[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 57 (Tuesday, March 25, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14109-14110]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-7382]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
[Docket No. 97-026-1]
Availability of an Environmental Assessment and Finding of No
Significant Impact
AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: We are advising the public that an environmental assessment
and finding of no significant impact have been prepared by the Animal
and Plant Health Inspection Service relative to the review of an
application for a permit to allow the release into the environment of a
nonindigenous biological control agent. The environmental assessment
provides a basis for our conclusion that the release into the
environment of the biological control agent will not present a risk of
introducing plant pests into the United States or disseminating plant
pests within the United States and 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.
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: Dr. Ronald D. Hennessey, Entomologist,
Biological Assessment and Taxonomic Support, PPQ, APHIS, 4700 River
Road, Unit 133, Riverdale, MD 20737-1236, (301) 734-7839; or E-mail:
rhenness@aphis.usda.gov. For copies of the environmental assessment and
finding of no significant impact, write to Ms. Deborah Knott at the
same address. Please refer to the title of the environmental assessment
when ordering copies.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Federal Plant Pest Act, as amended
(7 U.S.C. 150aa et seq.), and the Plant Quarantine Act, as amended (7
U.S.C. 151 et seq.) (the Acts), the U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA) has broad authority to regulate the importation, interstate
movement, and release into the environment of organisms in order to
prevent the dissemination of plant pests into the United States or
interstate. The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)
regulates plant pests under regulations promulgated pursuant to the
Acts and contained in 7 CFR part 330 (referred to below as the
regulations). The regulations require, among other things, that a
permit be obtained for the movement of a plant pest into or through the
United States or interstate. The regulations and Acts also allow the
Department to include in the permit conditions to prevent the
dissemination of plant pests.
Under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended
(NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), APHIS typically prepares an
environmental assessment before issuing a permit for the release in the
United States of nonindigenous organisms.
In accordance with applicable regulations, APHIS has received an
application for a permit for the release into the environment of a
nonindigenous biological control agent. In the course of reviewing the
permit application, APHIS assessed the plant pest risk posed by the
organism and the impact on the environment of releasing the organism
under the conditions described in the permit application. To provide
the public with documentation of APHIS' review and analysis of the
environmental impact and plant pest risk associated with releasing the
biological control agent into the environment, we have prepared an
environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact relative
to the issuance of a permit for the release into the environment of the
following biological control agent:
[[Page 14110]]
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Date of
finding of
Organism Title of environmental no
assessment significant
impact
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Psylliodes chalcomera (Illiger).... ``Field Release of 3/7/97
Psylliodes chalcomera
(Coleoptera:
Chrysomelidae), a
Nonindigenous Leaf
Beetle for Biological
Control of Musk
Thistle, Carduus
nutans (Asteraceae)''
(March 1997).
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The environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact
have been prepared in accordance with: (1) NEPA, (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 18th day of March 1997.
Terry L. Medley,
Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 97-7382 Filed 3-24-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-34-P
