Department of Agriculture 2014 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Hood/Willamette Resource Advisory Committee (RAC) will meet in Sandy, Oregon. The Committee is authorized under the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act (the Act) (Pub. L. 110-343) and operates in compliance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972 (5 U.S.C. App 2). The purpose of the Committee is to improve collaborative relationships and to provide advice and recommendations to the Forest Service concerning projects and funding consistent with the Title II of the Act. The meeting is open to the public. Additional information concerning the Committee, can be found by visiting the Committee's Web site at: https://fsplaces.fs.fed.us/ fsfiles/unit/wo/secureruralschools.nsf.

The Farm Service Agency (FSA) proposes to consolidate, update, and amend its regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA). FSA's NEPA regulations have been in place since 1980. Significant changes to the structure of FSA and the scope of FSA's programs require changes in FSA's NEPA regulations. The proposed changes would also better align FSA's NEPA regulations with the President's Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) NEPA regulations and guidance and meet the FSA responsibilities for periodic review of their categorical exclusions. One component of the changes proposed to improve the clarity and consistency of the regulations, is the proposed additions to the existing list of categorical exclusions (CatExs). CatExs involve actions that typically do not result in individual or cumulative significant environmental effects or impacts and therefore do not merit further environmental review in an Environmental Assessment (EA) or Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). This proposed rule would also propose to expand and clarify the list of actions that require an EA. In addition, this rule proposes conforming changes to existing references to FSA NEPA regulations in other current USDA regulations. The revisions to the FSA NEPA implementing regulations are intended to improve transparency and clarity of the FSA NEPA process for FSA program participants and to provide for a more efficient environmental review that will lead to better decisions and outcomes for stakeholders and the environment.

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 renew an information collection concerning its Web-based Public Health Information System (PHIS). There are no changes to the existing information collection except a revision to remove the FSIS Form 9540-1 for the import of meat and poultry products. This will result in a reduction in burden of 5,034 hours. The information collection burden incurred by FSIS Form 9540-1 will be covered under the Electronic Import Inspection information collection (0583-0127).

We are adding a region of Argentina, consisting of the areas of Patagonia South and Patagonia North B, to the lists of regions that are considered free of rinderpest and foot-and-mouth disease (FMD). We are taking this action because we have determined that this region is free of rinderpest and FMD. We are also adding the Patagonia Region to the list of regions that are subject to certain import restrictions on meat and meat products because of their proximity to or trading relationships with rinderpest- or FMD-affected countries. These actions update the disease status of the Patagonia Region with regard to rinderpest and foot-and-mouth disease while continuing to protect the United States from an introduction of those diseases by providing additional requirements for any meat and meat products imported into the United States from the Patagonia Region of Argentina.

Forest Service administrative review procedures at 36 CFR parts 218 and 219 require agency officials to publish legal notices in newspapers of record for certain opportunities to comment and opportunities to file pre-decisional objections. Forest Service officials in the Eastern Region will publish those legal notices in the newspapers listed in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this notice. The Eastern Region consists of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, Maine, Pennsylvania, Vermont, New York, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. As provided in 36 CFR 218 and 36 CFR 219, the public shall be advised through Federal Register notice, of the newspaper of record to be utilized for publishing legal notice of comment and objection opportunities required by those Parts and their associated procedures. This notice fulfills that requirement for the Eastern Region.

This rule implements regulations for the Margin Protection Program for Dairy (MPP-Dairy) and the Dairy Product Donation Program (DPDP) as authorized in subtitle D of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (the 2014 Farm Bill). MPP-Dairy provides dairy producers with risk management coverage that will pay producers when the difference between the price of milk and the cost of feed (the margin) falls below a certain level. MPP-Dairy provides basic catastrophic level coverage for an administrative fee, and greater coverage for a premium in addition to the administrative fee. Amounts of coverage and premiums vary based on producer selections. This rule specifies the eligibility requirements and payment formulas for MPP-Dairy. Under the related DPDP, which is a complimentary program designed to support producer margins by increasing the price of milk, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will buy dairy products when the margin falls below a certain level, and will distribute those products to individuals in low-income groups through public and private non-profit organizations. The Farm Service Agency (FSA) will operate both programs using funds of the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC). The USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) will assist in the distribution of the dairy products under DPDP.

As directed by the National Forest Management Act, the USDA Forest Service is preparing the revised land management plans (forest plans) for the Inyo Sequoia and Sierra National Forests. The agency will prepare a joint environmental impact statement (EIS) for these three revised plans. The revised forest plans will supersede existing forest plans previously approved by the responsible official on the Inyo National Forest in 1988, the Sequoia National Forest in 1988 and the Sierra National Forest in 1992. The existing forest plans have been amended several times since their approval, including the 2004 Sierra Nevada Forest Plan Amendment. The Giant Sequoia National Monument (Monument) Management Plan, which amends the land management plan for the Sequoia National Forest, will be incorporated as a subset of the Sequoia's revised forest plan. Provisions of the 1990 Mediated Settlement Agreement to the Sequoia National Forest Land Management Plan, applicable to National Forest System lands outside of the Monument, will be addressed in the EIS for forest plan revision. The existing forest plans, as amended, remain in effect until the revised forest plans are approved. The plans will be revised under the 2012 Planning Rule and will provide for social, economic and ecological sustainability within Forest Service authority and the inherent capability of the plan area.

We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has reached a preliminary decision to extend our determination of nonregulated status of soybean event MON 87701 to soybean event MON 87751 in response to a request from the Monsanto Company. Soybean event MON 87751 has been genetically engineered for resistance to lepidopteran insects, including resistance to fall armyworm beyond that provided to soybean event MON 87701. We are making available for public comment our preliminary finding of no significant impact for the proposed determination of nonregulated status.

We are proposing to amend the fruits and vegetables regulations to allow the importation into the continental United States of commercial consignments of five species of fresh citrus fruit from China. As a condition of entry, the citrus fruit would have to be produced in accordance with a systems approach that includes requirements for registration of places of production and packinghouses, sourcing of pest-free propagative material, inspection for quarantine pests at set intervals by the national plant protection organization (NPPO) of China, bagging of fruit, safeguarding, post- harvest processing and sampling, and importation in commercial consignments. Additionally, we would require places of production to trap for several species of Bactrocera fruit flies, and would require the fruit to be treated for those species of fruit flies. In addition, consignments would have to be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate issued by the NPPO of China that declares that the conditions for importation have been met and that the consignments have been inspected and found free of quarantine pests. Finally, the NPPO of China would have to provide an operational workplan to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of the United States Department of Agriculture that details the activities that the NPPO of China will carry out to meet these requirements. This proposed rule would allow for the importation of fresh citrus from China into the continental United States while providing protection against the introduction of plant pests.

The Pike & San Isabel Resource Advisory Committee will meet in Pueblo, Colorado. The committee is meeting as authorized under the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act (Pub. L. 110- 343) and in compliance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act. The purpose of the meetings is for project discussion and recommendation to the Designated Federal Official.

The Office of the Under Secretary for Food Safety, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are sponsoring a public meeting on September 23, 2014. The objective of the public meeting is to provide information and receive public comments on agenda items and draft United States (U.S.) positions to be discussed at the 42nd Session of the Codex Committee on Food Labeling in Foods (CCFL) of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex), taking place in Santiago, Chile October 21-24, 2014. The Under Secretary for Food Safety and FDA recognize the importance of providing interested parties the opportunity to obtain background information on the 42nd Session of CCFL, and to address items on the agenda.

This rule decreases the assessment rate established for the California Date Administrative Committee (Committee) for the 2014-15 and subsequent crop years from $0.40 to $0.20 per hundredweight of dates handled. The Committee locally administers the marketing order, which regulates the handling of dates grown or packed in Riverside County, California. Assessments upon date handlers are used by the Committee to fund reasonable and necessary expenses of the program. The crop year begins October 1 and ends September 30. The assessment rate will remain in effect indefinitely unless modified, suspended, or terminated.

The Tongass Advisory Committee (Committee) will meet in Juneau, Alaska. The Committee is established consistent with the Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972 (5 U.S.C. App. 2). Additional information concerning the Committee, including the meeting agenda, can be found by visiting the Committee's Web site at: https:// www.fs.usda.gov/goto/R10/Tongass/TAC.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to request an extension of approval of an information collection associated with regulations for the importation of clementines from Spain.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), this notice announces the Agricultural Marketing Service's (AMS) intention to request approval from the Office of Management and Budget, for an extension without change to a currently approved information collection for the Regulations Governing the Inspection and Grading of Manufactured or Processed Dairy Products Recordkeeping (Subpart B).

On December 9, 2013, the Rural Housing Service (RHS) published an interim final rule concerning the streamlining and reengineering its Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program. The effective date was listed as September 1, 2014 and is being deferred to December 1, 2014.

As stipulated by the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), is hereby giving notice that a meeting of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) will be held and will be open to the public.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is amending the poultry products inspection regulations to establish a new inspection system for young chicken and all turkey slaughter establishments. Young chicken and turkey slaughter establishments that do not choose to operate under the new poultry inspection system may continue to operate under their current inspection system. The Agency is also making several changes to the regulations that will affect all establishments that slaughter poultry other than ratites. This final rule is a result of the Agency's 2011 regulatory review efforts conducted under Executive Order 13563 on Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the intention of the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) to request revision and extension of a currently approved information collection, the Organic Survey. Revision to burden hours will be needed due to changes in the size of the target population, sample design, and questionnaire length. Response to this survey will be mandatory.

Notice is hereby given of the intention of NRCS to issue a series of revised conservation practice standards in the National Handbook of Conservation Practices. These standards include: Conservation Cover (Code 327), Conservation Crop Rotation (Code 328), Contour Buffers (Code 332), Cover Crop (Code 340), Cross Wind Trap Strips (Code 589c), Grassed Waterway (Code 412), Groundwater Testing (Code 355), Heavy Use Area Protection (Code 561), Irrigation System, Tailwater Recovery (Code 447), Irrigation Water Management (Code 449), Monitoring Well (Code 353), On-Farm Secondary Containment Facility (Code 319), Roof Runoff Structure (Code 558), Surface Roughening (Code 609), Tree/Shrub Pruning (Code 660), Waste Transfer (Code 634), Water Well Decommissioning (Code 351) and Wildlife Structure (Code 649). NRCS State Conservationists who choose to adopt these practices for use within their States will incorporate them into section IV of their respective electronic Field Office Technical Guide. These practices may be used in conservation systems that treat highly erodible land (HEL) or on land determined to be a wetland. Section 343 of the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 requires NRCS to make available for public review and comment all proposed revisions to conservation practice standards used to carry out HEL and wetland provisions of the law.

We are amending the regulations to implement an amendment to the Animal Welfare Act (AWA). The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 added a new section to the AWA to restrict the importation of certain live dogs. Consistent with this amendment, this rule prohibits the importation of dogs, with limited exceptions, from any part of the world into the continental United States or Hawaii for purposes of resale, research, or veterinary treatment, unless the dogs are in good health, have received all necessary vaccinations, and are at least 6 months of age. This action is necessary to implement the amendment to the AWA and will help to ensure the welfare of imported dogs.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), this notice announces the Agricultural Marketing Service's intention to request approval from the Office of Management and Budget, for a Revision of the currently approved information collection used to compile and generate the Federally Inspected Estimated Daily Slaughter Report.