Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service January 2020 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We are advising the public of our decision to revise the import requirements for the importation of fresh Unshu oranges from Japan into the United States and to allow Unshu oranges from the island of Kyushu to be imported into any port of entry in the United States, excluding territories. We are also removing the fumigation requirement for Unshu oranges from the islands of Honshu and Shikoku. Based on the findings of our commodity import evaluations, which we made available to the public to review and comment through a previous notice, we have concluded 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 Unshu oranges into the United States from Japan, including the island of Kyushu.

This notice advises the public of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's record of decision for the final environmental impact statement titled Record of Decision for the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for the Rangeland Grasshopper and Mormon Cricket Suppression Program.

On May 13, 2016, the Air Transport Association of America, Inc., and the International Air Transport Association filed suit against the United States Department of Agriculture, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection Agency (CBP), the Secretary of Agriculture, the Administrator of APHIS, the Commissioner of CBP, and the Secretary of Homeland Security, claiming APHIS' 2015 final rule setting fee structures for its Agricultural Quarantine and Inspection (AQI) program (Docket No. APHIS-2013-0021, effective December 28, 2015) (2015 Final Rule) violated the Food, Agriculture, Conservation and Trade Act of 1990 (FACT Act) and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). In its March 28, 2018, Order, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia affirmed APHIS' cost methodology and the sufficiency of its data. Air Transport Ass'n of Am., Inc. v. U.S. Dep't of Agric., 303 F. Supp. 3d 28 (D.D.C. 2018). However, the Court held that in the rulemaking for the 2015 Final Rule, the ground upon which APHIS relied to justify setting fees at a level that enabled APHIS to maintain a reasonable balance in the AQI user fee account was an expired provision in the FACT Act. The Court remanded to APHIS the reserve portion of the 2015 Final Rule updating user fees for the AQI program. Accordingly, on April 26, 2019, APHIS published in the Federal Register a interpretative rule and request for comments, titled ``User Fees for Agricultural Quarantine and Inspection Services'' (Docket No. APHIS-2013-0021) (the Interpretive Rule). The Interpretive Rule clarified the agency's statutory authority to collect a reserve fund in support of AQI inspection activities, including by citing unexpired provisions of the FACT Act as the basis for collecting and maintaining a reserve. The Interpretive Rule requested public comment related to the legal authority for the reserve component of the AQI User Fee Program. This document responds to comments received on the Interpretive Rule and finalizes that rule.