National Environmental Policy Act: Implementing Procedures; Addition to Categorical Exclusions for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 39307-39309 [2013-15707]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
• Office of the Secretary

[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 126 (Monday, July 1, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39307-39309]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-15707]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of the Secretary

[FWS-HQ-FHC-2013-N044; FXFR13360900000-134-FF09F14000]


National Environmental Policy Act: Implementing Procedures; 
Addition to Categorical Exclusions for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

AGENCY: Department of the Interior.

ACTION: Notice; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces a proposed categorical exclusion under 
the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for the U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service. The proposed categorical exclusion pertains to adding 
species to the injurious wildlife list under the Lacey Act. The 
addition of this categorical exclusion to the Department of the 
Interior's Departmental Manual will improve conservation activities by 
making the NEPA process for listing injurious species more efficient.

DATES: We will consider comments we receive on or before July 31, 2013.

ADDRESSES: Comment submission: Send comments to Susan Jewell, by one of 
the following methods:
     U.S. mail or hand delivery: U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service; 4401 N. Fairfax Drive, Suite 700, Arlington, VA 22203; or
     Email: prevent_invasives@fws.gov (emails must have 
``Categorical Exclusion'' in the subject line).
    Document availability: You may view the Departmental Manual at 
https://elips.doi.gov/elips/.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Susan Jewell, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service, 4401 N. Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203; telephone 703-358-
2416. If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf, please call 
the Federal Information Relay Service at 800-877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Under the National Environmental Policy Act (42 U.S.C. 4321 et 
seq., NEPA), Federal agencies are required to consider the potential 
environmental impact of agency actions prior to implementation. 
Agencies are then generally required to prepare either an Environmental 
Assessment (EA) or an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). However, 
when a Federal agency identifies classes of actions that under normal 
circumstances do not have a potentially significant environmental 
impact, either individually or cumulatively, Council on

[[Page 39308]]

Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations allow the agency to establish a 
categorical exclusion and to bypass the completion of an EA or an EIS 
when undertaking those actions (40 CFR 1507.3(b); 40 CFR 1508.4). When 
appropriately established and applied, categorical exclusions serve a 
beneficial purpose. They allow Federal agencies to expedite the 
environmental review process for proposals that typically do not 
require more resource-intensive EAs or EISs (CEQ 2010).
    The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) has identified that it 
would be appropriate to provide for a categorical exclusion for the 
Federal action of adding species to the list of injurious wildlife 
under the Lacey Act (18 U.S.C. 42, as amended; the Act). The Act 
authorizes the Secretary of the Interior, as delegated to the Service, 
to prescribe by regulation those wild mammals, wild birds, fish, 
mollusks, crustaceans, amphibians, and reptiles, and the offspring or 
eggs of any of the aforementioned, that are injurious to human beings, 
or to the interests of agriculture, horticulture, or forestry, or to 
the wildlife or wildlife resources of the United States. The provisions 
of the Act regarding injurious species are intended to protect human 
health and welfare and the human and natural environments of the United 
States by identifying and reducing the threat posed by certain wildlife 
species. Listing these species as injurious under the Act subsequently 
prohibits the species from being imported into the United States or 
transported across State lines.
    The listing of species as injurious is, as an agency action, 
subject to environmental review under NEPA procedures. The Service has 
generally prepared EAs for listing rules. A categorical exclusion would 
allow the Service to exercise its authority to protect human health and 
welfare, certain human environments, and trust resources from harm 
caused by injurious species more effectively and efficiently by 
precluding the need to conduct redundant environmental analyses.
    In 2002, the Service used an existing departmental categorical 
exclusion (``Policies, directives, regulations, and guidelines: that 
are of an administrative, financial, legal, technical, or procedural 
nature; or whose environmental effects are too broad, speculative, or 
conjectural to lend themselves to meaningful analysis and will later be 
subject to the NEPA process, either collectively or case-by-case'' (43 
CFR 46.210(i)) in two listing actions. Upon further review, the Service 
believes that this is not the best description of why injurious species 
listings do not have a significant effect on the human environment. 
Therefore, the Service is pursuing the addition of a new categorical 
exclusion for the listing of injurious species under the Act.

Proposed Categorical Exclusion

    The Department of the Interior is proposing to add a categorical 
exclusion to the Department Manual at 516 DM 8.5 C, which covers 
``Permit and Regulatory Functions.'' This section includes approved 
categorical exclusions that address, among other things, the issuance 
of regulations pertaining to wildlife. This proposed addition would 
provide for a categorical exclusion for only the regulatory action of 
listing species as injurious (that is, adding a species to the list). 
The regulatory listing action places the species on a prohibited list, 
which prohibits their importation into the United States and interstate 
transportation. Thus, the activities covered under the categorical 
exclusion are simply to keep species out of the country that are 
injurious or to prevent their spread across State lines.
    The categorical exclusion would not cover, for example, control 
actions (such as constructing barriers) or eradication actions (such as 
applying pesticides). Any such injurious species management measures 
conducted by any Federal agency would undergo appropriate NEPA analysis 
and documentation prior to implementation of the action. The 
categorical exclusion would also not cover the issuance of permits 
(available for individual specimens intended for zoological, 
educational, medical, or scientific use), which is already covered 
under an existing categorical exclusion (516 DM 8.5 C(1)). The 
categorical exclusion would not cover the removal of species from the 
injurious wildlife list under the Act.
    Additionally, application of the proposed categorical exclusion 
would be subject to a review of extraordinary circumstances established 
in regulation by the Department of the Interior (see 50 CFR 46.215). 
Extraordinary circumstances would be subject to the factors or 
circumstances that would cause an otherwise categorically excludable 
action to require further analysis in an EA or EIS. Thus, 
notwithstanding the existence of this categorical exclusion, the 
Service would have to develop an EA or EIS if it found the 
extraordinary circumstances applied to the listing of a particular 
injurious species.

Analysis

    The intent of the proposed categorical exclusion is to more 
effectively protect the human and natural environments of the United 
States from injurious species by making the listing process under the 
Act more efficient. The following three justifications support the 
categorical exclusion:
    (1) Maintaining the environmental status quo. The listing action 
preserves the environmental status quo. That is, these listings ensure 
that certain potential effects associated with introduction of species 
that have been found to be injurious do not occur. In this way, 
injurious wildlife listings maintain the state of the affected 
environment into the future--the state of the environment prior to 
listing or potential introduction in the absence of a listing. Thus, 
prohibiting a nonindigenous injurious species from being introduced 
into an area in which it does not naturally occur cannot have a 
significant effect on the human environment.
    Because the proposed categorical exclusion also serves to make the 
listing process under the Act more efficient, and the listing process 
is designed to limit undesirable environmental effects in the future, 
the categorical exclusion itself supports maintenance of the 
environmental status quo.
    (2) History of findings of no significant impact. Every EA prepared 
for an injurious species listing under the Act since 1982 (the first 
rule promulgated after environmental-assessment guidance was 
established under NEPA) as part of a formal NEPA analysis has resulted 
in a finding of no significant impact (FONSI) without requiring 
mitigation measures, and, therefore, did not necessitate the 
preparation of an EIS.
    The species listed for which an EA was prepared include the raccoon 
dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides, 1983), the Chinese mitten crab (genus 
Eriocheir, 1989), the brown treesnake (Boiga irregularis, 1990), the 
silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, 2007), the black carp 
(Mylopharyngodon piceus, 2007), the largescale silver carp 
(Mylopharyngodon piceus, 2007), and four species of large constrictor 
snakes (Burmese python (Python molurus), Northern African python 
(Python sebae), Southern African python (Python natalensis), and yellow 
anaconda (Eunectes notaeus), 2012).
    The issues addressed in the EAs that were prepared for these 
species include the biology of the species (countries of origin, native 
range, habitat requirements, and food species),

[[Page 39309]]

introduction and dispersal pathways (how a species was transported), 
ecological impacts (including effects on native, threatened, and 
endangered species), human impacts (including effects on recreation and 
water quality), economic impacts (including industry and agriculture), 
and cumulative impacts. While these species, when present in a 
nonnative range, can have a significant effect on the environment, the 
regulatory action (listing) has no significant effect. That each EA 
resulted in a FONSI strongly suggests that subsequent listings will 
also have no significant environmental impacts.
    (3) Consistent with existing approved categorical exclusions. A 
categorical exclusion for the injurious listing process is consistent 
with the Service's existing approved categorical exclusions. 
Categorical exclusions have been approved that address preventing the 
introduction of nonindigenous species. For example, research, 
inventory, and information activities directly related to the 
conservation of fish and wildlife resources are categorically excluded 
as long as they do not involve, among other things, ``introduction of 
organisms not indigenous to the affected ecosystem'' (516 DM 8.5 B(1)).

Next Steps

    The establishment of the categorical exclusion is open to public 
comment. Following review of the comments, the Service will submit the 
final categorical exclusion to CEQ, which will review it and our 
responses to public comments for conformity with NEPA and make a 
recommendation regarding approval of the categorical exclusion. If the 
categorical exclusion is approved by the Department, the Service will 
review each subsequent listing rule for the DOI-established 
extraordinary circumstances that would necessitate the preparation of 
an EA or an EIS. The Administrative Procedure Act rulemaking procedures 
and the review of extraordinary circumstances both ensure that the 
decision to apply the categorical exclusion as part of the NEPA 
environmental review is informed by input from other Federal agencies, 
other governmental and Tribal entities, and the public.

Public Comments

    Any comments to be considered on this proposed addition to the list 
of categorical exclusions in the Departmental Manual must be received 
by the date listed in DATES at the location listed in ADDRESSES. 
Comments received after that date will be considered only to the extent 
practicable. Comments, including names and addresses of respondents, 
will be posted at https://www.fws.gov/injuriouswildlife. Before 
including your address, telephone number, email address, or other 
personal identifying information in your comment, you should be aware 
that your entire comment, including your personal identifying 
information, may be made publicly available at any time. While you can 
ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying 
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be 
able to do so.

Proposed Text for the Departmental Manual

    The text we propose to add to 516 DM (see ADDRESSES) is set forth 
below:
Part 516: National Environmental Policy Act of 1969
Chapter 8: Managing the NEPA Process--U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
* * * * *
    8.5 Categorical Exclusions.
* * * * *
    C. Permit and Regulatory Functions.
* * * * *
    (9) The adding of species to the list of injurious wildlife 
regulated under 50 CFR subchapter B, part 16, which prohibits the 
importation into the United States and interstate transportation of 
wildlife found to be injurious.

    Dated: May 31, 2013.
Willie R. Taylor.
Director, Office of Environmental Policy and Compliance.
[FR Doc. 2013-15707 Filed 6-28-13; 8:45 am]
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