Department of Agriculture May 2023 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Rural Business-Cooperative Service (the Agency) published a Notice of Solicitation of Applications (NOSA) in the Federal Register on March 31, 2023, entitled Notice of Solicitation of Applications for the Rural Energy for America Program for Fiscal Years 2023 and 2024 to announce the availability of $1.055 billion in Inflation Reduction Act funds across six quarterly cycles to be obligated by September 30, 2024. The Notice also announced the types of projects that would qualify for a federal grant share not to exceed 50 percent of the project cost, a set-aside for underutilized renewable energy technologies (underutilized technologies), as well as scoring revisions to support Administration priorities. This correction notice is amending the definition of underutilized renewable energy technologies.

The Rural Utilities Services (RUS or the Agency), an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), announces its Technical Assistance and Construction for Innovative Regional Wastewater Treatment Solutions (TAC-RWTS) Grant Pilot Program application window for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023. Grants may be made to eligible entities for the study, design, or construction of regional wastewater systems for historically impoverished communities in areas that have had difficulty installing traditional wastewater treatment systems due to soil conditions. Solutions must be innovative and account for strategic management and regulatory models. Successful applications will be selected by the Agency for funding and subsequently awarded from available funds for the TAC-RWTS Grant Pilot Program. All applicants are responsible for any expenses incurred in developing their applications.

Notice is hereby given, pursuant to the provisions of the rules and regulations of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), that a public meeting of the USDA Equity Commission (EC or Commission), Subcommittee for Agriculture and the Rural Community Economic Development (RCED) Subcommittee will convene to continue its work reviewing USDA programs, services, and policies for the purpose of making recommendations for how the Department can improve access and advance equity.

Teresa Benson, the Forest Supervisor for the Sequoia National Forest, Pacific Southwest Region, and Dean Gould, the Forest Supervisor for the Sierra National Forest, Pacific Southwest Region, signed final records of decision (RODs) for revised land management plans for the Sequoia and Sierra National Forests, respectively. The final RODs document the rationale for approving the revised land management plans and are consistent with the Reviewing Officer's response to objections and instructions.

In accordance with The Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, USDA FNS is providing notice of a new computer matching program (CMP) between FNS and the State agencies that administer the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The CMP allows State agencies access to the National Accuracy Clearinghouse (NAC), a national database operated by FNS, as a tool to prevent individuals from receiving SNAP benefits in more than one State simultaneously, commonly referred to as duplicate participation. State agencies provide information about SNAP applicants and participants to the NAC that is then compared to discover potential duplicate participation. The NAC CMP employs a Privacy-Preserving Record Linkage (PPRL) approach that identifies and links records that correspond to the same individual across different databases, without the need to collect or retain the names, Social Security numbers, or dates of birth of the individuals being matched. State agencies use the PPRL process to convert this information to a secure cryptographic hash before sharing it to the NAC. When a match is found, indicating potential duplicate participation, the NAC notifies the affected State agencies and facilitates communication between the State agencies as they each take action to resolve the match.

This document directs that a referendum be conducted among eligible cranberry producers to determine whether they favor continuance of the marketing order regulating 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 Rural Business Development Grant (RBDG) Program is intended for governmental entities and non-profits that foster economic development, job creation and business creation in rural and Tribal communities. Eligible applicants for RBDG assistance include rural towns, communities, State agencies, authorities, nonprofit corporations, institutions of higher education, Federally recognized Tribes (https://www.bia.gov/service/tribal-leaders-directory) and cooperatives (if organized as a private nonprofit corporation). USDA intends to improve Tribal Government participation in the program. This proposed rule seeks to increase Tribal Government participation with programmatic 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 regulations for the interstate movement of sheep and goats and an indemnity program for controlling the spread of scrapie.

The Rural Utilities Service (RUS or Agency), an agency in the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development Mission area, published a final rule with comment in the Federal Register on March 1, 2023, to modify its coverage ratio requirements, add an additional set of ratios, update definitions, and add definitions. Through this action, RUS is confirming the final rule as it was published as no public comments were received.

The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) is hosting listening sessions and requesting public input about the prevented planting provisions of the Common Crop Insurance Policy (CCIP), Basic Provisions. Prevented planting is a feature of many crop insurance plans that provides a payment to cover certain pre-plant costs for a crop that was prevented from being planted due to an insurable cause of loss. FCIC is interested in public input on the following: additional prevented planting coverage based on harvest prices in situations when harvest prices are higher than established prices initially set by FCIC prior to planting; the requirement that acreage must have been planted to a crop, insured, and harvested, in at least 1 of the 4 most recent crop years; additional levels of prevented planting coverage; prevented planting coverage on contracted crops; and other general prevented planting questions. We invite stakeholders to respond to this request for information or to participate in the listening session(s). All listening sessions will be posted publicly and open to the public for registration.

The Forest Service (Forest Service or Agency), United States Department of Agriculture, published a proposed rule in the Federal Register on March 9, 2023, initiating a 60-day comment period on the proposed rule to amend its special use regulations to update the processing and monitoring fee schedules based on current Agency costs; to provide for recovery of costs associated with processing special use proposals, as well as applications; and to remove the exemption for commercial recreation special use applications and authorizations that involve 50 hours or less to process or monitor. In addition, the Forest Service is proposing to amend its special use regulations to increase the strict liability limit consistent with the strict liability limit established by the United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, and to expressly provide for requiring holders of a special use authorization to obtain insurance, as needed. The comment period for the original document closed May 8, 2023. The Agency is reopening the comment period for an additional 30 days from the date of publication of this document.

In accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, section 1408 of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977, and the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announces a meeting of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics (NAREEE) Advisory Board.

The Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail Advisory Council will hold a public meeting according to the details shown below. The committee is authorized under the National Trails System Act (the Act) and operates in compliance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). The purpose of the committee is to advise and make recommendations to the Secretary of Agriculture, through the Chief of the Forest Service, on matters relating to the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail as described in the Act.

The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) establishes procedures for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to adopt periodic revisions to the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) and to ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1: Energy Standard for Buildings, Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings (ASHRAE 90.1), subject to a determination by HUD and USDA that the revised codes do not negatively affect the availability or affordability of new construction of single and multifamily housing covered by EISA, and a determination by the Secretary of Energy that the revised codes ``would improve energy efficiency.'' This Notice announces the preliminary determination of HUD and USDA, as required under section 481(d)(1) of EISA, that the 2021 IECC and ASHRAE 90.1-2019 will not negatively affect the affordability and availability of housing covered by EISA. In making this preliminary determination, the first step to ultimately requiring compliance with these standards in HUD and USDA housing covered by EISA, this Notice relies on several studies that show that these codes are cost effective in that the incremental cost of the additional efficiency measures pays for themselves with energy cost savings on a life-cycle basis.

Notice is hereby given that the Rural Housing Service (RHS), as required by the National Environmental Policy Act, is issuing a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) with respect to the preliminary affordability determination of minimum energy standards.

The grants and agreements awarded under this announcement will support the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, Rural Revitalization Technologies, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (commonly known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law), Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, and the nationwide challenge of disposing of hazardous fuels and other wood residues from the National Forest System lands and other forest lands in a manner that supports wood products and wood energy markets. The intent of the Wood Innovations funding opportunity is to stimulate, expand, and support U.S. wood products markets and wood energy markets to support the long-term management of National Forest System and other forest lands.

We are advising the public that we have prepared a pest risk analysis that evaluates the risks associated with importation of fresh pumpkin, squash, and the interspecific hybrid tetsukabuto from Brazil into the continental United States. Based on the analysis, we have determined that the application of one or more designated phytosanitary measures will be sufficient to mitigate the risks of introducing or disseminating plant pests or noxious weeds via the importation of fresh pumpkin, squash, and tetsukabuto from Brazil. We are making the pest risk analysis available to the public for review and comment.

The Rural Utilities Service (RUS or the Agency), a Rural Development (RD) Agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), is soliciting Letters of Interest (LOI) for loan Applications, announcing the Application process for those loans, and providing deadlines for Applications from eligible entities under the Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE) Program. These loan funds will be made to qualified PACE Applicants to finance power generation Projects for Renewable Energy Resource (RER) systems or Energy Storage Systems (ESS) that support RER Projects. The PACE Program has $1,000,000,000 available in appropriated funds under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA).

The Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production (OUAIP) is seeking nominations for individuals to serve on the Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production Advisory Committee (UAIPAC). The UAIPAC advises the Secretary of Agriculture on the development of policies and outreach relating to urban, indoor, and other emerging agricultural production practices. The 12 members appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture are expected to serve a 3-year term. This specific nomination period includes four vacancies, including: the urban producer representative; the higher education or extension program represenative; the business and economic development representative; and a representative with related experience in urban, indoor, and other emerging agriculture production practices.

The Black Hills National Forest Advisory Board will hold a public meeting according to the details shown below. The committee is authorized under the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974, the National Forest Management Act of 1976, the Federal Public Lands Recreation Enhancement Act, and operates in compliance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). The purpose of the committee is to provide advice and recommendations on a broad range of forest issues such as forest plan revisions or amendments, forest health including fire, insect and disease, travel management, forest monitoring and evaluation, recreation fees, and site-specific projects having forest-wide implications.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Agricultural Marketing Service's (AMS) intention to request approval, from the Office of Management and Budget, for an extension and revision of the currently approved information collection for Tobacco Report (OMB No. 0581-0004).

Rural Development's Rural Utilities Service (hereinafter ``the Agency''), of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), published in the Federal Register on February 1, 2023, a final rule with request for comments for 7 CFR 1777 Section 306C Water and Waste Disposal (WWD) Loans and Grants Programs. Through this action, RUS is confirming the final rule as it was published and providing a response to the public comment received.

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 assisting State agencies and school nutrition professionals in recording, tracking, and managing the required training hours for state and local school district nutrition professionals, in four major areas (Nutrition, Operations, Administration, and Communications and Marketing), to meet the requirements of the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act (HHFKA) of 2010 Professional Standards Rule. The HHFKA (section 306) requires Professional Standards for state and local school district nutrition professionals. In addition to hiring standards, mandatory annual training is required for all individuals involved in preparing school meals.