Department of Agriculture 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

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.

In accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, 5 U.S.C. App., the United States Department of Agriculture announces solicitation for nominations to fill 10 vacancies on the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education and Economics Advisory Board.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on a proposed information collection. This is a revision of a currently approved collection.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) published in the Federal Register of January 15, 2009, an interim final rule with request for comment amending the program regulations for the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) to incorporate programmatic changes authorized by the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (2008 Act). The January 15, 2009 interim final rule changed the nature and scope of the agreement NRCS enters into with the landowner under a WRP easement in a manner which could interfere with the restoration efforts of some lands enrolled in the program. Since the change to the program was not necessitated by the 2008 Act, this amendment to the January 15, 2009 interim final rule revises these provisions to further the practical administration of the program consistent with the WRP statute. This amendment re-opens the public comment period for the interim final rule, as amended, for an additional 30 days.

This notice informs the public of the sanitary and phytosanitary standard-setting activities of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex), in accordance with section 491 of the Trade Agreements Act of 1979, as amended, and the Uruguay Round Agreements Act, Public Law 103-465, 108 Stat. 4809. This notice also provides a list of other standard-setting activities of Codex, including commodity standards, guidelines, codes of practice, and revised texts. This notice, which covers the time periods from June 1, 2008, to May 31, 2009, and June 1, 2009, to May 31, 2010, seeks comments on standards under consideration and recommendations for new standards.

GIPSA is announcing the designation of the following organizations to provide official services under the United States Grain Standards Act, as amended (USGSA): Kansas Grain Inspection Service, Inc. (Kansas); Mid-Iowa Grain Inspection, Inc. (Mid-Iowa); Minot Grain Inspection, Inc. (Minot); and Tri-State Grain Inspection Service, Inc. (Tri-State).

The Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) published in the Federal Register of January 15, 2009, an interim final rule with request for comment amending the program regulations for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) to incorporate programmatic changes authorized by the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (2008 Act). On March 12, 2009, CCC corrected language in the interim final rule regarding the erroneous application of the payment limitation provisions to joint operations, and extended the comment period to April 17, 2009. This document amends the interim final rule by expanding the ability of CCC to include an expansion of the exception regarding conservation practices on public land. CCC is also using the opportunity presented by this rulemaking to extend the comment period. However, the extended comment period is limited to the provisions in this amendment.

The USDA Forest Service will prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for reducing fire hazard, improving forest stand conditions and resilience to stand replacement fire for wildlife species, including the Northern spotted owl, and restoring fire regimes and historic (fire adapted) stand conditions in and around the Cow Creek and Tiller Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) areas. Fuel loadings and overall stand densities have increased and landscape scale forest structural diversity has been altered due to fire exclusion, increasing the potential size and severity of future wildfires, beyond what might have occurred historically. This EIS will be prepared under the authority of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act (HFRA) and will implement recommendations of the Douglas County Community Wildfire Protection Plans for the WUI's. The project proposes commercial thinning on about 6,300 acres of mid seral and mature unmanaged stands, leaving between 40-90 trees per acre (TPA); commercial thinning on about 2,700 acres of managed second-growth plantations, leaving between 50-90 TPA; non-commercial treatment of fuels on about 4,400 acres using non-commercial thinning, mastication, whip felling, chipping, piling and burning; treating activity-created fuels by underburning, machine piling, masticating, handpile burning, lopping and scattering, and/or yarding tops attached and whole tree yarding; using prescribed fire as the primary method of reducing fuels on about 813 acres; using about \1/8\th of a mile of existing unclassified roads to access thinning/ treatment areas, then decommissioning after use; building about 27 miles of new temporary spur roads for access, then decommissioning them after use; road reconstruction and maintenance throughout the planning area; and use of existing rock pits. All acreages and miles are approximate and will be refined during sale layout. The project proposes to amend the 1990 Umpqua National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan (LRMP). The planning area is located approximately 34 miles southeast of Roseburg, Oregon. The project is expected to be implemented starting in Fiscal Year 2010. The agency gives notice of the full environmental analysis and decision-making process that will occur on the proposal so that interested and affected people may become aware of how they can participate in the process and contribute to the final decision.

This rule invites comments on proposed modifications to the import regulations for Irish potatoes. This rule is implemented in accordance with section 608(e) (hereinafter referred to as ``section 8e'') of the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, which requires imported potatoes to meet the same or comparable grade, size, quality, and maturity requirements as those established under Federal marketing order regulations. This rule would: Reduce the number of marketing order areas determined as being in the most direct competition with imported potatoes from five to three; exempt U.S. No. 1 grade potatoes imported in certain small containers from size requirements; and remove certain language from Marketing Orders No. 948 and 953 that reference the regulation of imported Irish potatoes. In addition, this rule would make minor administrative changes to the potato, onion, and tomato import regulations to update informational references. The proposed modifications to the import regulations are expected to benefit potato importers and consumers.

The Rural Utilities Service (RUS) announces additional Fiscal Year (FY) 2009 funding available through its Technical Assistance and Training Grant Program (TAT). The Rural Utilities Service is providing $500,000 in funding to conduct water resource studies in the states affected by hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Ike, and/or Wilma (Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas). The additional $500,000 will be for water resource studies only.