Department of Agriculture September 9, 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest will prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) to the 2009 Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan (Forest Plan) environmental analysis in response to a May 24, 2013 Order from the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana. The Court directed the Forest Service to ``. . . supplement its EIS for the Forest Plan to explain or support, if possible, its decision to exclude temporary roads from the road density objectives . . . .'' The supplement will address the Forest Plan Goal for Wildlife Security and density of roads and trails open to motorized use displayed in Tables 13 and 14 on pages 45-47 of the Forest Plan.

The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) proposes regulatory amendments that would allow for the addition of an optional cotton futures classification procedureidentified and known as ``registration'' by the U.S. cotton industry and the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). In response to requests from the U.S. cotton industry and ICE, AMS proposes to offer a futures classification option whereby cotton bales may be certificated for the purpose of an exchange's cotton futures contract using Smith-Doxey data to verify that submitted bales meet more restrictive quality requirements and age parameters established by that exchange. The implementation of ICE's Cotton Resolution No. 2 is scheduled to commence with the March 2014 contract month. It is anticipated that AMS would make the futures classification option available December 2013.