^£DSr/|\ U.S. Environmental Protection Agency	February 10 2021
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l Office of Inspector General
M' At a Glance
Why We Did This Evaluation
The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency's Office of
Inspector General conducted
this evaluation to determine
whether management controls
within the EPA's Special Local
Needs registration program
effectively promote the EPA's
goals of risk reduction and
pollution prevention, as stated in
its strategic plan. The EPA's
SLN program—which is
managed by the Office of
Pesticide Programs, or OPP—
allows states to register
pesticides to address existing or
imminent pest problems within a
state for which an appropriate
federally registered pesticide
product is not available. Most
SLN registrations are issued for
pesticide products that the EPA
has registered but that are
unapproved for a specific crop
or use. The EPA reviews SLN
applications to determine
whether they are protective of
human health and the
environment.
This evaluation addresses the
following:
•	Ensuring the safety of
chemicals.
This evaluation addresses top
EPA management challenges:
•	Complying with key internal
control requirements (policies
and procedures).
•	Overseeing states
implementing EPA programs.
Address inquiries to our public
affairs office at (202) 566-2391 or
OIG WEBCOMMENTS@epa.gov.
EPA Is at Risk of Not Achieving Special Local
Needs Program Goals for Pesticides
Without a sufficient
management-control
system and other
improvements, the SLN
program will not effectively
promote risk reduction and
pollution prevention.
What We Found
The SLN program lacks three components that
would improve its effectiveness: a comprehensive
system of management controls to achieve the
Agency's goals of risk reduction and pollution
prevention, a publicly accessible database, and a
method of effective communication with program
stakeholders. For example, without a public SLN
database, stakeholders cannot access relevant
information for their states, and states cannot use examples from other states to
make better decisions about when to grant an SLN registration.
Specifically, we found that the OPP has not developed performance measures that
would demonstrate the progress or effectiveness of the SLN program and the OPP
does not collect data to demonstrate the risk reduction and pollution prevention
results of the program. In addition, the OPP does not have standard operating
procedures in place to oversee the implementation of the program. An SLN
registration is effective as soon as the state approves the application unless the EPA
disapproves it. Without a consistent and effective application review process, human
health and the environment may be at risk. Further, we determined that the OPP
needs detailed guidance to assist states in developing consistent SLN registration
applications.
We also found that the OPP does not have an SLN database that would allow state
stakeholders to review the approved SLN registrations and labels of other states
while those stakeholders prepare their own applications. Finally, we found that the
OPP does not consistently communicate to its stakeholders.
Recommendations and Planned Agency Corrective Actions
We recommend that the assistant administrator for Chemical Safety and Pollution
Prevention develop management controls for reviewing SLN registrations; improve
guidance to states for SLN registration submissions; make an SLN database
available to the public that includes registration date, duration, and individual state
SLN labels; develop performance measures and collect data to demonstrate
risk-reduction and pollution-prevention outcomes; and inform states of the availability
of presubmission consultative services.
The Agency agreed with our recommendations and provided acceptable corrective
actions and estimated completion dates. The recommendations are resolved with
corrective actions pending.
List of OIG reports.

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