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MEMORANDUM
SUBJECT: Closure of the OPP Docket Email Box
FROM: Jim Jones, Director Office of Pesticide Programs
TO: Pesticide Stakeholders
We want to make sure that you are aware that all future Federal Register notices for opening dockets will no longer offer the option of submitting comments to the OPP Docket Email Box. As of February 8, 2006, all Federal Register notices will cite only the following three options for submitting comments:
* www.regulations.gov * US. Mail Service or other private mail services * Courier Service
This option has been discontinued because comments sent to the OPP Docket Email Box cannot link to the new Federal-wide document management system (www.regulations.gov). Also, maintaining two email boxes for the receipt of comments places a significant burden on the resources available to carry out the OPP docket functions.
The OPP Docket Email Box will remain open through April 10, 2006, so that the Docket staff can continue to process comments submitted to the OPP Email Box for dockets that were opened before the week of February 8, 2006.
We recognize that changing to this new system may cause some confusion. Thus, for your convenience, we have attached a copy of the Public User Guide for www.Regulations.gov, which we hope you will find informative and user friendly. This document management system was commissioned by several Federal Departments and Agencies and was developed by Lockheed Martin. The Public User Guide provides extensive detailed instructions and graphics, which we hope you will find quite useful and will allow you to more easily navigate the new Federal-wide document management system.
We are aware and sincerely acknowledge the difficulties encountered by our OPP Stake Holders in navigating the new Federal-wide document management system (www.regulations.gov) and ask for your patience. Once again, this is a new system to all its users and some processes are still being "tweaked" by the developers based upon the problems reported.
Also, based upon inquiries we have received from our customers, we have included below a list of common user issues/questions and have provided responses we hope will be helpful to you. We also have two other resources available upon request:
1. Public User Guide, which is designed to help you navigate through and use all aspects of the Regulations.gov Web site, including: _ Accessing and navigating the Regulations.gov Web site _ Searching for Regulations and Documents _ Commenting on open Regulations and Documents _ Accessing further help in using the Regulations.gov Web site
2. Information on how to set your Pop-up Blockers to allow pop-ups from Regulations.gov and the FDMS
To obtain either of these documents, please reply to this message with the name of the document you would like to receive, and we will email it to you.
If you have further questions about the new Federal document management system, please contact the Help Desk for Regulations.gov at 1-877-378-5457, Monday through Friday, 8:00am - 5:00pm.
Thank you again for your cooperation.
Examples of Common User Problems and Issues
1. How do I find public comments and supporting documents? Response: Public User Guide, page 14, Section 5.0 (Advanced Docket Search), Sub-section 5.1 (Conduct A Docket Search) you will find instructions and graphics on how to perform a detailed docket search for comments and supporting documents.
2. How can you access a docket by chemical name or docket number? Response: Public User Guide, page 9, Section 4.2 (Search for Regulations and Federal Actions), Step 5.you will find instructions and graphics on how to search for all regulations by chemical name/docket number under the key word field.
3. How do I submit comments? Response: Public User Guide, page 24. Section 7.1 (Submitting Comments to Federal Agencies and Departments via Regulations.gov), Sub-section 7.1.1, you will find instructions and graphics on how to submit comments to a specific docket.
4. How do I submit comments with attachments? Response: Public User Guide, page 30. Section 7.1, (Submitting Comments to Federal Agencies and Departments via Regulations.gov), Sub-section 7.1.4, you will find instructions and graphics on how to submit comments with attachments to a specific docket.
5. When attempting to submit an extensive amount of comments, the system will "time out" before completion. Response: This problem has been reported to Regulations.gov and it is being actively investigated by Regulations.gov. Until that problem is resolved, we recommend you prepare your comments in word perfect or Microsoft word and then "paste" your comments into the comment box.
6. The system "times out" when attempting to open large risk assessment and appendices files. Response: This problem has also been reported to Regulations.gov and it is being investigated by Regulations.gov.
7. Does Regulations.gov support all common internet browsers? Response: On the home page for Regulations.gov, Section User Tips - Compatible Internet Browsers and User Workstation Requirements, it states that this system was designed to be compatible with two browsers: Internet Explorer and Netscape Internet.
8. Can documents be saved to a disk directly from Regulations.gov? Response: Unfortunately, that capability is not offered by the system The user can only print the "search view" of a docket.
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EPA distributes its Pesticide Program Updates to external stakeholders and citizens who have expressed an interest in pesticide activities and decisions. This update service is part of EPA's continuing effort to improve public access to Federal pesticide information.
For general questions on pesticides and pesticide poisoning prevention, contact the National Pesticide Information Center (NPIC), toll free, at: 1-800-858-7378, by E-mail at npic@ace.orst.edu, or by visiting their website at: http://npic.orst.edu/
To report an environmental violation, visit EPA's website at http://www.epa.gov/compliance/complaints/index.html
For information about EPA's pesticide program, visit our homepage at: http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/