Department of Agriculture February 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the U.S. Forest Service (Forest Service) Idaho Panhandle National Forests (IPNF) announce the availability of the Bog Creek Road Project Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and the agencies' respective Draft Records of Decision (ROD). The Final EIS identifies and assesses potential impacts upon the environment of: Repairing and maintaining an approximately 5.6-mile section of the existing Bog Creek Road, which is located in the Selkirk Mountains in Boundary County, Idaho, within approximately two miles of the Canadian border, on land within the Blue-Grass Bear Management Unit (BMU) that is managed by the Forest Service; and closing for motorized use additional roads within the Blue-Grass BMU to comply with the Forest Plan Amendments for Motorized Access Management within the Selkirk and Cabinet-Yaak Grizzly Bear Recovery Zones (Access Amendment) and to reduce road density in the Blue-Grass BMU. The CBP Draft ROD addresses the decision to approve the funding for and implement the repair and maintenance of the Bog Creek Road. The Forest Service Draft ROD addresses the decisions to: Approve CBP's repair and maintenance of Bog Creek Road for administrative use by CBP, the Forest Service, and others; implement the motorized closure of seasonally restricted Forest Service roads to establish grizzly bear core area habitat and meet Access Amendment standards for the Blue- Grass BMU; and implement changes in the seasonally restricted designation of roads in the Blue- Grass BMU. This document provides instructions for filing objections to the Forest Service's Draft ROD.

On June 24, 2010, the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) issued a final rule to establish the regulation for the Special Evaluation Assistance for Rural Communities and Households Program (SEARCH) as authorized by Section 306(a) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (CONACT). Following final implementation of this final rule, RUS found that the wording for the definition of a rural area is inconsistent with the statute. This document corrects the final regulation.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Rural Housing Service (RHS) invites comments on this information collection for the Housing Preservation Grant (HPG) Program, which approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) will be requested.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Rural Development's intention to request an extension for a currently approved information collection in support of the program, Environmental Policies and Procedures.

This is an extension, without change, of a currently approved information collection request (ICR). In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on the proposed information collection for the Annual State Report of Verification of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Participation. The purpose of the Annual State Report of Verification of SNAP Participants is to ensure that no person who is deceased, or has been permanently disqualified from SNAP, improperly received SNAP benefits for the fiscal year preceding the report submission. Section 4032 of the Agriculture Act of 2014 is the basis for this collection. Section 4032 mandates that States will ``submit to the Secretary a report containing sufficient information for the Secretary to determine whether the State agency has, for the most recently concluded fiscal year preceding that annual date, verified that the State agency in that fiscal year(1) did not issue benefits to a deceased individual; and (2) did not issue benefits to an individual who had been permanently disqualified from receiving benefits.'' An email from each State agency to the corresponding Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) Regional SNAP Program Director containing the answers to the above questions will be used as the mechanism for State agencies to report their compliance with Sec. 4032 of the Agriculture Act of 2014.

The Rural Housing Service announces the low loan-to-cost ratio required for loans guaranteed under Option Three (Continuous Guarantee) of the Guaranteed Rural Rental Housing Program (GRRHP). The low loan- to-cost ratio is defined as a maximum of 70 percent in order for a loan to be eligible for a single continuous guarantee for construction and permanent loans. The Rural Housing Service is not modifying the lease- up reserves or percent of guarantee previously established for this program.

This rule contains formatting changes to subpart references to bring the headings into conformance with the Office of Federal Register requirements. In addition, we are updating authority citations and making minor editorial changes to the regulations.

Notice is hereby given that the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, intends to grant to Golden Valley Organics, Inc. dba BioWest Ag Solutions of Nampa, Idaho, an exclusive license to U.S. Patent No. 9,578,884, ``PSEUDOMONAS SPECIES HAVING WEED-SUPPRESSIVE ACTIVITY AND BENIGN SOIL SURVIVAL TRAITS FOR ANNUAL GRASS WEED MANAGEMENT'', issued on February 28, 2017.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to request the reinstatement of an information collection associated with the Federal plant pest and noxious weeds regulations.

This rule implements a recommendation from the Raisin Administrative Committee (Committee) to increase the assessment rate established for the 2018-19 and subsequent crop years. The assessment rate will remain in effect indefinitely unless modified, suspended, or terminated.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) proposes to amend its regulations to update a number of outdated administrative and organizational references, clarify agency action as it relates to the withdrawal or denial of service, update the official shields and grademarks associated with the grading service, and make reference to the use of instrument grading equipment as a means of determining official grades on beef and lamb carcasses.

This rule will remove seven voluntary U.S. grade standards and one consumer standard for fresh fruits and vegetables from the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). This regulatory action is being taken as part of USDA's work to eliminate regulations that are outdated, unnecessary, ineffective, or impose costs that exceed benefits. None of the eight voluntary standards slated for removal from the CFR are related to a current, active marketing order, import regulation, or export act. The cost of printing these eight standards in the CFR annually exceeds the benefits of further inclusion in the CFR. These voluntary standards and all subsequent revisions or new standards for these products will be available in a separate publication. The standards for the affected commodities will continue to be administered by the AMS Specialty Crops Inspection (SCI) Division and catalogued using the existing numbering system for voluntary standards. Any proposed, new, or revised voluntary standards will appear in the Federal Register with the opportunity for public comment.