[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 34 (Tuesday, February 20, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Page 6344]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-3706]
========================================================================
Notices
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules
or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings
and investigations, committee meetings, agency decisions and rulings,
delegations of authority, filing of petitions and applications and agency
statements of organization and functions are examples of documents
appearing in this section.
========================================================================
Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 34 / Tuesday, February 20, 1996 /
Notices
[[Page 6344]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
[Docket No. 96-004-1]
Boll Weevil Control Program; Availability of Environmental
Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact
AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service has prepared an environmental assessment and a
finding of no significant impact for a program to eradicate the boll
weevil in the South Texas/Wintergarden area. The environmental
assessment provides a basis for our conclusion that the methods
employed to eradicate the pest will not have a significant impact on
the quality of the human environment.
ADDRESSES: Copies of the environmental assessment and finding of no
significant impact are available for public inspection at USDA, room
1141, South Building, 14th Street and Independence Avenue SW.,
Washington, DC, between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday,
except holidays. Persons wishing to inspect those documents are
requested to call ahead on (202) 690-2817 to facilitate entry into the
reading room.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Vicki Wickheiser, Writer/Editor,
Environmental Analysis and Documentation, BBEP, APHIS, 4700 River Road,
Unit 149, Riverdale, MD 20737-1237, (301) 734-8565. Copies of the
environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact may be
obtained by contacting Ms. Wickheiser or by calling Plant Protection
and Quarantine's Central Region Office at (210) 504-4154.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
In accordance with 7 U.S.C. 147a, 148, and 450, the Secretary of
Agriculture is authorized to cooperate with the States and certain
other organizations and individuals to control and eradicate plant
pests.
The boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis Boheman) is a destructive pest
of cotton which causes annual economic losses to the agricultural
industry and consumers. Since its introduction in southern Texas in the
late 1800's, the boll weevil has spread across the area of the United
States known as the Cotton Belt. Since the early 1950's, the United
States agricultural community has acknowledged the need for a beltwide
strategy for controlling the boll weevil. Since the first pilot program
in 1971, programs implemented in an incremental fashion have been
successful in eradicating the boll weevil from over 3.5 million acres
in major areas of the Cotton Belt.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), in cooperation with the
State of Texas, the Texas Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation, Inc., and
local cotton producers, has developed a program to eradicate boll
weevil from cotton fields in the South Texas/Wintergarden area.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), USDA, has
prepared an environmental assessment to analyze the potential effects
of this eradication program on the human environment. Based on the
environmental assessment, APHIS has determined that the program to
eradicate boll weevil in the South Texas/Wintergarden area will not
significantly impact the quality of the human environment.
The environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact
have been prepared in accordance with: (1) The National Environmental
Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), (2) Regulations of
the Council on Environmental Quality for implementing the procedural
provisions of NEPA (40 CFR parts 1500-1508), (3) USDA regulations
implementing NEPA (7 CFR part 1b), and (4) APHIS' NEPA Implementing
Procedures (7 CFR part 372).
Done in Washington, DC, this 13th day of February 1996.
Lonnie J. King,
Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 96-3706 Filed 2-16-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-34-P
