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

We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has received a petition from Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. (Pioneer) seeking a determination of nonregulated status of a maize event designated as DP202216, which has been genetically engineered for enhanced grain yield potential and glufosinate-ammonium resistance. The petition has been submitted in accordance with our regulations concerning the introduction of certain genetically engineered organisms and products. We are making the Pioneer petition available for review and comment to help us identify potential environmental and interrelated economic issues and impacts that APHIS may determine should be considered in our evaluation of the petition.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to request a revision to and extension of approval of an information collection associated with regulations for the importation of live poultry, poultry meat, and other poultry products from specified regions.

This notice advises the public of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's record of decision for the final programmatic environmental impact statement titled ``Fruit Fly Cooperative Control Program.''

We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has prepared an environmental assessment (EA) relative to an oral rabies vaccination (ORV) program in Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia. The EA analyzes the proposed expanded use of ONRAB vaccine-baits throughout the ORV distribution zone in those States in cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service. The proposed expanded ONRAB vaccine distribution is necessary as a higher level of population immunity in raccoons is desired in order to maximize the effectiveness of ORV programs. We are making the EA available to the public for review and comment.

We are advising the public that we have prepared a final environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact relative to the release of Calophya latiforceps and Pseudophilothrips ichini for the biological control of Brazilian peppertree, a significant invasive weed, within the contiguous United States. Based on our finding of no significant impact, we have determined that an environmental impact statement need not be prepared.

We are revising our regulations regarding the movement of plant pests. We are also adding criteria to the regulations for the importation, interstate movement, and release of biological control organisms. This final rule also establishes regulations to allow the interstate movement of certain plant pests and biological control organisms without restriction by granting exceptions from permit requirements for those pests and organisms. Finally, we are revising our regulations regarding the importation and interstate movement of soil. This rule clarifies the points that we will consider when assessing the risks associated with the movement and release of certain organisms and facilitates the movement of regulated organisms and articles in a manner that protects U.S. agriculture.

We are proposing to amend the Swine Health Protection Act regulations by removing the State status lists from the regulations in order to maintain these lists on the Agency's website. These changes would allow us to use a notice-based, streamlined approach to update the lists while continuing to protect swine health in the United States.

We are advising the public of our preliminary concurrence with the World Organization for Animal Health's (OIE) bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) risk designation for Nicaragua. The OIE recognizes this region as being of negligible risk for BSE. We are taking this action based on our review of information supporting the OIE's risk designation for this region.

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service plans to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) analyzing alternatives for predator damage management in Idaho. This notice proposes issues and alternatives for consideration in the EIS and requests public comments to further delineate the scope of the alternatives, the environmental issues, and other issues of public concern to be considered.

We are proposing to revise our regulations regarding the movement (importation, interstate movement, and environmental release) of certain genetically engineered organisms in response to advances in genetic engineering and our understanding of the plant pest risk posed by them, thereby reducing regulatory burden for developers of organisms that are unlikely to pose plant pest risks. This proposed rule, which would mark the first comprehensive revision of the regulations since they were established in 1987, would provide a clear, predictable, and efficient regulatory pathway for innovators, facilitating the development of new and novel genetically engineered organisms that are unlikely to pose plant pest risks.

We are reopening the comment period for our proposed rule that would amend the licensing requirements under the Animal Welfare Act regulations to promote compliance, reduce licensing fees, and strengthen existing safeguards that prevent individuals and businesses who have a history of noncompliance from obtaining a license or working with regulated animals. This action will allow interested persons additional time to prepare and submit comments.

We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has prepared an environmental assessment relative to permitting the release of Aphalara itadori for the biological control of Japanese, Giant, and Bohemian knotweeds (Fallopia japonica, F. sachalinensis, and F. x bohemica), significant invasive weeds, within the contiguous United States. Based on the environmental assessment and other relevant data, we have reached a preliminary determination that the release of this biological control organism will not have a significant impact on the quality of the human environment. We are making the environmental assessment available to the public for review and comment.

We are advising the public that we have prepared a pest risk analysis that evaluates the risks associated with importation of fresh pepper fruit from Colombia 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 pepper fruit from Colombia. We are making the pest risk analysis available to the public for review and comment.

We are giving notice of a meeting of the General Conference Committee of the National Poultry Improvement Plan.

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

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

On May 13, 2016, the Air Transport Association of America filed suit against the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), claiming APHIS' 2015 final rule setting fee structures for its Agricultural Quarantine Inspection (AQI) program (Docket No. APHIS- 2013-0021, effective December 28, 2015) violated the Administrative Procedure Act. In its March 28, 2018 Order, the U.S District Court for the District of Columbia rejected challenges based on the calculations and methods for setting the fees and APHIS' adoption of the final rule. However, the Court also held that APHIS improperly relied on an expired provision in the relevant statute to justify its ability to levy a fee to support a reserve account. In so doing, the Court did ``not evaluate or rule on the agency's current argument that it has authority to fund a reserve'' pursuant to other statutory authority. In this clarification to the final rule, APHIS clarifies that, while we accept the court's holding that congressional authority under one specific provision of the statute to maintain a reasonable balance in the reserve account expired in 2002, this expiration does not abrogate our authority to collect for a reserve, as that authorization is written into other provisions of the statute. This interpretation is consistent with APHIS' long-standing precedent as set forth in prior rulemakings. The agency is only seeking comments related to the legal authority for the reserve component of AQI User Fee Program and is not reexamining any other aspect of the program at this time, including the AQI User Fee calculation.

We are amending the Phytophthora ramorum regulations to remove regulated areas for P. ramorum from the regulations, as well as all regulatory requirements specific to such areas. We are revising the inspection and sampling requirements for certain nurseries that are in areas quarantined for P. ramorum and that ship regulated nursery stock interstate to have them take into consideration additional potential sources of P. ramorum inoculum at the nurseries. Finally, we are establishing conditions under which we would regulate nurseries located outside of the quarantined areas for P. ramorum, if sources of P. ramorum inoculum are detected at those nurseries and the nurseries ship certain articles interstate. These changes will provide regulatory relief to nurseries in areas that are regulated for P. ramorum, while also ensuring that nurseries that may pose a risk of disseminating P. ramorum through the interstate movement of regulated nursery stock are subject to measures that address this risk.

We are reopening the comment period for our notice that made available a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) and preliminary pest risk assessment (PRA) regarding the potential environmental impacts and plant pest risk associated with the proposed environmental release of genetically engineered Citrus tristeza virus. We have updated the EIS and PRA in light of recently published scientific research regarding the vectoring of Citrus tristeza virus, and are making the updated EIS and PRA available for public review and comment. This action will allow interested persons additional time to prepare and submit comments on these revised documents.

We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is making available a draft programmatic environmental assessment for the importation of plants in approved growing media. The programmatic environmental assessment considers the potential environmental effects of a standardized set of pest risk mitigations for routine market requests to import plants in approved growing media. The programmatic environmental assessment would eliminate the need to prepare a unique environmental assessment for each routine market request, thereby making the process for approving imports of plants in approved growing media simpler and more efficient. We are making the programmatic environmental assessment available to the public for review and comment.

We are proposing to establish standards to allow us to recognize compartments for animal disease status, consistent with World Organization for Animal Health international standards. Under this proposed rule, when a foreign government submits a request for recognition of a compartment, we would conduct a disease risk assessment based on a list of eight factors that closely parallel those we use when conducting regionalization evaluations, and we would provide for public notice of and comment on the risk assessment. We would also add provisions for imposing import restrictions and/or prohibitions when a compartment we have recognized as disease-free experiences an outbreak and for lifting those sanctions once the outbreak has been controlled. These proposed standards would provide a tool that may be used to preserve international trade when regionalization is not feasible.

We are advising the public that we have added China to the list of regions that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service considers to be affected with African swine fever (ASF). We are taking this action because of the confirmation of ASF in China.

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

We are proposing to amend the licensing requirements under the Animal Welfare Act regulations to promote compliance, reduce licensing fees, and strengthen existing safeguards that prevent individuals and businesses who have a history of noncompliance from obtaining a license or working with regulated animals. This action will reduce regulatory burden with respect to licensing and will more efficiently ensure licensees' sustained compliance with the Act. We are further proposing to strengthen the veterinary care and watering standards for regulated dogs to better align the regulations with the humane care and treatment standards set by the Animal Welfare Act. Additionally, we are proposing to make several miscellaneous changes for clarity and to correct typographical errors.

We are notifying the public that we have prepared an evaluation of the State of Baja California, Mexico for fever ticks. The evaluation concludes that this region is free from fever ticks, and that ruminants imported from the area pose a low risk of exposing ruminants within the United States to fever ticks. We are making the evaluation available for review and comment.