5 also requires EPA to seek input from persons who conduct farmworker education and training to inform the program's Notices of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs), formerly called Requests for Applications (RFAs). EPA has previously solicited input on its PRIA-funded worker protection activities, including cooperative agreements, through the Pesticide Program Dialogue Committee (PPDC), which includes representatives of farmworker-serving organizations.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 17 (Thursday, January 25, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 17 (Thursday, January 25, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4944-4945]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-01457]
[[Page 4944]]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OPP-2023-0643; FRL-11635-01-OCSPP]
Pesticides; Request for Stakeholder Input on the Proposed Design
of Assistance Agreements for a National Farmworker Training and
Education Program; Notice of Availability and Opportunity for Comment
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: EPA is announcing the availability of a Request for
Information (RFI) that seeks public comment to inform the design of its
National Farmworker Training and Education Program (NFTEP). The NFTEP
will be a series of assistance agreements to conduct pesticide safety
trainings for farmworkers and farmworker communities, create pesticide
safety educational and training materials, and develop innovative
outreach and delivery strategies. The Pesticide Registration
Improvement Act of 2022 (PRIA 5) included set-asides of up to $7.5
million in total for fiscal years 2023-2027 to fund the NFTEP. PRIA 5
also requires EPA to seek input from persons who conduct farmworker
education and training to inform the program's Notices of Funding
Opportunities (NOFOs), formerly called Requests for Applications
(RFAs). EPA has previously solicited input on its PRIA-funded worker
protection activities, including cooperative agreements, through the
Pesticide Program Dialogue Committee (PPDC), which includes
representatives of farmworker-serving organizations.
DATES: Submit your comments on or before March 25, 2024.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by docket identification
(ID) number EPA-HQ-OPP-2023-0643, through the Federal eRulemaking
Portal at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>. Follow the online instructions
for submitting comments. Do not submit electronically any information
you consider to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other
information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Additional
instructions on commenting or visiting the docket, along with more
information about dockets generally, is available at <a href="https://www.epa.gov/dockets">https://www.epa.gov/dockets</a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Isabel Gross, Office of Chemical
Safety and Pollution Prevention, Pesticide Re-evaluation Division
(7508M), Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW,
Washington, DC 20460-0001; telephone number: (202) 566-1741; email
address: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#91f6e3fee2e2bff8e2f0f3f4fdd1f4e1f0bff6fee7"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="395e4b564a4a17504a585b5c55795c4958175e564f">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Executive Summary
A. Does this action apply to me?
This notice is directed to the general public and may be of
specific interest to entities that conduct education and training of
farmworkers (e.g., governmental and non-governmental organizations,
non-profit organizations, community-based organizations, labor
organizations, academic institutions, research institutions, community
health centers and clinics, public health administration and
environmental health administration programs, and private sector
entities). Because others may also be interested in this notice, the
EPA has not attempted to describe all entities that may be interested
in the subject.
B. What is the Agency's authority for taking this action?
The Pesticide Registration Improvement Act of 2022 (referred to as
PRIA 5), Public Law 117-328, amended the Federal Insecticide,
Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), 7 U.S.C. 136 et seq., to
include up to $7,500,000 of set-aside funds in total for a Farmworker
Training Program. Funds are for fiscal years 2023 through 2027.
Under PRIA section 703(a)(1)(G)(i), the NFTEP should provide
assistance agreements to facilitate training and education for
farmworkers and farmworker communities on pesticide safety, rights
related to pesticide safety, and the Worker Protection Standard; to
develop educational and training materials; and to develop and test
innovative outreach and delivery strategies to better reach farmworkers
and farmworker communities with these trainings and materials.
PRIA section 703(a)(1)(G)(iii), specifies that only community-based
nonprofit farmworker organizations are eligible to receive this
funding. Section 703(a)(1)(G)(ii) of PRIA 5 further states that, in
order to be eligible to receive this funding, the community-based
nonprofit farmworker organizations must also have experience providing
training and education services for farmworkers or pesticide handlers,
or experience developing informational materials for farmworkers or
pesticide handlers.
C. Why is EPA taking this action?
The purpose of the RFI is to solicit additional feedback from a
broad array of individuals and organizations with applicable knowledge
and expertise. Additional public input, including environmental justice
perspectives, will help the Agency refine the NOFOs and more
effectively address the disproportionate impact of pesticide illness
and injury on farmworker communities. This action satisfies PRIA
section 703(a)(1)(K)(iv) which requires that EPA seek, in an open and
transparent manner that does not provide a competitive advantage to any
person or persons, input from persons who conduct farmworker education
and training.
D. What should I consider as I prepare my comments?
1. Submitting CBI
Do not submit CBI to EPA through <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> or
email. If you wish to include CBI in your comment, please follow the
applicable instructions at <a href="https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets#rules">https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets#rules</a> and clearly mark the part or all of the information that
you claim to be 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 marked as CBI 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 Tips for Effective
Comments at <a href="https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets">https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets</a>.
II. Background
EPA previously solicited feedback on its PRIA-funded worker
protection activities, including cooperative agreements, from the
Pesticide Programs Dialogue Committee (PPDC), a Federal Advisory
Committee group. The PPDC's Farmworker and Clinician Workgroup met
monthly for most of a year and included representatives of many
different stakeholders, such as community-based farmworker nonprofit
organizations, community-based organizations that serve Indian Tribes,
university extension programs, industry, State regulators, farm
bureaus, other federal agencies, and current EPA grantees. The
workgroup formulated a series of recommendations, which the full PPDC
then adopted and sent for EPA's consideration. The recommendations can
be found at https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2021-10/
presentation-
[[Page 4945]]
farmworker-and-clinician-training-workgroup-recommendations.pdf. These
recommendations were supported by anecdotes shared by members from two
additional Federal Advisory Committees, the National Environmental
Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC) and the Children's Health Protection
Advisory Committee (CHPAC). EPA has incorporated these recommendations
into the program design elements laid out in the RFI. The RFI, which is
available in the docket, seeks additional feedback to build upon those
recommendations.
III. Request for Public Comment
A. What feedback does EPA hope to gain from the public comments?
In the RFI, the Agency has proposed elements of program designs and
activities to be funded under the NFTEP; it has also posed a series of
related questions, though commenters may address aspects of the program
not discussed in the questions. Generally, EPA is interested in
comments about how to meaningfully involve farmworker communities in
the NFTEP assistance agreements, farmworker communities' specific
language and training needs, successful outreach and delivery
strategies, and priority areas for assistance agreements. For the
specific elements of the proposed program designs, please consult the
RFI document available in the docket. EPA's questions are as follows:
<bullet> How can EPA support meaningful, consistent involvement of
farmworker communities in the design and implementation of these
programs, understanding that they face many barriers to involvement?
<bullet> Are there others who could be considered part of
farmworker communities who are not captured in the ``Definitions''
section of the RFI?
<bullet> What are the barriers to applying for and successfully
managing these agreements, for the organizations described in the
``Eligibility'' section of the RFI?
<bullet> What specific languages (besides Spanish) should these
agreements prioritize for trainings, materials development, and
translations?
<bullet> How can EPA support translations that are both technically
accurate and appropriate to farmworker communities' literacy levels and
cultural context?
<bullet> What trainings are needed to reinforce and supplement the
required annual WPS pesticide safety trainings for workers and
handlers?
<bullet> What educational gaps exist for pesticide handlers (see
the ``Definitions'' section of the RFI), specifically, who may be
considered part of farmworker communities but have additional
responsibilities under the WPS?
<bullet> What are examples of successful outreach strategies to
ensure that farmworker communities have access to pesticide safety
information and trainings?
<bullet> Should EPA select awards based in part on geographic areas
and crops (use sites)?
B. What is the request for information?
In addition to soliciting comment on the questions posed in Unit
III.A. of this document, EPA is seeking stakeholder input on the RFI
document. EPA is interested in comments about how to meaningfully
involve farmworker communities in the NFTEP assistance agreements,
farmworker communities' specific language and training needs,
successful outreach and delivery strategies, and priority areas for
assistance agreements.
EPA encourages all potentially interested parties, including
individuals, governmental and non-governmental organizations, non-
profit organizations, community-based organizations, labor
organizations, academic institutions, research institutions, community
health centers and clinics, public health administration and
environmental health administration programs, and private sector
entities to comment on the RFI and to answer any of the questions
posed. To the extent possible, the Agency asks commenters to please
cite any public data related to or that supports the responses, and to
the extent permissible, describe any supporting data that is not
publicly available.
Authority: 7 U.S.C. 136 et seq.
Dated: January 19, 2024.
Michal Freedhoff,
Assistant Administrator, Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution
Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2024-01457 Filed 1-24-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
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