Department of Agriculture 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Ochoco National Forest is preparing an environmental impact statement (EIS) to analyze the effects of changing grazing management in four allotments on the Paulina Ranger District. The Fox Canyon Cluster project area is located approximately 35 miles east of Prineville, south of Big Summit Prairie. The four allotments are Antler, Brush Creek, Fox Canyon, and Gray Prairie. The Proposed Action would reauthorize term grazing permits, construct rangeland improvements, manage livestock use and distribution, and conduct riparian restoration activities to facilitate the improvement of riparian conditions for streambank stability, riparian vegetation, and water temperature. These actions are needed to achieve and maintain consistency with the Ochoco National Forest Land and Resource Plan, as amended.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on this proposed information collection. This is a revision of a currently approved collection under OMB 0584-0010, which is due to expire April 30, 2013.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act, this notice invites the public and other public agencies to comment on a proposed information collection burden for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Employment and Training (E&T) Program, currently approved under OMB No. 0584-0339. This is a revision of a currently approved collection, which proposes to decrease the currently approved burden of 26,083 hours by 4,194. The adjusted burden is 21,889 hours. This decrease is due to greater efficiencies in tracking and reporting E&T component placements. In prior collections, FNS estimated that State agencies used one minute per component placement to compile and record this data. This estimate is now reduced to 10 seconds per component placement, which is the same amount of time allotted for States to compile and record work registrant data.

The Forestry Research Advisory Council will meet in Washington, DC February 7-8, 2013. The Council is required by Section 1441 of the Agriculture and Food Act of 1981 to provide advice to the Secretary of Agriculture on accomplishing efficiently the purposes of the Act of October 10, 1962 (16 U.S.C. 582a, et seq.), commonly known as the McIntire-Stennis Act of 1962. The Council also provides advice relative to the Forest Service research program, authorized by the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Research Act of 1978 (Pub. L. 95-307, 92 Stat. 353, as amended; 16 U.S.C. 1600 (note)). The meeting is open to the public.

GIPSA requests comments on the applicants for designation to provide official services in the Indianapolis, Indiana area.

The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) of the Department of Agriculture (USDA) proposes to revise eight United States Standards for Grades of Frozen Vegetables. AMS is proposing to replace the dual grade nomenclature with single letter grade designations. ``U.S. Grade A'' (or ``U.S. Fancy''), ``U.S. Grade B'' (or ``U.S. Extra Standard''), and ``U.S. Grade C'' (or ``U.S. Standard'') would become ``U.S. Grade A,'' ``U.S. Grade B,'' and ``U.S. Grade C,'' respectively. This would conform to recent changes in other grade standards. AMS is also proposing to provide updated contact information in order to obtain copies of the grade standards and color standards. These changes would bring these grade standards in line with the present quality levels being marketed today and would provide guidance in the effective utilization of these products. The grade standards covered by these proposed revisions are: frozen asparagus, frozen lima beans, frozen speckled butter beans, frozen cooked squash, frozen summer squash, frozen sweet potatoes, frozen turnip greens with turnips, and frozen mixed vegetables.

The Department of Agriculture (USDA), Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) is proposing several changes to the fee schedule for official inspection and weighing services performed under the United States Grain Standards Act (USGSA), as amended. The USGSA provides GIPSA's Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS) with the authority to charge and collect reasonable fees to cover the cost of performing official services. These fees also cover the costs associated with managing the program. After a financial review of GIPSA's Fees for Official Inspection and Weighing Services, including a comparison of the costs and revenues associated with official inspection and weighing services, GIPSA is proposing to revise local and national tonnage fees (assessed in addition to all other applicable fees) for all export grain shipments serviced by GIPSA field offices.

The Coronado National Forest is proposing to charge a fee for the overnight rental of the Palisades Ranger Residence, located on the Santa Catalina Ranger District approximately 20 miles north of Tucson, Arizona. The building was constructed in 1933 by the Civilian Conservation Corps and has been determined eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The proposed fee will be $125.00 per night, to accommodate up to four people. Other cabin rentals on National Forests in Arizona have shown that the public appreciates the enhanced recreational opportunity afforded by these rehabilitated historic structures. Revenues from the rentals will be used for the continued operation and maintenance of this facility and other properties in the Arizona ``Rooms with a View'' Cabin Rental Program.

In accordance with legislation implementing the results of the Uruguay Round of negotiations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, we are informing the public of the international standard- setting activities of the World Organization for Animal Health, the Secretariat of the International Plant Protection Convention, and the North American Plant Protection Organization, and we are soliciting public comment on the standards to be considered.

We are giving notice that the Secretary of Agriculture is soliciting nominations for the National Wildlife Services Advisory Committee.

This notice announces the availability of a new Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service stakeholder registry.

This rule increases the assessment rate established for the California Desert Grape Administrative Committee (Committee) for the 2012 and subsequent fiscal periods from $0.0125 to $0.0150 per 18-pound lug of grapes handled. The Committee locally administers the marketing order, which regulates the handling of grapes grown in a designated area of southeastern California. Assessments upon grape handlers are used by the Committee to fund reasonable and necessary expenses of the program. The fiscal period began January 1 and ends December 31. The assessment rate will remain in effect indefinitely unless modified, suspended or terminated.

We are amending the regulations to establish minimum national official identification and documentation requirements for the traceability of livestock moving interstate. Under this rulemaking, unless specifically exempted, livestock belonging to species covered by the regulations that are moved interstate must be officially identified and accompanied by an interstate certificate of veterinary inspection or other documentation. These regulations specify approved forms of official identification for each species but allow the livestock covered under this rulemaking to be moved interstate with another form of identification, as agreed upon by animal health officials in the shipping and receiving States or Tribes. The purpose of this rulemaking is to improve our ability to trace livestock in the event that disease is found.

The Office of the Under Secretary for Food Safety, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), are sponsoring a public meeting on January 17, 2013. The objective of the public meeting is to provide information and receive public comments on agenda items and draft United States (U.S.) positions that will be discussed at the 7th Session of the Ad Hoc Codex Intergovernmental Task Force on Animal Feeding (AFTF) of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex), which will be held in Berne, Switzerland, February 4-8, 2013. The Under Secretary for Food Safety and the Center for Veterinary Medicine, Food and Drug Administration, recognize the importance of providing interested parties the opportunity to obtain background information on the 7th Session of the AFTF and to address items on the agenda.

This agenda provides summary descriptions of significant and not significant regulations being developed in agencies of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in conformance with Executive Orders (EO) 12866 ``Regulatory Planning and Review,'' and 13563 ``Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review.'' The agenda also describes regulations affecting small entities as required by section 602 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act, Public Law 96-354. This agenda also identifies regulatory actions that are being reviewed in compliance with section 610(c) of the Regulatory Flexibility Act. We invite public comment on those actions as well as any regulation consistent with EO 13563. USDA has attempted to list all regulations and regulatory reviews pending at the time of publication except for minor and routine or repetitive actions, but some may have been inadvertently missed. There is no legal significance to the omission of an item from this listing. Also, the dates shown for the steps of each action are estimated and are not commitments to act on or by the date shown. USDA's complete regulatory agenda is available online at www.reginfo.gov. Because publication in the Federal Register is mandated for the regulatory flexibility agendas required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 602), USDA's printed agenda entries include only: (1) Rules that are likely to have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities; and (2) Rules identified for periodic review under section 610 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act. For this edition of the USDA regulatory agenda, the most important significant regulatory actions and a Statement of Regulatory Priorities are included in the Regulatory Plan, which appears in both the online regulatory agenda and in part II of the Federal Register that includes the abbreviated regulatory agenda.

Section 4279.119(a)(1) of 7 CFR allows the Rural Business- Cooperative Service Administrator, at the Administrator's discretion, to grant an exception to the $10 million limit for Business and Industry (B&I) guaranteed loans of $25 million or less under certain circumstances. Due to the limited program funds that are expected for Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 for the B&I Guaranteed Loan Program, the Administrator has decided to only grant exceptions to the $10 million loan limit for existing B&I guaranteed loan borrowers that meet certain criteria. Limiting the maximum loan amount will enable the Agency to provide financing assistance to as many projects as possible. In order for an existing B&I guaranteed loan borrower to be granted an exception to the $10 million loan limit, they must meet the following criteria: (1) Qualify as a high priority project (a requirement of 7 CFR 4279.119(a)(1)(i)), scoring at least 50 points in accordance with the criteria in 7 CFR 4279.155(b); (2) have an existing B&I loan that has been current for the past 12 months without such status being achieved through debt forgiveness; and (3) not be requesting a refinance of the existing B&I loan. All other requirements of 7 CFR 4279.119(a) must be met. Limiting exceptions to the $10 million limit will allow the Agency to guarantee more loans and target smaller loans/projects impacting more small businesses and will assist the Agency to conserve scarce funding dollars at a time when there is unprecedented interest in the program.

As set forth in 7 CFR 4279.107, the Agency has the authority to charge an initial guarantee fee and an annual renewal fee for loans made under the Business and Industry (B&I) Guaranteed Loan Program. Pursuant to that authority, the Agency is establishing the renewal fee rate at one-half of 1 percent for the B&I Guaranteed Loan Program. This rate will apply to all loans obligated in Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 that are made under the B&I program. As established in 7 CFR 4279.107(b)(1), the amount of the fee on each guaranteed loan will be determined by multiplying the fee rate by the outstanding principal loan balance as of December 31, multiplied by the percent of guarantee. The Agency was authorized by the 2012 Appropriations Bill to charge a maximum of 3 percent for it guarantee fee for FY 2012. It is the Agency's expectation that the 2013 Appropriations Bill will contain the same authorization to charge a maximum of 3 percent for its guarantee fee for FY 2013. As such, the guarantee fee for FY 2013 will be 3 percent. In the event the 2013 Appropriations Bill reduces the fee authorization below 3 percent, a subsequent notice will be published in the Federal Register amending the guarantee fee for FY 2013. As set forth in 7 CFR 4279.107(a) and 4279.119(b)(4), each fiscal year, the Agency shall establish a limit on the maximum portion of B&I guarantee authority available for that fiscal year that may be used to guarantee loans with a reduced guarantee fee or guaranteed loans with a guarantee percentage exceeding 80 percent. Allowing a reduced guarantee fee or exceeding the 80 percent guarantee on certain B&I guaranteed loans that meet the conditions set forth in 7 CFR 4279.107 and 4279.119 will increase the Agency's ability to focus guarantee assistance on projects which the Agency has found particularly meritorious. For reduced guarantee fees, the borrower's business must support value-added agriculture and result in farmers benefiting financially or must be a high impact business investment as defined in 7 CFR 4279.155(b)(5) and be located in rural communities that experience long-term population decline and job deterioration, remain persistently poor, are experiencing trauma as a result of natural disaster, or are experiencing fundamental structural changes in its economic base. For guaranteed loans exceeding 80 percent, such projects must qualify as a high-priority project (a requirement of 7 CFR 4279.119(b)), scoring at least 50 points in accordance with 7 CFR 4279.155(b). Not more than 12 percent of the Agency's quarterly apportioned B&I guarantee authority will be reserved for loan requests with a reduced fee, and not more than 15 percent of the Agency's quarterly apportioned guarantee authority will be reserved for guaranteed loan requests with a guarantee percentage exceeding 80 percent. Once the respective quarterly limits are reached, all additional loans for that quarter will be at the standard fee and guarantee limits.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to request a revision to and extension of approval of an information collection associated with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's Student Outreach Program.

This rule would increase the assessment rate established for the Fresh Pear Committee (Committee) for the 2012-2013 and subsequent fiscal periods from $0.366 to $0.449 per standard box or equivalent of summer/fall pears handled, and would decrease the assessment rate from $0.471 to $0.449 per standard box or equivalent of fresh winter pears handled. The Committee locally administers the marketing order which regulates the handling of fresh pears grown in Oregon and Washington. Assessments upon Oregon-Washington fresh pear handlers are used by the Committee to fund reasonable and necessary expenses of the program. The fiscal period begins July 1 and ends June 30. The assessment rate would remain in effect indefinitely unless modified, suspended, or terminated.

This final rule adjusts the number of members on the United Soybean Board (Board) to reflect changes in production levels that have occurred since the Board was reapportioned in 2009. As required by the Soybean Promotion, Research, and Consumer Information Act (Act), membership is reviewed every 3 years and adjustments are made accordingly. This change results in an increase in Board membership for Mississippi, increasing the total number of Board members from 69 to 70. The change will be effective for the 2013 nomination and appointment process.

This proposed rule invites comments on procedures for conducting a referendum to determine whether issuance of a proposed Paper and Paper-Based Packaging Promotion, Research and Information Order (Order) is favored by manufacturers (domestic producers) and importers of paper and paper-based packaging. The procedures would also be used for any subsequent referendum under the Order. The proposed Order is being published separately in this issue of the Federal Register. This proposed rule also announces the Agricultural Marketing Service's (AMS) intent to request approval by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) of new information collection requirements to implement the program.