Department of Agriculture June 15, 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The USDA Forest Service is proposing to amend the Land and Resource Management Plans (LRMP) of the Rogue River (administered as the Rogue River-Siskiyou NF), Umpqua, and Winema (administered as the Fremont-Winema NF) National Forests to make provision for the proposed Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline (PCGP). The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is the lead agency for the environmental analysis of the construction and operation of the proposed natural gas pipeline (FERC Docket No. CP07-441-000). The FERC has prepared an environmental impact statement (EIS) that discusses the environmental impacts that could result from the construction and operation of the PCGP. FERC issued the FEIS for the PCGP on May 1, 2009.

We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has prepared an evaluation of the animal health status of two counties (B[aacute]cs-Kiskun and Csongr[aacute]d) in Hungary relative to the H5N1 subtype of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). The evaluation presents our assessment of the HPAI H5N1 detection, control, and eradication measures in place in those two counties in Hungary during outbreaks of HPAI H5N1 in 2006 and 2007. If, after the close of the comment period, APHIS can identify no additional risk factors that would indicate that domestic poultry in these two counties continue to be affected with HPAI H5N1, we would conclude that the importation of live birds, poultry carcasses, parts of carcasses, and eggs (other than hatching eggs) of poultry, game birds, or other birds from B[aacute]cs-Kiskun and Csongr[aacute]d Counties in Hungary presents a low risk of introducing HPAI H5N1 into the United States.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regulations, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is announcing its intention to request a new information collection concerning surveys of consumers to assess the effectiveness of the Be Food Safe campaign mass media advertising pilot.