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

The National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council will meet through a Web cast, July 21-22, 2009. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss general Council business.

This rule revises the outgoing quality control regulations issued under the California almond marketing order (order). The order regulates the handling of almonds grown in California and is administered locally by the Almond Board of California (Board). This rule revises the term ``validation'' under the Salmonella bacteria (Salmonella) treatment program by specifying that validation data must be both submitted to and accepted by the Board's Technical Expert Review Panel (TERP) for all treatment equipment prior to its use under this program. This will help ensure that all treatment equipment meets a 4-log reduction of Salmonella in almonds.

In notice document Z9-10645 beginning on page 26365 in the issue of Tuesday June 2, 2009, make the following corrections:

The Kaibab National Forest proposes to begin charging a new fee for the daily rental of Hull Cabin, located one mile south of the Grand Canyon on the Tusayan Ranger District. The new fee will consist of a summer rate of $110.00 per day without water/$140.00 per day with water, and a winter rate of $75.00 per day without water. Hull Cabin is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is the oldest surviving historic cabin near the Grand Canyon's south rim. Initially the cabin will be available for overnight use with a maximum capacity of six people. Management of the cabin may expand to include use as a group site and/or development of equestrian facilities. Other cabin rentals within the Arizona National Forests have shown that the public appreciates and enjoys the availability of historic rental facilities. Funds from the rental will be used for the continued operation and maintenance of Hull Cabin and other properties in the Arizona Cabin Rental Program.

The Department is adopting as a final rule, without change, an interim rule that amended the regulations for the School Breakfast

The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) amends the Common Crop Insurance Regulations, Basic Provisions to revise enterprise unit provisions to protect the program from potential abuse as a result of the increased premium subsidies for enterprise and whole farm units provided by the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (2008 Farm Bill).

Section 1242(h) of the Food Security Act of 1985, as amended by the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (2008 Act), requires that the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS): (1) Review conservation practice standards, including engineering design specifications, in effect on June 18, 2008; (2) ensure the completeness and relevance of the standards to local agricultural, forestry, and natural resource needs including specialty crops, native and managed pollinators, bioenergy crop production, forestry, and other such needs as determined by the Secretary; and (3) ensure, to the maximum extent practicable, that the standards provide for the optimal balance between meeting site-specific conservation needs and minimizing risks of design failure and associated costs of construction and installation. NRCS conducted an internal review of the conservation practice standards and met with various stakeholder groups, as required by section 1242(h)(2), to obtain their input about how to improve the completeness and relevance of the standards. NRCS is hereby notifying the public of the results of the preliminary review and requests comments from the public about how to improve the conservation practice standards to meet the goals and objectives of Section 1242(h) of the Food Security Act of 1985, as amended.

This Notice announces the intention of the U.S. Department of Agriculture to enter into Contracts to make payments to Eligible Advanced Biofuel Producers to support and ensure an expanding production of Advanced Biofuels. This program is authorized under Title IX, Section 9001, of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (Pub. L. 110-234). In addition, this program is intended to support Federal policy calling for greater production and use of Advanced Biofuels. The Agency will authorize up to $30 million in funding for this program for fiscal year (FY) 2009.

The Forest Service will prepare an environmental impact statement on a proposal to evaluate grazing on eight (8) allotments on the Black Hills National Forest, Mystic Ranger District comprising approximately 85,055 acres within the constraints of the Black Hills National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan, as amended.

The Oregon Coast Province Advisory Committee will meet at the Grand Ronde Tribal Office. The agenda includes: Stimulus Project Update, Secure Rural Schools Update, Travel Management Update, Spotted Owl Plan Update, Round Robin, WOPR Update and Public Comments.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Forest Service is seeking comments from all interested individuals and organizations on the new information collection, California Campfire Permit.

We are proposing to make several changes to the regulations governing the importation and interstate movement of noxious weeds. We would add definitions of terms used in the regulations, add details regarding the process of applying for the permits used to import or move noxious weeds, add a requirement for the treatment of niger seed, and add provisions for petitioning to add a taxon to or remove a taxon from the noxious weed lists. These changes would update the regulations to reflect current statutory authority and program operations and improve the effectiveness of the regulations. We are also proposing to add seven taxa to the list of terrestrial noxious weeds and to the list of seeds with no tolerances applicable to their introduction. This action would prevent the introduction or dissemination of these noxious weeds into or within the United States.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and the Food and Drug Administration/Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (FDA/ CFSAN) are holding a public meeting to present the background, approach, scope, and data needs for a recently initiated interagency risk assessment of the public health impact of foodborne Listeria monocytogenes (L. monocytogenes) in some ready-to-eat foods that are sliced, prepared, or packaged in retail facilities. The purpose of this ``Interagency Retail L. monocytogenes Risk Assessment'' is to ascertain the effect on the public health of current practices and potential interventions that reduce or prevent L. monocytogenes contamination in ready-to-eat foods. FSIS and FDA invite interested individuals, organizations, and other stakeholders to participate in the meeting and comment on this topic.

The Fremont and Winema Resource Advisory Committee will meet in Lakeview Oregon, for the purpose of evaluating and recommending resource management projects for funding in FY 2010, under the provisions of Title II of the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self- Determination Act of 2008 (Pub. L. 110-343).

The Eastern Washington Cascades and Yakima Provincial Advisory Committees will meet for a field trip on Wednesday, June 17 at the Tonasket Ranger District office, 1 West Winesap, Tonasket, WA. This field trip will begin at 9 a.m. and continue until 3 p.m. Provincial Advisory committee members will be visiting a grazing allotment near Wauconda, WA. This field tour is open to Provincial Advisory Committee members.

This rule proposes to amend provisions of the Mushroom Promotion, Research, and Consumer Information Order (Order) to reapportion membership of the Mushroom Council (Council) to reflect shifts in United States mushroom production as well as to add language to the powers and duties section of the Order allowing the Council the power to develop and propose good agricultural and handling practices and related activities for mushrooms. Section 10104 of the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 (2008 Farm Bill) (Pub. L. No. 110- 246) amended sections 1925(b)(2) and (c) of the Mushroom Promotion, Research, and Consumer Information Act of 1990 (Act) [7 U.S.C. 6101- 6112]. Specifically, section 10104 changes the Act's requirements for geographic regions used to appoint producer members of the Council from four to three, and adjusts the pounds required by each region for Council membership, which will reallocate Council member representation in two of the three producer geographic regions (Regions 1 and 2). Section 10104 also added language to the powers and duties section of the Act that authorizes the Council to develop and propose good agricultural practices and related activities for mushrooms. This rule proposes changes to the Order based on these amendments to the Act. A referendum will be conducted among eligible producers and importers of mushrooms to determine whether they favor the amendments to the Order.

The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) will raise user fees for cotton producers for 2009 crop cotton classification services under the Cotton Statistics and Estimates Act. These user fees also are authorized under the Cotton Standards Act of 1923. The 2008 user fee for this classification service was $2.00 per bale. This rule will raise the fee for the 2009 crop to $2.20 per bale. The proposed fee and the existing reserve are sufficient to cover the costs of providing classification services, including costs for administration and supervision.

We are reopening the comment period for a petition submitted by Syngenta Seeds, Inc., seeking a determination of nonregulated status for corn designated as transformation event 3272 and its associated environmental assessment prepared by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service under our regulations found at 7 CFR part 340. This action will allow interested persons additional time to prepare and submit comments on the petition, environmental assessment, and the revised plant pest risk assessment.

We are amending the Karnal bunt regulations to remove certain areas or fields in Riverside County, CA, from the list of regulated areas based on our determination that those areas or fields meet our criteria for release from regulation of Karnal bunt, a fungal disease of wheat. This action is needed to relieve restrictions on certain areas or fields that are no longer necessary.

The Department of Agriculture published a document in the Federal Register of May 28, 2009, concerning a request for comments on the information collection ``Special Use Administration'' OMB control number 0596-0082. The document contained incorrect burden hours. The total burden hours should be 161,365 not 247,107 as published.

This proposed rule would establish procedures which the Department of Agriculture (USDA) will use in conducting a referenda considering amendments to the Cotton Research and Promotion Order (7 CFR part 1205) (Order) implementing section 14202 of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (Pub. L. 110-246), herinafter the ``2008 Farm Bill.'' USDA is considering amendments to the Order, in a separate action, and referendum procedures would need to be in place prior for the industry to vote and consider these amendments. Referenda among cotton producers and cotton importers are required by the Cotton Research and Promotion Act (7 U.S.C. 2101-2118) (Act) to implement, amend, continue, or when appropriate to suspend, or to terminate the Order or any of its provisions. The provisions of this rule would be used for these referenda.

The Lewis & Clark County Resource Advisory Committee (RAC) will meet on Wednesday, June 10, 2009, from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m., in Helena, Montana. The purpose of the meeting is to conduct welcomes and introductions, review RAC charter, discuss the guidelines for Title II and Title III funding and proposals, discuss operating protocols, brief RAC members on available funding, capture and record preliminary project ideas, discuss outreach process for project proposals, set a next meeting date and receive public comment on the meeting subjects and proceedings.

We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has prepared an environmental assessment for a proposed controlled field release of a genetically engineered clone of a Eucalyptus hybrid. The purpose of this release is to continue research on the effectiveness of gene constructs which are intended to confer cold tolerance; to test the efficacy of a gene introduced to alter lignin biosynthesis; and to test the efficacy of a gene designed to alter fertility. We are making the environmental assessment available to the public for review and comment.

The Forest Service will prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to disclose the environmental effects of fuel and vegetation management through commercial timber harvest, precommercial thinning and fuel grinding; road storage; temporary road construction; and trail construction. The project is located in the Flower Creek Watershed on the Libby Ranger District, Kootenai National Forest, Lincoln County, Montana, and south of Libby, Montana.