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 has prepared an environmental assessment relative to a request to allow the interstate movement of garbage from Hawaii to a landfill in the State of Washington. The environmental assessment documents our review and analysis of the environmental impacts associated with, and alternatives to, the movement of palletized or containerized baled municipal solid waste to three existing ports on the Columbia River via barge and the transfer and transportation of the waste via truck or rail to the landfill. We are making the assessment available to the public for review and comment.

We are advising the public that we have prepared an environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact relative to oral rabies vaccination programs in several States. The environmental assessment made available by this notice analyzes the further expansion of 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 environmental assessment provides a basis for our conclusion that the expansion of the oral rabies vaccination program will not have a significant impact on the quality of the human environment. Based on its finding of no significant impact, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has determined that an environmental impact statement need not be prepared.

We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has received a petition from Syngenta Biotechnology, Inc., seeking a determination of nonregulated status for corn designated as transformation event MIR162, which has been genetically engineered for insect resistance. The petition has been submitted in accordance with our regulations concerning the introduction of certain genetically engineered organisms and products. In accordance with those regulations, we are soliciting comments on whether this genetically engineered corn is likely to pose a plant pest risk. We are also making available for public comment an environmental assessment for the proposed determination of nonregulated status.

We are amending the fruits and vegetables regulations to allow the importation of Hass avocados from Peru into the continental United States. As a condition of entry, Hass avocados from Peru will have to be produced in accordance with a systems approach that includes requirements for importation in commercial consignments; registration and monitoring of places of production and packinghouses; grove sanitation; pest-free areas or trapping for the South American fruit fly; pest-free areas or treatment for the Mediterranean fruit fly; surveys for the avocado seed moth; and inspection for quarantine pests by the national plant protection organization of Peru. Hass avocados from Peru will also be required to be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate with an additional declaration stating that the avocados were grown, packed, and inspected and found to be free of pests in accordance with these requirements. This action will allow the importation of Hass avocados from Peru into the United States while continuing to provide protection against the introduction of quarantine pests.

We are reopening the comment period for our notice that made a concept paper describing a new direction for the bovine brucellosis program available for public comment. This action will allow interested persons additional time to prepare and submit comments.

We are adopting as a final rule, without change, an interim rule that amended the Karnal bunt regulations to remove certain areas or fields in Riverside County, CA, from the list of regulated areas based on our determination that those areas or fields meet our criteria for release from regulation of Karnal bunt, a fungal disease of wheat. This interim rule relieved restrictions on certain areas or fields that are no longer necessary.

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 importation of seed and screenings.

We are amending the regulations governing the importation of animal byproducts to require that untanned swine hides and skins from regions with African swine fever and bird trophies from regions with exotic Newcastle disease meet certain requirements or go directly to an approved establishment upon importation into the United States. We are also setting out certain requirements for the importation of untanned bovine, deer, and other ruminant hides and skins into the United States from Mexico to prevent the spread of bovine babesiosis. These requirements will provide for the importation of these articles under conditions intended to prevent the introduction of African swine fever, bovine babesiosis, and exotic Newcastle disease.

We are adopting as a final rule, without change, an interim rule that amended the swine health protection regulations to clarify the applicability of the regulations regarding the treatment of garbage that consists of industrially processed materials. The interim rule made clear that such materials are subject to the same treatment requirements as other regulated garbage, except for materials that meet the definition of processed product that we added to the regulations in the interim rule. The interim rule was necessary to ensure that garbage fed to swine has been treated to inactivate disease organisms that pose a risk to the U.S. swine industry.

We are amending the regulations regarding the National Veterinary Accreditation Program to establish two accreditation categories in place of the former single category, to add requirements for supplemental training and renewal of accreditation, and to offer program certifications. We are making these changes in order to support the Agency's animal health safeguarding initiatives, to involve accredited veterinarians in integrated surveillance activities, and to make the provisions governing our National Veterinary Accreditation Program more uniform and consistent. These changes will increase the level of training and skill of accredited veterinarians in the areas of disease prevention and preparedness for animal health emergencies in the United States.

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.

PHMSA is considering amending the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) by incorporating various amendments to international standards and modal regulations, including changes to proper shipping names, hazard classes, packing groups, special provisions, and packaging authorizations. These amendments may be necessary to harmonize the HMR with revised editions of the United Nations Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods Model Regulations and Manual of Tests and Criteria, the International Maritime Organization's Dangerous Goods Code, the International Civil Aviation Organization's Technical Instructions for the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air and Transport Canada's Transport of Dangerous Goods Regulations. In this notice, we are soliciting public comment regarding the safety consequences, regulatory burden, and cost implications of some of the more significant amendments adopted or under consideration for adoption in these international standards.

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 transit of untreated oranges, tangerines, and grapefruit from Mexico through the United States to other foreign countries.

We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service intends to prepare an environmental impact statement relative to proposed regulatory requirements that are being developed for the movement of plant pests, biological control organisms, and associated articles. This notice identifies potential issues and alternatives that will be studied in the environmental impact statement and requests public comment to further delineate the scope of those issues and alternatives.

We are amending the noxious weed regulations by adding Old World climbing fern (Lygodium microphyllum (Cavanilles) R. Brown) and maidenhair creeper (Lygodium flexuosum (Linnaeus) Swartz) to the list of terrestrial noxious weeds. This action is necessary to prevent the artificial spread of these noxious weeds into the United States.

We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is making a concept paper describing a new direction for the bovine brucellosis program available for public review and comment. The cooperative Federal-State-industry effort to eradicate bovine brucellosis from cattle in the United States has made significant progress since the program's inception in 1934. However, unique challenges impede eradication. The concept paper we are making available presents our current thinking about changes we are planning

We are proposing to amend the Animal Welfare Act regulations to include more specific requirements in the regulations concerning the submission of itineraries by any person who is subject to the Animal Welfare Act regulations and who intends to exhibit any animal at any location other than the person's approved site(s). We believe APHIS' inspectors' access to animals, facilities, and records for unannounced inspections when animals are exhibited at a location other than at a regulated person's approved site(s) is necessary to improve compliance with the regulations and the Animal Welfare Act.

We are amending the regulations concerning overtime services provided by employees of the Agency's Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) program by adding or amending commuted traveltime allowances for travel between certain locations in the District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, and Minnesota. Commuted traveltime allowances are the periods of time required for PPQ employees to travel from their dispatch points and return there from the places where they perform Sunday, holiday, or other overtime duty. The Government charges a fee for certain overtime services provided by PPQ employees and, under certain circumstances, the fee may include the cost of commuted traveltime. This action is necessary to inform the public of commuted traveltime for these locations.

This notice pertains to user fees charged for import- and export-related services that we provide for animals, animal products, birds, germ plasm, organisms, and vectors and for certain veterinary diagnostic services. The purpose of this notice is to remind the public of the user fees for fiscal year 2010 (October 1, 2009, through September 30, 2010).

We are adopting as a final rule, without change, an interim rule that amended the bovine tuberculosis regulations by establishing two separate zones with different tuberculosis risk classifications for the State of New Mexico. Prior to the interim rule, the entire State of New Mexico had been classified as modified accredited advanced; however, all its affected herds were located in Curry and Roosevelt Counties, NM, along the State's eastern border. The interim rule was necessary to relieve restrictions on the interstate movement of cattle and bison from areas of New Mexico outside those two counties.