Department of Agriculture 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The USDA, Forest Service, Plumas National Forest will prepare an EIS on a proposal to harvest dead trees on approximately 15,568 acres in the Moonlight and Antelope Complex fires areas. The Moonlight and Antelope Complex fires burned about 88,000 acres between July and September 2007 on the Plumas National Forest.

This final rule amends the Fluid Milk Promotion Order (Order) by reducing the burden of late-payment charges applied to processors who mistakenly underreport the amount of assessments owed to the National Fluid Milk Processor Promotion Board (Board), provided that the processor has not made more than two reporting errors in the prior 12 months.

This final rule establishes the Honey Packers and Importers Research, Promotion, Consumer Education and Industry Information Order (Packers Order). The Packers Order is authorized under the Commodity Promotion, Research, and Information Act of 1996 (1996 Act). Under the Packers Order, first handlers and importers will pay an assessment of $0.01 per pound on honey and honey products. First handlers and importers of less than 250,000 pounds of honey and honey products annually will be exempt from the assessment. The assessments will be remitted to the Honey Packers and Importers Board (Board) to conduct a generic program of promotion, research, consumer education, and industry information to maintain and expand markets for honey and honey products. A referendum was conducted among honey first handlers and importers between April 2 and April 16, 2008. Seventy-eight percent of those covered under the Packers Orderrepresenting ninety-two percent of the volume of those voting in the referendumfavored implementation of the program. This rule also suspends the requirement of the existing Honey Research, Promotion, and Consumer Information Order (Current Order) and regulations authorized under the Honey Research, Promotion, and Consumer Information Act (Honey Act) that honey producers and importers pay to the National Honey Board (Current Board) an assessment in the amount of $0.01 per pound on honey and honey products. The provisions of the Current Order and regulations issued thereunder will be terminated at a later date.

The Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) issues this notice to advise sugarcane processors and growers that they may request a public hearing as a result of an application made by a new sugarcane processor, Andino Energy Enterprises, L.L.C., for a cane sugar allocation starting with the 2008 crop year. Andino Energy Enterprises, L.L.C., is requesting a 2008-crop year allocation of 50,000 short tons, raw value (STRV), with annual increases in its allocation to 60,000, 80,000, 100,000 and 120,000 STRV, for crop years 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012, respectively. The new processor will be located in Louisiana, an existing mainland State in the CCC sugar marketing allotment program. If CCC receives a request for a hearing, CCC will conduct a hearing.

Pursuant to section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 and in response to a Right-of-Way (ROW) application filed by Idaho Power and Rocky Mountain Power, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Wyoming State Office, U.S. Forest Service (USFS), Caribou-Targhee and Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests, announces their intention to prepare an EIS and conduct public scoping meetings. Idaho Power and Rocky Mountain Power propose to construct electric transmission lines from the proposed Windstar Substation near the Dave Johnston Power Plant at Glenrock, Wyoming to the proposed Hemingway substation near Melba, Idaho, approximately 20 miles southwest of Boise, Idaho. The project is composed of 11 transmission line segments with a total length of approximately 1,250 miles. Authorization of this proposal may result in the amendment of Forest Service and BLM land use plans (Forest Plans, Management Framework Plans, and Resource Management Plans).

We are proposing to allow the importation of commercial consignments of tomatoes from the Souss-Massa region of Morocco subject to a systems approach similar to that which is already in place for tomatoes imported into the United States from other areas of Morocco. The tomatoes would have to be produced under conditions that would include requirements for pest exclusion at the production site, fruit fly trapping inside the production site, and pest-exclusionary packinghouse procedures. The tomatoes would also be required to be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate issued by the Moroccan national plant protection organization with an additional declaration stating that the tomatoes have been grown in registered greenhouses in the Souss-Massa region and were 60 percent or less pink at the time of packing. This action would allow for the importation of commercial consignments of tomatoes from the Souss-Massa region of Morocco into the United States while continuing to provide protection against the introduction of quarantine pests.

We are proposing to amend the regulations regarding the importation of live horses, ruminants, swine, and dogs by removing Panama from the lists of regions where screwworm is considered to exist. We are taking this action because the eradication of screwworm from Panama has been confirmed. This action would relieve certain screwworm-related certification and inspection requirements for live animals imported into the United States from Panama.

On April 2, 2001, the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) implemented the Livestock Mandatory Reporting (LMR) program as required by the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act of 1999 (1999 Act). The statutory authority for the program lapsed on September 30, 2005. In October 2006, legislation was enacted to reauthorize the 1999 Act until September 30, 2010, and to amend the swine reporting requirements of the 1999 Act (Pub. L. 109-296) (Reauthorization Act). This final rule will re-establish the regulatory authority for the program's continued operation and incorporate the swine reporting changes contained within the Reauthorization Act as well as make other changes to enhance the program's overall effectiveness and efficiency based on AMS' experience in the administration of the program over the last 6 years.

The Medora Ranger District, Dakota Prairie Grasslands, proposes to continue grazing on 48 allotments in a manner consistent with direction set forth in the Dakota Prairie Grasslands Land and Resource Management Plan (Grasslands Plan) and applicable laws. The ETS will lay the groundwork for revising the Allotment Management Plans (AMPs) for the 48 allotments. Site-specific resource objectives, allowable grazing strategies, and adaptive management tools will be set forth in the EIS in order to allow managers flexibility to meet objectives.

Notice is hereby given that the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, intends to grant to Nawgan Products, LLC of Chesterfield, Missouri, an exclusive license to U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 11/387,312, ``Food-Grade Formulations for Long-Term Stabilization of Lycopene,'' filed on March 26, 2006.

Pursuant to Section 102(2)(c) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969; the Council on Environmental Quality Regulations (40 CFR part 1500); and the Natural Resources Conservation Service Regulations (7 CFR part 650); the Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, gives notice that an environmental impact statement is not being prepared for the rehabilitation of Floodwater Retarding Structure No. 5 of the Plum Creek Watershed, Hays County, Texas.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is amending the guidelines for designating biobased products for Federal procurement, to add ten sections to designate items, including subcategories, within which biobased products will be afforded Federal procurement preference, as provided for under section 9002 of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002. USDA also is establishing a minimum biobased content for each of these items and subcategories.

The Forest Service will prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SETS) for Motorized Access Management within the Selkirk and Cabinet-Yaak Grizzly Bear Recovery Zones to present additional information on grizzly bear mortality and population trends and account for uncertainty in relevant grizzly bear research. The SEIS will include a detailed analysis of Alternative D Modified and Alternative E that reflect the current condition of habitat security for grizzly bears. The Notice of Availability of the Draft EIS was published in the Federal Register (66 FR 57717) on November 16, 2001 and notice of the Final EIS (67 FR 11692) was published on March 15, 2002. On March 24, 2004, the Record of Decision (ROD) was signed that amended the Forest Plans for the Kootenai, Lolo and Idaho Panhandle National Forests. The ROD amended the objectives, standards, and guidelines that address grizzly bear management within the Selkirk and Cabinet-Yaak Grizzly Bear Recovery Zones. Alternative E was selected for implementation, with the incorporation of terms and conditions of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (USFWS) Biological Opinion. On December 13, 2006, U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy ruled against the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in a lawsuit brought by the Cabinet Resource Group, Great Bear Foundation, Idaho Conservation League, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Selkirk Conservation Alliance. Judge Molloy ordered that the 2002 Final Environmental Impact Statement and 2004 Record of Decision be set aside as contrary to law and that the matter be remanded to the Forest Service for preparation of a new environmental analysis that complies with 40 CFR 1502.22 (a) and (b). As a result of an action considered no longer valid, on May 17, 2007, the USFWS withdrew its Biological Opinion for the Forest Service's proposed action.

The Modoc National Forest (Modoc NF) will prepare an Environmental Impact Statement to disclose the impacts associated with the following proposed actions: 1. The prohibition of cross-country motorized vehicle travel (with the exception of snowmobiles) off designated NFS roads, NFS trails and areas by the public except as allowed by permit or other authorization. 2. Add approximately 339 miles of 1170 existing unauthorized routes to the current system of National Forest System (NFS) roads and motorized trails open to the public for wheeled motorized vehicle use by vehicle class, including seasonal closures on approximately 20 miles of 74 of the added routes. 3. Make the following changes to existing NFS roads: a. Prohibit use seasonally on approximately 313 miles of 214 existing NFS roads. b. Allow non-highway legal vehicle use on approximately 147 miles of existing NFS roads where such use is currently prohibited. c. Close NFS road 46B29HB (road along Boles Creek between Clear Lake and Steel Swamp) to public use. 4. Amend the Modoc NF Land and Resource Management Plan (Modoc LRMP) for areas not covered under the Sierra Nevada Forest Plan Amendment by removing the objective ``Keep over 87% of the Forest open to OHVs (Modoc LRMP p. 4-11)'' and numerous standards and guidelines in the LRMP regarding keeping areas open for OHV use and include as a forest-wide standard ``Prohibit wheeled vehicle travel off designated roads and trails except for administrative use or uses under permitted activities''.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to request an extension of approval of an information collection associated with regulations for the importation of fruits and vegetables.

This document contains corrections to the regulations that were published in the March 17, 2008 Federal Register (73 FR 14153). The regulations inadvertently omitted language in Sec. 1005.13 paragraphs (d)(3) and (d)(4), and Sec. 1007.13 paragraphs (d)(3) and (d)(4) that provide for a zero diversion limit standard on loads of milk requesting transportation credits. This document corrects the final regulations by revising these sections.

The San Juan National Forest is studying a proposal for a land exchange whereby Tamarron Properties Associates would offer 330 acres of non-Federal lands to the U.S. Forest Service in exchange for 265 acres of National Forest System lands and an easement for a new road. Any exchange would require by law that the appraised value of the properties be equal. The non-Federal properties include two inholdings adjacent to the Hermosa Roadless area; Mitchell Lakes and Hermosa Creek. The third inholding is a mining claim located in the Weminuche Wilderness area along the Whitehead Gulch Trail southeast of Silverton. Mitchell Lakes parcel is specifically located in T. 37 N., R. 9 W, Section 23 ; Hermosa Park T. 39 N., R. 10 W., Section 24, La Plata County, The Iron Clad Mining Claim is located in Section 11, T. 40 N., R. 7 W., N.M.P.M., Columbine Ranger District, San Juan National Forest, Colorado.

Notice is hereby given that the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, intends to grant to H2H Innovations, LLC of Wilmington, Delaware, an exclusive license to the Federal Government's patent rights in U.S. Patent No. 7,345,136, ``Water- Resistant Vegetable Protein Adhesive Dispersion Compositions'', issued on March 18, 2008.

We are amending the Hawaiian fruits and vegetables regulations to allow mangosteen, dragon fruit, melon, pods of cowpea and its relatives, breadfruit, jackfruit, and fresh moringa pods to be moved interstate from Hawaii under certain conditions. This action will allow the movement of these tropical fruits from Hawaii to the continental United States while continuing to provide protection against the spread of plant pests from Hawaii to the continental United States.

This rule establishes an industry-funded promotion, research, and information program for sorghum, which includes but is not limited to, grain sorghum, sorghum forage, sorghum hay, sorghum haylage, sorghum billets, and sorghum silage. For the purpose of clarity, the term sorghum means all the above mentioned types of sorghum unless specifically identified otherwise. The Sorghum Promotion, Research, and Information Order (Order) is implemented under the authority of the Commodity Promotion, Research, and Information Act of 1996 (Act). The Order will establish a national Sorghum Promotion, Research, and Information Board (Board) comprised initially of 13 sorghum producers. Producers and importers will pay assessments based on the value of the sorghum they produce or import. A referendum will be conducted 3 years after assessments begin to determine if sorghum producers and importers favor the program.