Farm Service Agency July 16, 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This document presents the Record of Decision (ROD) regarding the changes made to the Emergency Conservation Program (ECP). ECP provides emergency funding to owners, operators, and tenants of farms and ranches who suffered damage to their certain lands as a result of a natural disaster. Under the Proposed Action, Farm Service Agency (FSA) could expand ECP eligibility to other types of farmland, namely land that is timberland, or is a roadbed on an area of land that is eligible for ECP, and also farmsteads, feedlots, and grain bins. To implement the Proposed Action, FSA would develop a proposed rule to expand upon current regulations to reflect changes to the policy that currently only extends the ECP to traditional cropland and forage land. Any proposal to change any rule would be subject to public comment and to consideration and rejection as the circumstances, further reflection, and public comments might warrant. In the interim, however, FSA is inviting comments on the ROD. The ECP Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) tiers from the Emergency Conservation Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement completed in 2003 and published in the Federal Register on March 4, 2004. The SEIS analyzes the impacts of the Proposed Action on the nation's environmental resources and economy. The No Action alternative (continuation of current ECP with no modifications) is also analyzed and to provide an environmental baseline.