Citrus Greening and Asian Citrus Psyllid; Availability of a Finding of No Significant Impact, 67881-67882 [E7-23369]
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67881
Notices
Federal Register
Vol. 72, No. 231
Monday, December 3, 2007
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER
contains documents other than rules or
proposed rules that are applicable to the
public. Notices of hearings and investigations,
committee meetings, agency decisions and
rulings, delegations of authority, filing of
petitions and applications and agency
statements of organization and functions are
examples of documents appearing in this
section.
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection
Service
[Docket No. APHIS–2007–0135]
Citrus Greening and Asian Citrus
Psyllid; Availability of a Finding of No
Significant Impact
Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
AGENCY:
SUMMARY: We are advising the public
that we have prepared a finding of no
significant impact relative to a new
Federal order that restricts the interstate
movement of regulated articles from
areas quarantined for citrus greening
disease and the Asian citrus psyllid.
The finding of no significant impact is
based on an environmental assessment
that we prepared to document our
review and analysis of the potential
environmental impacts associated with
the implementation of the new Federal
order. In a notice published in the
Federal Register on November 2, 2007,
we made the environmental assessment
available to the public for review and
comment, but noted that we may have
to begin an expanded citrus greening
regulatory program in Florida
immediately and issue a finding of no
significant impact for the environmental
assessment before the comment period
on the environmental assessment
concludes.
The finding of no significant
impact was signed on November 2,
2007.
DATES:
Mr.
Stephen R. Poe, Senior Operations
Officer, Emergency and Domestic
Programs, PPQ, APHIS, 4700 River Road
Unit 134, Riverdale, MD 20737–1236;
(301) 734–8899.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
VerDate Aug<31>2005
16:17 Nov 30, 2007
Jkt 214001
Background
Citrus greening, also known as
huanglongbing, is considered to be one
of the most serious citrus diseases in the
world. Citrus greening is a bacterial
disease that attacks the vascular system
of plants. The bacteria are phloemlimited and cause yellow shoots,
blotchy mottling and chlorosis, reduced
foliage, and tip dieback of citrus plants.
It greatly reduces production, destroys
the economic value of the fruit, and can
kill trees. Once infected, there is no cure
for a tree with citrus greening disease.
In areas of the world where citrus
greening is endemic, citrus trees decline
and die within a few years and may
never produce usable fruit. Citrus
greening is widespread in Asia, Africa,
and the Saudi Arabian Peninsula. It has
been reported in Sao Paulo, Brazil. It
was first detected in the United States
in Miami-Dade County, Florida, in 2005,
and now has been confirmed in 28
counties in Florida.
On November 2, 2007, we published
a notice 1 in the Federal Register (72 FR
62204–62205, Docket No. APHIS–2007–
0135) in which we advised the public
that an environmental assessment had
been prepared by the Animal and Plant
Health Inspection Service (APHIS)
relative to a new Federal order that
restricts the interstate movement of
regulated articles from areas
quarantined for citrus greening disease
and the Asian citrus psyllid. The
environmental assessment documents
our review and analysis of the potential
environmental impacts associated with
the implementation of the new Federal
order. We made the environmental
assessment available to the public for
review and solicited comments for 30
days ending on December 3, 2007.
In our November 2, 2007, notice, we
informed the public that due to the
serious and destructive nature of citrus
greening disease, we had found it
necessary to expand the number of
counties in Florida from which the
movement of plants that are hosts of
citrus greening is present in order to
prevent the further spread and
infestation of the disease and to expand
the areas quarantined due to the
presence of Asian citrus psyllid so that
1 You may view the environmental assessment
and submit comments on that document by going
to https://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/
component/main?main=DocketDetail&d=APHIS–
2007–0135.
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
host plants can be treated and inspected
before being moved interstate.
That notice also stated that, because
citrus greening is a highly injurious
citrus disease and the Asian citrus
psyllid is harmful both as the insect
vector of the disease and as a significant
citrus pest in its own right, we had
determined that it may be necessary to
immediately address both the disease
and the associated insect pest. This, we
explained, would be accomplished by
restricting the movement of hosts of
citrus greening from areas where the
disease is present, and by regulating and
treating plants that are hosts of the
psyllid from those areas where the
insect is present and may be spread
through the movement of infested
nursery stock.
Based on those considerations, we
advised the public that APHIS may have
to begin the expanded citrus greening
regulatory program in Florida
immediately and issue a finding of no
significant impact for the environmental
assessment before the comment period
on the environmental assessment
concluded. We stated that if that were
to occur, we would still evaluate and
respond to all the comments we
received on the environmental
assessment after the comment period
has ended.
On November 2, 2007, APHIS issued
the new Federal order quarantining 28
Florida counties for citrus greening and
quarantining 32 Texas counties and the
entirety of the States of Florida and
Hawaii, the commonwealth of Puerto
Rico, and the territory of Guam for
Asian citrus psyllid. The Federal order
restricts the movement of all live host
plants and host plant parts from areas
quarantined for citrus greening and
requires Asian citrus psyllid host
material to be inspected, treated, and
the accompanied by a limited permit in
order to be moved from a quarantined
area. Because we have found it
necessary to begin the expanded citrus
greening regulatory program in Florida
immediately, we have likewise found it
necessary to issue a finding of no
significant impact for the environmental
assessment before the comment period
on the environmental assessment has
concluded.
The finding of no significant impact
may be viewed, along with the
environmental assessment on which it
is based, on the Regulations.gov Web
E:\FR\FM\03DEN1.SGM
03DEN1
67882
Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 231 / Monday, December 3, 2007 / Notices
site 2 or in our reading room.3 You may
request paper copies of the
environmental assessment and finding
of no significant impact by calling or
writing to the person listed under FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. Please
refer to the title of the environmental
assessment when requesting copies.
The environmental assessment and
finding of no significant impact have
been prepared in accordance with: (1)
The National Environmental Policy Act
of 1969 (NEPA), as amended (42 U.S.C.
4321 et seq.), (2) regulations of the
Council on Environmental Quality for
implementing the procedural provisions
of NEPA (40 CFR parts 1500–1508), (3)
USDA regulations implementing NEPA
(7 CFR part 1), and (4) APHIS’ NEPA
Implementing Procedures (7 CFR part
372).
Done in Washington, DC, this 27th day of
November 2007.
Kevin Shea,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant
Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. E7–23369 Filed 11–30–07; 8:45 am]
newspapers will remain in effect until it
is superceded by a new list, published
in the Federal Register.
ADDRESSES: Robin Dale, Alaska Region
Group Leader for Appeals, Litigation
and FOIA; Forest Service, Alaska
Region; P.O. Box 21628; Juneau, Alaska
99802–1628.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Robin Dale, Alaska Region Group
Leader for Appeals, Litigation and
FOIA; (907) 586–9344.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This
notice provides the list of newspapers
that Responsible Officials in the Alaska
Region will use to give notice of
decisions subject to appeal under 36
CFR part 217. The timeframe for appeal
under 36 CFR part 217 shall be based on
the date of publication of the legal
notice of the decision in the newspaper
of record identified in this notice.
The newspapers to be used for giving
notice of Forest Service decisions in the
Alaska Region are as follows:
Alaska Regional Office
Decisions of the Alaska Regional
Forester: Juneau Empire, published
daily except Saturday and official
holidays in Juneau, Alaska; and the
Anchorage Daily News, published daily
in Anchorage, Alaska.
BILLING CODE 3410–34–P
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
List of Newspapers To Be Used by the
Alaska Region for Publication of Legal
Notices of Decisions Subject to
Administrative Appeal Under 36 CFR
Part 217
Chugach National Forest
Forest Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice.
Tongass National Forest
AGENCY:
mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
SUMMARY: This notice lists the
newspapers that Forests and the
Regional Office of the Alaska Region
will use to publish legal notice of all
decisions subject to appeal under 36
CFR part 217. The intended effect of this
action is to inform interested members
of the public which newspapers will be
used to publish legal notice of decisions
subject to appeal under 36 CFR part 217,
thereby allowing them to receive
constructive notice of a decision, to
provide clear evidence of timely notice,
and to achieve consistency in
administering the appeals process.
DATES: Publication of legal notices in
the listed newspapers begins on
December 1, 2008. This list of
2 See
footnote 1.
reading room is located in room 1141 of the
USDA South Building, 14th Street and
Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC.
Normal reading room hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.,
Monday through Friday, except holidays. To be
sure someone is there to help you, please call (202)
690–2817 before coming.
3 The
VerDate Aug<31>2005
16:17 Nov 30, 2007
Jkt 214001
Decisions of the Forest Supervisor:
Anchorage Daily News, published daily
in Anchorage, Alaska.
Decisions of the Forest Supervisor:
Ketchikan Daily News, published daily
except Sundays and official holidays in
Ketchikan, Alaska.
Supplemental notices may be
published in any newspaper, but the
timeframes for filing appeals will be
calculated based upon the date that
notices are published in the newspapers
of record listed in this notice.
Dated: November 21, 2007.
Paul K. Brewster,
Acting Regional Forester.
[FR Doc. 07–5895 Filed 11–30–07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410–11–M
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Forest Service
Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests
and Thunder Basin National
Grassland; Wyoming; Inyan Kara
Analysis Area Vegetation Management
Phase II
AGENCY:
PO 00000
Forest Service, USDA.
Frm 00002
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
Notice of intent to prepare an
environmental impact statement.
ACTION:
SUMMARY: The Forest Service is
analyzing the management of rangeland
vegetation resources, which includes
livestock grazing, on the National Forest
System (NFS) lands within the Thunder
Basin National Grasslands. NFS lands
that comprise the Inyan Kara Analysis
Area Vegetation Management Phase II
will be assessed to determine how
existing resource conditions compare to
the desired conditions outlined in the
Thunder Basin National Grassland Land
and Resource Management Plan
(LRMP). A management strategy will be
developed in order to maintain or
improve rangeland and vegetation
conditions toward LRMP desired
conditions.
DATES: Comments concerning the scope
of the analysis must be received by the
30th day after the publication in the
Federal Register. The draft
environmental impact statement (EIS) is
expected February 11, 2008 and the
final environmental impact statement is
expected May 12, 2008.
ADDRESSES: Send written comments to
Marilee Houtler, NEPA Coordinator,
Douglas Ranger District, 2250 East
Richards Street, Douglas, Wyoming
82633 or e-mail to comments-rockymountain-medicine-bow-routt-douglassthunder-basin@fs.fed.us All comments,
including names and addresses when
provided, are placed in the record and
are available for public inspection. The
public may inspect comments received
at Douglas Ranger District, 2250 E.
Richards, Douglas, WY 82633. Visitors
are encouraged to call ahead to (307)
358–4690 to facilitate entry into the
building.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Ernie Gipson, Rangeland Management
Specialist or Misty Hays, Deputy
District Ranger, Douglas Ranger District,
2250 E. Richards Street, Douglas, WY
82633 (307) 358–4690. Individuals who
use telecommunication devices for the
deaf (TDD) may call the Federal
Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1–
800–877–8339 between 8 a.m. and 8
p.m., Eastern Standard Time, Monday
through Friday.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Vegetation
resources on approximately 135,405
acres of NFS lands, lying within the
Thunder Bassin National Grassland
boundaries and within portions of
Weston and Niobrara Counties,
Wyoming (Townships 41–48 North,
Ranges 62–68 West), are being analyzed
to determine if and how existing
conditions differ from desired
conditions outlined in the 2001 LRMP.
E:\FR\FM\03DEN1.SGM
03DEN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 231 (Monday, December 3, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67881-67882]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-23369]
========================================================================
Notices
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules
or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings
and investigations, committee meetings, agency decisions and rulings,
delegations of authority, filing of petitions and applications and agency
statements of organization and functions are examples of documents
appearing in this section.
========================================================================
Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 231 / Monday, December 3, 2007 /
Notices
[[Page 67881]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
[Docket No. APHIS-2007-0135]
Citrus Greening and Asian Citrus Psyllid; Availability of a
Finding of No Significant Impact
AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: We are advising the public that we have prepared a finding of
no significant impact relative to a new Federal order that restricts
the interstate movement of regulated articles from areas quarantined
for citrus greening disease and the Asian citrus psyllid. The finding
of no significant impact is based on an environmental assessment that
we prepared to document our review and analysis of the potential
environmental impacts associated with the implementation of the new
Federal order. In a notice published in the Federal Register on
November 2, 2007, we made the environmental assessment available to the
public for review and comment, but noted that we may have to begin an
expanded citrus greening regulatory program in Florida immediately and
issue a finding of no significant impact for the environmental
assessment before the comment period on the environmental assessment
concludes.
DATES: The finding of no significant impact was signed on November 2,
2007.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Stephen R. Poe, Senior Operations
Officer, Emergency and Domestic Programs, PPQ, APHIS, 4700 River Road
Unit 134, Riverdale, MD 20737-1236; (301) 734-8899.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Citrus greening, also known as huanglongbing, is considered to be
one of the most serious citrus diseases in the world. Citrus greening
is a bacterial disease that attacks the vascular system of plants. The
bacteria are phloem-limited and cause yellow shoots, blotchy mottling
and chlorosis, reduced foliage, and tip dieback of citrus plants. It
greatly reduces production, destroys the economic value of the fruit,
and can kill trees. Once infected, there is no cure for a tree with
citrus greening disease. In areas of the world where citrus greening is
endemic, citrus trees decline and die within a few years and may never
produce usable fruit. Citrus greening is widespread in Asia, Africa,
and the Saudi Arabian Peninsula. It has been reported in Sao Paulo,
Brazil. It was first detected in the United States in Miami-Dade
County, Florida, in 2005, and now has been confirmed in 28 counties in
Florida.
On November 2, 2007, we published a notice \1\ in the Federal
Register (72 FR 62204-62205, Docket No. APHIS-2007-0135) in which we
advised the public that an environmental assessment had been prepared
by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) relative to a
new Federal order that restricts the interstate movement of regulated
articles from areas quarantined for citrus greening disease and the
Asian citrus psyllid. The environmental assessment documents our review
and analysis of the potential environmental impacts associated with the
implementation of the new Federal order. We made the environmental
assessment available to the public for review and solicited comments
for 30 days ending on December 3, 2007.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ You may view the environmental assessment and submit
comments on that document by going to https://www.regulations.gov/
fdmspublic/component/main?main=DocketDetail&d=APHIS-2007-0135.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In our November 2, 2007, notice, we informed the public that due to
the serious and destructive nature of citrus greening disease, we had
found it necessary to expand the number of counties in Florida from
which the movement of plants that are hosts of citrus greening is
present in order to prevent the further spread and infestation of the
disease and to expand the areas quarantined due to the presence of
Asian citrus psyllid so that host plants can be treated and inspected
before being moved interstate.
That notice also stated that, because citrus greening is a highly
injurious citrus disease and the Asian citrus psyllid is harmful both
as the insect vector of the disease and as a significant citrus pest in
its own right, we had determined that it may be necessary to
immediately address both the disease and the associated insect pest.
This, we explained, would be accomplished by restricting the movement
of hosts of citrus greening from areas where the disease is present,
and by regulating and treating plants that are hosts of the psyllid
from those areas where the insect is present and may be spread through
the movement of infested nursery stock.
Based on those considerations, we advised the public that APHIS may
have to begin the expanded citrus greening regulatory program in
Florida immediately and issue a finding of no significant impact for
the environmental assessment before the comment period on the
environmental assessment concluded. We stated that if that were to
occur, we would still evaluate and respond to all the comments we
received on the environmental assessment after the comment period has
ended.
On November 2, 2007, APHIS issued the new Federal order
quarantining 28 Florida counties for citrus greening and quarantining
32 Texas counties and the entirety of the States of Florida and Hawaii,
the commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the territory of Guam for Asian
citrus psyllid. The Federal order restricts the movement of all live
host plants and host plant parts from areas quarantined for citrus
greening and requires Asian citrus psyllid host material to be
inspected, treated, and the accompanied by a limited permit in order to
be moved from a quarantined area. Because we have found it necessary to
begin the expanded citrus greening regulatory program in Florida
immediately, we have likewise found it necessary to issue a finding of
no significant impact for the environmental assessment before the
comment period on the environmental assessment has concluded.
The finding of no significant impact may be viewed, along with the
environmental assessment on which it is based, on the Regulations.gov
Web
[[Page 67882]]
site \2\ or in our reading room.\3\ You may request paper copies of the
environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact by
calling or writing to the person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT. Please refer to the title of the environmental assessment when
requesting copies.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ See footnote 1.
\3\ The reading room is located in room 1141 of the USDA South
Building, 14th Street and Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC.
Normal reading room hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through
Friday, except holidays. To be sure someone is there to help you,
please call (202) 690-2817 before coming.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact
have been prepared in accordance with: (1) The National Environmental
Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), (2)
regulations of the Council on Environmental Quality for implementing
the procedural provisions of NEPA (40 CFR parts 1500-1508), (3) USDA
regulations implementing NEPA (7 CFR part 1), and (4) APHIS' NEPA
Implementing Procedures (7 CFR part 372).
Done in Washington, DC, this 27th day of November 2007.
Kevin Shea,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. E7-23369 Filed 11-30-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-34-P
