Department of Agriculture 2018 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This rule implements a recommendation from the California Desert Grape Administrative Committee (Committee) to decrease the assessment rate established for the 2018 fiscal period for grapes grown in a designated area of southeastern California. The assessment rate will remain in effect indefinitely unless modified, suspended, or terminated.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, as amended, the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is requesting comments from all interested individuals and organizations on an extension of a currently approved information collection process associated with the regulations, licensing, and electronic provider agreements issued pursuant to the United States Warehouse Act (``USWA''). The only revision to this information collection involves the transfer of functions from the Farm Service Agency to the Agricultural Marketing Service due to internal reorganization within the United States Department of Agriculture.

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 collection is an extension, without change, of a currently approved collection for the maintenance of a central repository containing information about authorized foods in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), as approved by various WIC State agencies.

The Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre, and Gunnison (GMUG) National Forests are revising their Land and Resource Management Plan (Forest Plan) and will prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the revised Forest Plan. A Notice of Intent for this project was published in the Federal Register on April 3, 2018 and initiated the scoping comment period. This comment period has been extended by thirty days until June 2, 2018 to provide additional time for review and feedback. The GMUG has published the initial scoping material, as well as other helpful resources, on its website at www.fs.usda.gov/goto/gmug/ forestplan.

This notice announces a forthcoming meeting of The Council for Native American Farming and Ranching (CNAFR), a public advisory committee of the Office of Tribal Relations (OTR). Notice of the meetings are provided in accordance with section 10(a)(2) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as amended. This will be the second meeting held during fiscal year 2018 and will consist of, but not be limited to: hearing public comments and subcommittee report outs. This meeting will be open to the public.

A recent amendment to the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 requires the Secretary of Agriculture (Secretary) to establish the national mandatory bioengineered (BE) food disclosure standard. The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is proposing a new rule that would require food manufacturers and other entities that label foods for retail sale to disclose information about BE food and BE food ingredient content. The proposed rule is intended to provide a mandatory uniform national standard for disclosure of information to consumers about the BE status of foods. AMS seeks comments on the proposed rule. This proposed rule also announces AMS' intent to request approval by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) of new information collection and recordkeeping requirements to implement the proposed BE food disclosure standard.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regulations, this notice announces the National Institute of Food and Agriculture's (NIFA's) intention to request approval for an extension of the currently approved information collection for the NIFA proposal review process.

This rule revises and clarifies requirements for the processing of donated foods in order to: Incorporate successful processing options tested in demonstration projects into the regulations, ensure accountability for donated foods provided for processing, increase program efficiency and integrity, and support vendor and State operability. The rule requires multi-State processors to enter into National Processing Agreements to process donated foods into end products, permits processors to substitute commercially purchased beef and pork of U.S. origin and of equal or better quality for donated beef and pork, and streamlines and modernizes oversight of inventories of donated foods at processors. The rule also revises regulatory provisions in plain language, to make them easier to read and understand.

This proposed rule invites comments on a proposed amendment to Marketing Order No. 929, which regulates the handling of cranberries grown in the States of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington, and Long Island in the State of New York. The Cranberry Marketing Committee (Committee), recommended adding authority to accept contributions from domestic sources. Contributed funds would be used solely for research and development activities authorized under the marketing order and would be free from any encumbrances as to their usage by the donor.

We are extending the comment period for our notice of availability of a revised version of the Chronic Wasting Disease Herd Certification Program Standards. This action will allow interested persons additional time to prepare and submit comments.

We are advising the public of our preliminary concurrence with the World Organization for Animal Health's (OIE) bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) risk designations for four regions. The OIE recognizes these regions as being of negligible risk for BSE. We are taking this action based on our review of information supporting the OIE's risk designations for these regions.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the intention of the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) to adjust the non-response follow-up methodology for the 2017 Census of Agriculture.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Department of State will host for the U.S. government the 2018 Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Informal North American Regional Conference (INARC).

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 regulations for the importation of clementines from Spain.

This Notice announces the solicitation of applications for up to $5 Million of available funding under the Repowering Assistance Program to encourage the use of renewable biomass as a replacement fuel source for fossil fuels used to provide process heat or power in the operation of eligible biorefineries. To be eligible for payments, biorefineries must have been in existence on or before June 18, 2008.

We are proposing to amend the regulations that allow the importation of peppers from the Republic of Korea to increase the mesh size of the screening over vent openings from 0.6 mm to 1.6 mm, and to require the use of colored sticky traps as an additional measure for pest monitoring. We have determined that, when used alongside other mitigations in the regulations, there is no additional pest risk related to the change in mesh size. This action would modify the conditions under which peppers from the Republic of Korea may be imported into the continental United States while continuing to protect against the introduction of quarantine pests.

In a final rule published on January 19, 2017, federal departments and agencies made revisions to the Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects (hereafter the ``2018 Requirements''). The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) adopted the same regulatory changes in a separate final rule published on September 18, 2017. The 2018 Requirements were scheduled to become effective on January 19, 2018, with a general compliance date of January 19, 2018 (with the exception of the revisions to the cooperative research provision). The departments and agencies listed in this document have also published an interim final rule delaying the effective date and general compliance date for the 2018 Requirements for six months, to cover the time period of January 19, 2018 until July 19, 2018. As per the interim final rule, the effective date of the 2018 Requirements is now July 19, 2018. The departments and agencies listed in this document propose delaying the general compliance date for the 2018 Requirements for an additional six months, for the time period of July 19, 2018 until January 21, 2019. This proposed rule is intended to provide additional time to regulated entities for the preparations necessary to implement the 2018 Requirements. This proposed rule, if finalized, would require regulated entities to continue to comply with the requirements of the current Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects (hereafter the ``pre-2018 Requirements'') until January 21, 2019. This proposal also takes comment on whether to permit institutions to implement, for certain research studies, the following provisions in the 2018 Requirements during the period from July 19, 2018, until January 21, 2019, that the general compliance date is delayed. Those three provisions, intended to reduce burdens on regulated entities, are the 2018 Requirements' definition of ``research,'' which deems certain activities not to be research, the allowance for no annual continuing review of certain categories of research, and the elimination of the requirement that institutional review boards (IRBs) review grant applications related to the research. The way that this option is proposed, regulated entities would be required to comply with all pre- 2018 Requirements during the period that the general compliance date is delayed, except for provisions substituted by the three burden-reducing provisions of the 2018 Requirements. As described in section III, below, this flexibility is proposed only for studies for which an institution makes a choice to transition to comply with the 2018 Requirements, beginning on July 19, 2018. In order to clearly describe this proposed flexibility, including how it would impact institutions choosing to transition research to comply with the 2018 Requirements, this document proposes a redrafted transition provision.

AMS is announcing the designations of Grain Inspection, Inc. (Jamestown); Lincoln Grain Inspection Service, Inc. (Lincoln); and Midsouth Grain Inspection Service (Midsouth) to provide official services under the United States Grain Standards Act (USGSA), as amended. The realignment of offices within the U.S. Department of Agriculture authorized by the Secretary's Memorandum dated November 14, 2017, eliminates the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyard Administration (GIPSA) as a standalone agency. The grain inspection activities formerly part of GIPSA are now organized under AMS.

This document contains necessary amendments to apply a technical correction to the final rule with request for comments for the Cultivated Clam Crop Insurance Provisions which published in the Federal Register on December 27, 2017.

Notice is hereby given that the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, intends to grant to Koppert B.V. of The Netherlands, an exclusive license to U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 14/854,120, ``STABLE FUNGAL BLASTOSPORES AND METHODS FOR THEIR PRODUCTION, STABILIZATION AND USE'', filed on September 15, 2015.

In accordance with the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, as amended (CERCLA), notice is hereby given of an administrative settlement with W.R. Grace & Co. Conn. and the Kootenai Development Company (Grace) for the recovery of past response costs concerning Operable Unit 3 (OU3) of the Libby Asbestos Site, Lincoln County, Montana (the Site).

The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) published a proposed rule in the Federal Register on January 18, 2018, which describes 35 amendments to the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances (Crops, Livestock and Handling). The public comment period closed on March 19, 2018. This document reopens the comment period on the proposed rule for an additional 30 days. Multiple stakeholders requested that AMS extend the comment period to provide more time to develop comments on the proposed rule.

We are proposing to amend the regulations regarding the branding of bovines imported into the United States from Mexico. We are taking this action at the request of the Government of Mexico to address issues that have arisen with the branding requirement for these bovines. The changes we are proposing would help prevent inconsistencies in branding that can result in bovines being rejected for import into the United States.