Department of Agriculture January 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Notice is hereby given of the intention of NRCS to issue 21 new or revised conservation practice standards in its National Handbook of Conservation Practices. These standards include: Amendments for Treatment of Agricultural Waste (Code 591), Early Successional Habitat Development (Code 647), Firebreak (Code 394), Fuel Break (Code 383), Land Reclamation, Toxic Discharge Control (Code 455), Residue and Tillage Management Mulch Till (Code 345), Residue and Tillage ManagementNo Till/Strip Till/Direct Seed (Code 329), Residue and Tillage ManagementRidge Till (Code 346), Restoration and Management of Declining Habitats (Code 643), Riparian Herbaceous Cover (Code 390), Shallow Water Management for Wildlife (Code 646), Slash Treatment (Code 384), Streambank and Shoreline Protection (Code 580), Solid/Liquid Waste Separation Facility (Code 632), Upland Wildlife Habitat Management (Code 645), Use Exclusion (Code 472), Waste Treatment (Code 629), Wetland Creation (Code 658), Wetland Enhancement (Code 659), Wetland Restoration (Code 657), and Wetland Wildlife Habitat Management (Code 644). NRCS State Conservationists who choose to adopt these practices for use within their States will incorporate them into Section IV of their respective electronic Field Office Technical Guides. These practices may be used in conservation systems that treat highly erodible land, or on land determined to be wetland.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is providing notice that it will not provide reimbursable voluntary inspection, certification, and identification services to persons who have delinquent accounts. FSIS charges fees for a variety of voluntary reimbursable inspection, certification, and identification services that it provides to official establishments and plants and non-official establishments, e.g., warehouses, importers, and exporters. FSIS is required to recover the costs of the voluntary inspection, certification, and identification services it provides. FSIS will pursue the collection of debts owed to it for such services.

The Office of the Under Secretary for Food Safety, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), United States Department of Health and Human Services, are sponsoring a public meeting on February 1, 2005, to provide information and receive public comments on all agenda items that will be discussed at the Nineteenth Session of the Codex Committee on Fats and Oils (CCFO) of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex). The 19th Session of the CCFO will be held in London, United Kingdom, February 21-25, 2005. The Under Secretary and FDA recognize the importance of providing interested parties the opportunity to obtain background information on the agenda items that will be discussed at this forthcoming session of the CCFL.

This decision proposes to permanently adopt changes in provisions of the Northeast marketing area contained in a Recommended Decision published in the Federal Register on March 25, 2004, with one minor modification. This document is subject to approval by producers by referendum.

We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has received a petition from Syngenta Seeds, Inc., seeking a determination of nonregulated status for cotton designated as transformation Event COT102, which has been genetically engineered for insect resistance. The petition has been submitted in accordance with our regulations concerning the introduction of certain genetically engineered organisms and products. In accordance with those regulations, we are soliciting public comments on whether this cotton presents a plant pest risk. We are also making available for public comment an environmental assessment for the proposed determination of nonregulated status.

The Act of July 26, 1956 (70 Stat. 656; 16 U.S.C. 505a-b) authorizes the interchange of land between the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Defense through its various services. On August 10, 2004, and November 12, 2004, respectively, the Secretary of the Army and the Secretary of Agriculture signed a Joint Order authorizing the transfer of administrative jurisdiction from the Department of Agriculture to the Department of the Army of 480.00 acres, more or less, located in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana and generally described as: Parts of Sections 26, 28, 30, 34, and 35, Township 5 North, Range 8 West, Louisiana Meridian, lying within the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC), Fort Polk Military Reservation, and the Kisatchie National Forest and more particularly described according to the map and legal description on file in the Forest Service office noted in the ADDRESSES section of this notice. Furthermore, the Joint Order transfers from the Department of the Army to the Department of Agriculture for inclusion in the Kisatchie National Forest 481.33 acres, more or less, located in Vernon Parish, Louisiana, and generally described as: Parts of Section 18 and 34, Township 1 North, Range 6 West, Louisiana Meridian, being 120 acres, more or less; Parts of Sections 16 and 32, Township 1 North, Range 5 West, Louisiana Meridian, being 51.33 acres, more or less; Parts of Sections 32 and 33, Township 1 North, Range 8 West, Louisiana Meridian, being 310 acres, more or less, within the boundaries of the Kisatchie National Forest, and more particularly described according to the map and legal description on file in the Forest Service office noted in the ADDRESSES section of this notice. A copy of the Joint Order is set out at the end of this notice.

We are amending the Asian longhorned beetle regulations by adding portions of Middlesex and Union Counties, NJ, to the list of quarantined areas and restricting the interstate movement of regulated articles from those areas. This action is necessary to prevent the artificial spread of the Asian longhorned beetle into noninfested areas of the United States.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is publishing an amended scheduling plan for reviewing regulations under Section 610 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act, as amended. These provisions require that all Federal agencies review existing regulations that have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities to determine whether the associated impact can be minimized.

Pursuant to the authorities in the Federal Advisory Committees Act (Pub. L. 92-463) and under the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000 (Pub. L. 106-393) the Lassen National Forest's Lassen County Resource Advisory Committee will meet Thursday, February 10, 2005, in Susanville, California for a business meeting. The meeting is open to the public.

The USDA Forest Service published a notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the Commercial Pack Stock Use Authorizations for the Ansel Adams and John Muir Wildernesses Project in the Federal Register on June 15, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 114, pages 33346-33348). A revised notice of intent is being issued for several reasons. A Trail Management Plan for the Ansel Adams and John Muir Wildernesses, previously under analysis in a separate environmental document, has been combined into this project. The Dinkey Lakes portion of the Trail Management Plan will be conducted in a future analysis. To incorporate the Trail Management Plan, the Purpose and Need and Proposed Action for the project have been revised only to reflect the combination of the two proposals into one. This is described in more detail below. In addition, the decision to be made reflects a change that this proposal will only amend the Ansel Adams and John Muir portions of the 2001 Wilderness Management Plan. No commercial pack stock use will be authorized under this proposal. Finally, the name of the project has been changed to better describe the proposed action and is now ``Trail and Commercial Pack Stock Management in the Ansel Adams and John Muir Wildernesses.''

In accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, 5 U.S.C. App. II, the United States Department of Agriculture announces a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Biotechnology and 21st Century Agriculture (AC21).

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), this notice announces the intention of the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) to request a new information collection in support of the Regulations Governing Inspection and Certification of Processed Fruits and Vegetables and Related Products.

This rule invites comments on modifications to the requirements to be an approved manufacturer of date products under the Federal date marketing order (order). The order regulates the handling of domestic dates produced or packed in Riverside County, California, and is administered locally by the California Date Administrative Committee (committee). The committee's approved product manufacturer program helps assure that higher quality whole and pitted dates are shipped within the USA and to Canada. This rule would clarify the application procedures and qualifications for a manufacturer to continue to be listed as an approved manufacturer of date products. This proposal would also require an applicant who is also a date handler under the order to be in compliance with the order. These modifications would help safeguard the integrity of the approved date product manufacturer program under the order and the quality of whole and pitted dates that are shipped within the USA and Canada.

We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is making available a corrected version of an environmental assessment relative to a final rule that was published in the January 4, 2005, issue of the Federal Register. We are making the corrected version of the environmental assessment available to the public for review and comment through February 17, 2005.

A Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Garnet Stars & Sands Project was published in the Federal Register on May 1, 2001 (Volume 66, Number 84) on pages 21731- 21732. The proposed action and the purpose and need for the proposed action have changed substantially, so the project is cancelled. A new Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the new project (Emerald Creek Garnet Area) will be published in the Federal Register. A scoping letter was sent to addresses on the mailing list explaining the changes in the project. The responsible official is Ranotta K. McNair, Forest Supervisor, Idaho Panhandle National Forests, 3815 Schreiber Way, Coeur d'Alene, ID 83815.

In 2002, the USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Region, gave notice that the agency would prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the relocation of the existing Grouse Creek Road (Forest Service Road 50325). The road is located on the Payette National Forest, McCall Ranger district, Near the Secesh River and within the Crystal Mountain Inventoried Roadless Area. Because the new road would have been located in an inventoried roadless area, the Regional Forester was the Responsible Official. The Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare an EIS was published in the June 21, 2002 Federal Register (67 FR 42230). Since that time, review of the proposed project by research scientists and other Forest Service specialists has determined that improvements to the existing road would cause fewer impacts to critical fish resources than relocating the road. The identified improvements can be accomplished using normal road maintenance practices, which do not require preparation of an EIS. Therefore, the planned EIS is not needed, and the NOI is hereby rescinded.

The Office of the Under Secretary for Food Safety, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), is sponsoring a public meeting on January 21, 2005, to provide information and receive public comments on agenda items that will be discussed at the Eleventh Session of the Codex Committee on Meat Hygiene (CCMH). The 11th Session of the CCMH will be held in Christchurch, New Zealand, February 14-18, 2005. The Acting Under Secretary recognizes the importance of providing interested parties the opportunity to obtain background information on the agenda items that will be discussed at this forthcoming session of the CCMH.

The Office of the Acting Under Secretary for Food Safety, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), United States Department of Health and Human Services, are sponsoring a public meeting on February 2, 2005, to provide information and receive public comments on agenda items that will be discussed at the Thirty-seventh Session of the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene (CCFH) of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex). The 37th Session of the CCFH will be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 14-19 March, 2005. The Acting Under Secretary and FDA recognize the importance of providing interested parties the opportunity to obtain background information on the agenda items that will be discussed at this forthcoming session of the CCFH.

The Secretary of Agriculture (the Secretary) published in the Federal Register on August 17, 2004 proposed uniform guidelines for conducting elections of Farm Service Agency (FSA) County Committees, pursuant to section 10708 of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107-171) (the 2002 Farm Bill). The notice provided a thirty-day period for public comments. As a result of numerous requests, the public comment period was extended until October 16, 2004, in a Federal Register notice published September 22, 2004. After analysis of the comments received, the Secretary is now issuing the final uniform guidelines for conducting FSA County Committee elections.