Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service November 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We are advising the public that we have prepared a proposed environmental assessment relative to oral rabies vaccination programs in several States. Since the publication of our original environmental assessment and decision/finding of no significant impact in 2001, we have prepared, and made available to the public for comment, several supplemental environmental assessments and decisions/findings of no significant impact in order to reflect changes in the program. The new environmental assessment made available by this notice analyzes the further expansion the oral rabies vaccination program to include the States of New Mexico and Arizona, which is necessary to effectively combat the gray fox variant of the rabies virus. The new environmental assessment is intended to facilitate planning and interagency coordination in the event of rabies outbreaks, help streamline program management, and clearly communicate to the public the actions involved in the oral rabies vaccination program.

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 importation of live fish, fertilized eggs, and gametes to prevent the introduction of spring viremia of carp into the United States.

We are amending the Asian longhorned beetle regulations by adding a portion of Worcester County, MA, to the list of quarantined areas and updating the description of the quarantined area in the Borough of Staten Island in the City of New York, NY. This action will restrict the interstate movement of regulated articles from these areas. This interim rule is necessary to prevent the artificial spread of the Asian longhorned beetle to noninfested areas of the United States.

We are advising the public that we have made changes to the area in the State of Idaho that is quarantined to prevent the spread of pale cyst nematode. The description of the quarantined area was updated on May 22, 2009, when 1,834 acres were removed from the quarantined area, and on June 3, 2009, when an additional 283 acres were removed from the quarantined area.

We are amending the regulations to allow the importation of commercial consignments of tomatoes from the Souss-Massa-Draa region of Morocco subject to a systems approach similar to that which is already in place for tomatoes imported into the United States from other areas within Morocco. The tomatoes will have to be produced under conditions that include requirements for pest exclusion at the production site, fruit fly trapping inside the production site, and pest-exclusionary packinghouse procedures. The tomatoes will also be required to be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate issued by the Moroccan national plant protection organization with an additional declaration stating that the tomatoes have been grown in registered pest- exclusionary structures in the Souss-Massa-Draa region and were pink at the time of packing. This action will allow for the importation of commercial consignments of tomatoes from the Souss-Massa-Draa region of Morocco into the United States while continuing to provide protection against the introduction of quarantine pests.