Department of Agriculture September 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) was established to assist in the development of standards for substances to be used in organic production and to advise the Secretary on the implementation of the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 (OFPA). Through this Notice, the USDA is requesting nominations to fill one (1) unexpected vacancy on the NOSB for an environmentalist/resource conservationist position. The Secretary of Agriculture will appoint one person to this position to serve on the NOSB for the remainder of the term for this position, which began in January 24, 2015, and goes through January 23, 2020.

The Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture will prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on a proposal to designate over-snow vehicle (OSV) use on National Forest System roads, National Forest System trails, and Areas on National Forest System lands within the Plumas National Forest; and to identify snow trails for grooming within the Plumas National Forest. In addition, the Forest Service proposes to: 1. Formally adopt California State Parks' OSV snow grooming standards requiring a minimum of 12 inches of snow depth before grooming can occur; 2. Implement a forest-wide snow depth requirement for OSV use that would provide for public safety and natural and cultural resource protection by allowing OSV use, both on-trail and off-trail in designated Areas, when unpacked snow depths equal or exceed 12 inches. Exceptions would be allowed in order for OSVs to access higher terrain and deeper snow when snow depths are less than 12 inches, as long as this use does not cause visible damage to the underlying surface. Most groomed snow trails are co-located on underlying paved, dirt, and gravel National Forest System roads and trails; 3. Identify snow trails for grooming on the Plumas National Forest for OSV use; 4. Restrict OSV use to designated snow trails in specified areas; 5. Enact OSV prohibitions in certain areas.

The Coconino National Forest is proposing to begin charging a new fee for the following two facilities: Dry Creek Vista Picnic Site and Fay Canyon Vista and Trailhead. These sites are part of a larger Red Rock Pass fee proposal. For more details, go to www.fs.usda.gov/ coconino. Dry Creek Vista Picnic Site: This site is located 2 miles northwest of Sedona, Arizona within the Red Rock Ranger District on Dry Creek Road. The site is a developed day use picnic site with a toilet, 40 surfaced parking spaces, interpretive kiosk, trash containers, scenic vista, picnic tables, security patrols, and access to several non- motorized trails. The site supports a variety of public recreation day uses. The site is proposed to be included as a fee site within the Red Rock Pass Fee Program. The charge is $5.00/day. Fay Canyon Vista and Trailhead: This site is located 3 miles northwest of Sedona, Arizona within the Red Rock Ranger District on Boynton Pass Road. The site is a developed day use site with a toilet, 42 surfaced parking spaces, interpretive kiosk, trash containers, scenic vista, picnic tables, security patrols, and access to the Fay, Cockscomb and Aerie trails. The site supports a variety of public recreation day uses. The site is proposed to be included as a fee site within the Red Rock Pass Fee Program. The charge is $5.00/day.

This notice announces a public comment period on the information collection requests (ICRs) associated with the Multiple Peril Crop Insurance.

The Yavapai Resource Advisory Committee (RAC) will meet in Prescott, Arizona. The committee is authorized under the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act (Pub.L 110-343) (the Act) and operates in compliance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act. 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. The purpose of the meeting is to review and recommend projects.

Notice is hereby given that the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, intends to grant to Oregon State University of Corvallis, Oregon, an exclusive license to the variety of blueberry described in U.S. Plant Patent Application Serial No. 14/545,561, ``BLUEBERRY PLANT NAMED `BABY BLUES','' filed on May 21, 2015.

The Salmon-Challis National Forest will prepare an environmental impact statement to analyze the potential effects of geothermal development on approximately 5,600 acres. The decision will be whether to proceed with geothermal leasing and, if so, under what stipulations.

The Forest Service announces the availability of the Record of Decision (ROD) and Approved Land Management Plan (LMP) Amendments for the Great Basin Region Greater Sage-Grouse (GRSG) sub-regions of Idaho and Southwestern Montana, Nevada, and Northeast California, and Utah. Management decisions within the ROD and Approved LMP amendments apply only to National Forest System lands. There were no National Forest System lands involved in this effort in Northeast California. The Regional Foresters signed the ROD on September 16, 2015, which constitutes the final decision of the Forest Service.

The Hood and Willamette Resource Advisory Committee (RAC) will meet in Corvallis Oregon. The committee is authorized under the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act (the Act) and operates in compliance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act. 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 Title II of the Act. Additional RAC information, including the meeting agenda and the meeting summary/ minutes can be found at the following Web site: https://www.fs.usda.gov/ detail/willamette/workingtogether/advisorycommittees/ ?cid=STELPRDB504843.

Note: With the renewal of this package, we are changing the title of the current information collection from General Administrative Regulations; Interpretations of Statutory and Regulatory Provisions to Interpretations of Statutory and Regulatory Provisions and Written Interpretations of FCIC Procedures. This notice announces a public comment period on the information collection requests (ICRs) associated with the interpretation of statutory and regulatory provisions and written interpretations of FCIC procedures administered by Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC).

This proposed rule would implement a recommendation from the South Texas Onion Committee (Committee) to increase the assessment rate established for the 2015-16 and subsequent fiscal periods from $0.03 to $0.05 per 50-pound equivalent of onions handled under the marketing order (order). The Committee locally administers the order and is comprised of producers and handlers of onions operating within the area of production. Assessments upon onion handlers are used by the Committee to fund reasonable and necessary expenses of the program. The fiscal period begins August 1 and ends July 31. The assessment rate would remain in effect indefinitely unless modified, suspended, or terminated.

In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service (USFS), Caribou-Targhee National Forest (CTNF), have prepared a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed Rasmussen Valley Mine, and by this Notice are announcing the opening of the comment period.

The Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail Advisory Council (Council) will meet in Sandpoint, Idaho. The Council is authorized under Section 5(d) of the National Trails System Act of 1968 (Act) and operates in compliance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). Additional information concerning the Council, including the meeting summary/minutes, can be found by visiting the Council's Web site at: https://www.fs.usda.gov/main/pnt/working-together/advisory-com mittees.

We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has prepared a supplement to an environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact relative to an oral rabies vaccination field trial in New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Vermont, and West Virginia. Based on its finding of no significant impact, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has determined that an environmental impact statement need not be prepared.

The National Advisory Committee for Implementation of the National Forest System Land Management Planning Rule Committee (Committee) will meet in Tempe, Arizona. Attendees may also participate via webinar and conference call. The Committee operates in compliance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) (Pub. L. 92-463). Additional information relating to the Committee, including the meeting summary/minutes, can be found by visiting the Committee's Web site at: https://www.fs.usda.gov/main/planningrule/committee.

The Shasta County Resource Advisory Committee (RAC) will meet in Redding, California. The committee is authorized under the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act (the Act) and operates in compliance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act. 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 Title II of the Act. Additional RAC information, including the meeting agenda and the meeting summary/ minutes can be found at the following Web site: www.fs.usda.gov/main/ stnf/workingtogether/advisorycommittees.

With the Highway 89 Safety Enhancement and Forest Ecosystem Restoration Project (Highway 89 project), the Shasta-Trinity National Forest (Forest) is proposing to improve public safety along California State Highway 89 (Highway 89) and restore forest health throughout approximately 13,514 acres of forest by: Addressing infrastructure needs (National Forest System roads and helispot, developed recreation areas); Reducing the risk of uncharacteristic wildfire by reducing fuel loads, thinning overstocked stands, and gradually returning fire to the landscape both along the highway corridor and within the surrounding forest; and Restoring resilient forest structures, patterns, and disturbance regimes by reducing stand densities, retaining and releasing larger trees, increasing under-represented forest vegetation such as aspen and oak, and providing forest structural diversity across the landscape. The 13,514 acre project area is located in Siskiyou County, California, north and south of Highway 89, from near the junction of Highway 89 with Interstate 5 (Mount Shasta, California area), east to the Cattle Camp turnoff (Forest Roads 43N19 and 40N44). The project boundary extends up to 2.5 miles from the highway and is bounded by the McCloud River, private property, and major Forest roads. The large landscape selected encompasses both complex natural forest stands that retain more spatial heterogeneity combined with simplified forest stands that are typically homogeneous in structure and include uniform stands of small and medium-sized trees within plantations. Using logical landscape boundaries, including the river, private property, roads, and other restored landscapes (Algoma Vegetation Management Project) fosters restoration of resilient forest structures, patterns, and disturbance regimes which are lacking. The legal location is: Township 39 North, Range 1 West, Sections 2- 10, 17-18; Township 39 North, Range 2 West, Sections 1-3, 12; Township 40 North, Range 1 West, Sections 27, 28, 31-34; Township 40 North, Range 2 West, Sections 34-36; Township 40 North, Range 3 West, Sections 32-33; Township 40 North, Range 4 West, Sections 22-26, 34, Mt. Diablo Meridian. Elevations range from 3,200 to 4,400 feet. Project treatments include thinning along the Highway 89 corridor, thinning in plantations and in natural forest stands throughout the 13,514 acres, hazard tree removal, prescribed burning, Forest road management, and developing a helispot.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35, as amended), the Rural Utilities Service, a Rural Development agency of the United States Department of Agriculture invites comments on the following information collections for which the Agency intends to request approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

We are amending the fruits and vegetables regulations to allow the importation of fresh peppers into the continental United States and the Territories from Peru. As a condition of entry, the fruit will have to be produced in accordance with a systems approach that includes requirements for fruit fly trapping, pre-harvest inspections, production sites, and packinghouse procedures designed to exclude quarantine pests. The fruit will also be required to be imported in commercial consignments and accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate issued by the national plant protection organization of Peru with an additional declaration stating that the consignment was produced in accordance with the requirements of the systems approach. This action allows for the importation of untreated fresh peppers from Peru while continuing to provide protection against the introduction of plant pests into the continental United States and the Territories.

This regulation establishes an exemption from the requirement of a tolerance for residues of tetraethylene glycol (CAS Reg. No. 112- 60-7) when used as an inert ingredient (solvent) in pesticide formulations applied to growing crops. Exponent, Inc. on behalf of Drexel Chemical Company submitted a petition to EPA under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), requesting establishment of an exemption from the requirement of a tolerance. This regulation eliminates the need to establish a maximum permissible level for residues of tetraethylene glycol.

In this notice, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is notifying the public that the EPA has found the following adequate for transportation conformity purposes: The Cache County, Logan, UT-ID PM2.5 Attainment Plan, Utah State Implementation Plan Section IX. Part A.23 and its motor vehicle emissions budgets (MVEB). As more fully explained in the Supplementary Information section of this notice, this finding will affect future transportation conformity determinations.

The Environmental Protection Agency has submitted an information collection request (ICR), ``NESHAP for Publicly Owned Treatment Works (40 CFR part 63, subpart VVV) (Renewal)'' (EPA ICR No. 1891.07, OMB Control No. 2060-0428), to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). This is a proposed extension of the ICR, which is currently approved through September 30, 2015. Public comments were previously requested via the Federal Register (79 FR 30117) on May 27, 2014 during a 60-day comment period. This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments. A fuller description of the ICR is given below, including its estimated burden and cost to the public. An Agency may neither conduct nor sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.