Department of Agriculture December 2020 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service, is seeking public comment on a proposed directive implementing section 512 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), as added by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018. Section 512 of FLPMA governs development, review, and approval of proposed operating plans and agreements for vegetation management, inspection, and operation and maintenance of powerline facilities on National Forest System (NFS) lands.

This rule revises the reporting requirements prescribed under the Federal marketing order regulating the handling of walnuts grown in California. This action requires California walnut handlers to report purchase commitments (walnuts sold but not yet shipped) with domestic and foreign buyers, monthly. This change provides more accurate information about supply and demand to the industry, which also enhances marketing efforts.

The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is announcing the designation of Amarillo Grain Exchange, Inc. (Amarillo) to provide Class X or Class Y weighing services under the United States Grain Standards Act (USGSA), as amended.

This Notice is to invite applications under the Intermediary Relending Program (IRP) for fiscal year (FY) 2021, subject to availability of funding. This Notice is being issued in order to allow applicants enough time to leverage financing, prepare and submit their applications, and give the Agency time to process applications within FY 2021. The Agency anticipates a forthcoming IRP rulemaking that will incorporate the program statutory requirements established in the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 (2018 Farm Bill) and will improve and streamline process and efficiency in program administration. Successful applications will be selected by the Agency for funding and subsequently awarded to the extent that funding may ultimately be made available through appropriations. An announcement on the website at https://www.rd.usda.gov/newsroom/fy2021-appropriated-funding will identify the amount received in the appropriations. All applicants are responsible for any expenses incurred in developing their applications.

The Coconino and Tonto National Forests, located in Arizona, have prepared a Comprehensive River Management Plan (CRMP) for the Fossil Creek Wild and Scenic River. Significant programmatic forest plan amendments to the Coconino and Tonto National Forests land management plans, to incorporate management direction from the CRMP have also been prepared for the Fossil Creek Wild and Scenic River. Because the project includes two separate decisions, this notice initiates two separate but concurrent pre-decisional objection filing periods. Objections to the proposed CRMP must be filed within 45 days of the publication date of this notice and objections to the proposed amendments to the land management plans must be filed withn 60 days of the publication date of this notice. The accompanying Final Environmental Impact Statement and draft Record of Decision describe the actions and analyze the effects of site specific activities associated with the CRMP and the forest plan amendments.

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 the regulations for the commercial transportation of equines to slaughtering facilities.

The Rural Housing Service (RHS or the Agency) published a proposed rule, September 3, 2019, proposing to amend its regulation to remove the stated amount that the Agency will charge for the initial and annual guarantee fees. The regulation change will allow the Agency the flexibility to establish or make any future changes to the initial and annual guarantee fees without the need for a regulatory change. Through this action, RHS finalizes the proposed rule without any substantive revisions.

We are reopening the comment period for our notice of receipt of a petition from Zoetis, Inc. requesting approval for the manufacture within the continental United States of a vaccine derived from a leaderless strain of the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) virus. Although introduction of live FMD virus into the United States is prohibited by law, the petition states that this leaderless strain should not be considered live FMD virus as it is non-infectious, non-transmissible, and incapable of causing FMD. We are taking this action in order to provide commenters with additional scientific information supporting our determination that the leaderless virus strain from which Zoetis, Inc. intends to produce FMD vaccine in the United States poses no risk of causing FMD infection in animals. This action gives interested persons the opportunity to review the additional information and submit comments.

The Central Montana Resource Advisory Committee (RAC) will hold a virtual meeting. 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 the Act. RAC information can be found at the following website: https://www.fs.usda.gov/main/hlcnf/ workingtogether/advisorycommittees.

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 a revision of a currently approved collection. This information collection addresses the recordkeeping burden associated with forms FNS-292A (Report of Commodity Distribution for Disaster Relief) and FNS-292B (Report of Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Benefit Issuance). The reporting burden for these forms, which we are not seeking in this request, are already approved under OMB Control Number: 0584-0594; Expiration Date: 07/31/2023.