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

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 importation of mangoes from the Philippines into the United States.

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 certain land tortoises.

We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has prepared a supplemental environmental assessment (EA) relative to an oral rabies vaccination field trial in New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Vermont, and West Virginia. The supplemental EA analyzes expanding the field trial for an experimental oral rabies vaccine for wildlife to additional areas in New York. The proposed field trial is necessary to evaluate whether the wildlife rabies vaccine will produce sufficient levels of population immunity against raccoon rabies. We are making the supplemental EA available to the public for review and comment.

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 the Virus-Serum-Toxin Act and regulations.

We are reopening the comment period for our proposed rule that would allow the importation into the United States of fresh apricots from continental Spain. This action will allow interested persons additional time to prepare and submit comments.

We are reopening the comment period for our proposed rule that would allow the importation of avocados from continental Spain (excluding the Balearic Islands and Canary Islands) into the United States. This action will allow interested persons additional time to prepare and submit comments.

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is one of the agencies that administers the provisions of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA), and the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981, as amended, that pertain to plants. We are proposing to update our regulations that set forth our forfeiture procedures with regard to plants or plant products seized under the authority of the ESA and the Lacey Act. The proposed changes would make our regulations conform to the requirements of the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000, increase the monetary threshold of those cases proceeding through judicial forfeiture, provide for the assessment of storage costs of seized property, and make the regulations easier to understand.

We are announcing to the public that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) intends to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) on environmental impacts that may result from the potential approval of three petitions from Dow AgroSciences LLC seeking a determination of nonregulated status of herbicide resistant corn and soybeans. Issues to be addressed in the EIS include the potential environmental impacts associated with the increased use of certain herbicides and possible selection for and spread of weeds resistant to the herbicide 2,4-D combined with resistance to other herbicides (multiple resistance). We are also requesting public comments to further delineate the scope of the alternatives and environmental impacts and issues to be included in this EIS. We are also announcing that APHIS will be hosting a virtual public meeting during the scoping period. The purpose of the scoping meeting will be to allow the public an opportunity to comment on the range of alternatives and environmental impacts and issues discussed in the EIS.

We are proposing to allow, under certain conditions, the cold treatment of imported fruits and vegetables upon arrival at the MidAmerica St. Louis Airport, Mascoutah, IL. We have determined that there are biological barriers at this port that, along with certain safeguards, would prevent the introduction of fruit flies and other insect pests into the United States in the unlikely event that they escape from shipments of fruits or vegetables before the fruits or vegetables undergo cold treatment. This action would facilitate the importation of fruit requiring cold treatment while continuing to provide protection against the introduction of fruit flies and other insect pests into the United States.

We are amending the Asian longhorned beetle regulations by adding a portion of Clermont County, OH, to the list of quarantined areas and restricting the interstate movement of regulated articles from that area. This action is necessary to prevent the artificial spread of the Asian longhorned beetle to noninfested areas of the United States.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to request a reinstatement of an information collection to support the National Animal Health Monitoring System's Dairy 2014 Study to support the dairy industry of the United States.

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.

We are proposing to amend the fruits and vegetables regulations to allow the importation of fresh jackfruit, pineapple, and starfruit from Malaysia into the continental United States. As a condition of entry, all three commodities would have to be irradiated for insect pests, inspected, and imported in commercial consignments. There would also be additional, commodity-specific requirements for other pests associated with jackfruit, pineapple, and starfruit from Malaysia. This action would provide for the importation of jackfruit, pineapple, and starfruit from Malaysia while continuing to provide protection against the introduction of quarantine pests.

We are advising the public that we have determined that 22 taxa of plants for planting are quarantine pests and 37 taxa of plants for planting are hosts of 9 quarantine pests and therefore should be added to our lists of taxa of plants for planting whose importation is not authorized pending pest risk analysis. We have prepared data sheets that detail the scientific evidence we evaluated in making the determination that the taxa are quarantine pests or hosts of quarantine pests. We are making these data sheets available to the public for review and comment.

We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is extending to maize line HCEM485, which has been genetically engineered to be resistant to the herbicide glyphosate, our determination of nonregulated status of Roundup Ready[supreg] corn line GA21. Therefore, APHIS no longer considers maize line HCEM485 to be a regulated article under Agency regulations governing the introduction of certain genetically engineered organisms. Our decision is based on our evaluation of data submitted by Stine Seed Farm, Inc., in its request for an extension of a determination of nonregulated status, an analysis of other scientific data, and comments received from the public in response to a previous notice announcing our preliminary determination. This notice also announces the availability of our written determination, final environmental assessment, plant pest risk assessment, and our finding of no significant impact.

We are amending the regulations concerning the importation of plants and plant products by establishing the controlled import permit as a single type of authorization for the importation into the United States of otherwise prohibited or restricted plant material for experimental, therapeutic, or developmental purposes. Currently, some sections of the regulations provide for those articles to be imported under a departmental permit, while other sections provide for their importation under administrative instructions or conditions specified by the Administrator or Deputy Administrator. This action will consolidate and harmonize the conditions for obtaining authorization for the importation of otherwise prohibited or restricted plant material for scientific or certain other purposes.

We are proposing to amend the fruits and vegetables regulations to allow the importation of commercial shipments of fresh beans, shelled or in pods (French, green, snap, and string), from Jordan into the continental United States. As a condition of entry, the beans would have to be produced in accordance with a systems approach that would include requirements for packing, washing, and processing. The beans would also be required to be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate attesting that all phytosanitary requirements have been met and that the consignment was inspected and found free of quarantine pests. This action would allow for the importation of fresh beans, shelled or in pods, from Jordan into the continental United States while continuing to provide protection against the introduction of plant pests.

We are advising the public that we have determined that the Italian Regions of Lombardia, Emilia-Romagna, Veneto, and Piemonte and the autonomous provinces of Trento and Bolzano are free of swine vesicular disease. Based on an assessment of the animal health status of these areas, which we made available to the public for review and comment through a previous notice of availability, the Administrator has determined that the importation of pork or pork products from these areas presents a low risk of introducing swine vesicular disease into the United States. This determination is based on our review of the documentation submitted by the Government of Italy in support of its request and the findings of our own animal health risk evaluation.

We are amending the gypsy moth regulations by adding areas in Wisconsin to the list of generally infested areas based on the detection of infestations of gypsy moth in those areas. As a result of this action, the interstate movement of regulated articles from those areas is restricted. This action is necessary to prevent the artificial spread of the gypsy moth to noninfested areas of the United States.

We are proposing to restructure our regulations governing the importation of plants for planting. In the proposed structure, restrictions on the importation of specific types of plants for planting would no longer be found in the regulations, but instead would be found in the Plants for Planting Manual. We would change those restrictions after taking public comment through notices published in the Federal Register. As part of this restructuring, we would group together restrictions in the plants for planting regulations that apply to the importation of most or all plants for planting, and we would add general requirements for the development of integrated pest risk management measures that we would use to mitigate the risk associated with the importation of a specific type of plants for planting. We would also amend our foreign quarantine regulations to remove various provisions regarding the importation of specific types of plants for planting that are not currently subject to the general plants for planting regulations; these provisions would also be found in the Plants for Planting Manual. This action would not make any major changes to the restrictions that currently apply to the importation of plants for planting. These changes would make restrictions on the importation of specific types of plants for planting easier for readers to find and less cumbersome for us to change.

We are advising the public that we have prepared a pest risk analysis that evaluates the risks associated with the interstate movement into the continental United States of fresh sapote fruit from Puerto Rico. Based on that analysis, we believe 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 interstate movement of sapote fruit from Puerto Rico. We are making the pest risk analysis available to the public for review and comment.

We are advising the public of our record of decision for the final supplemental environmental impact statement for the Gypsy Moth Program.

We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has received a petition from the Monsanto Company and Forage Genetics International (FGI) seeking a determination of nonregulated status of alfalfa designated as event KK179, which has been genetically engineered to express reduced levels of guaiacyl lignin. The petition has been submitted in accordance with our regulations concerning the introduction of certain genetically engineered organisms and products. We are making the Monsanto Company and FGI 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.

We are advising the public that we have prepared a pest list associated with oranges and tangerines from Egypt that identifies pests of concern. Subsequently, we prepared a commodity import evaluation document to determine the risk posed by peach fruit fly in oranges and tangerines from Egypt. Based on that evaluation, we have concluded that the application of one or more designated phytosanitary measures will be sufficient to mitigate the pest risk. In addition, we are advising the public that we have prepared a treatment evaluation document that describes a new treatment schedule that can be used to neutralize peach fruit fly and Mediterranean fruit fly in oranges and tangerines. We are making the pest list, commodity import evaluation document, and treatment evaluation document available to the public for review and comment.

We are amending the regulations governing the importation of animals and animal products by recognizing 25 Member States of the European Union (EU) as the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)-defined EU poultry trade region and adding it to the list of regions we consider to be free of Newcastle disease. We are taking this action based on a risk evaluation that we prepared in which we determined that the region meets our requirements for being considered free of Newcastle disease. We also determined that the region meets our requirements for being considered free of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). In addition, we are establishing requirements governing the importation of live birds and poultry and poultry meat and products from the APHIS-defined EU poultry trade region and updating avian disease terms and definitions. We are also allowing importation from the APHIS-defined EU poultry trade region of hatching eggs under official seal, including those that have transited a restricted zone established because of detection of HPAI within the boundaries of the APHIS-defined EU poultry trade region. These actions will facilitate the importation of live birds and poultry, including hatching eggs, and poultry meat and products from the APHIS-defined EU poultry trade region while maintaining safeguards to protect the United States from the introduction of communicable avian diseases.