[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 165 (Tuesday, August 26, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Page 45217]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-22644]
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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.
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Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 165 / Tuesday, August 26, 1997 /
Notices
[[Page 45217]]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
[Docket No. 97-072-1]
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the Importation
of Logs, Lumber, and Other Unmanufactured Wood Articles
AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service will prepare a supplement to the environmental
impact statement, issued in July 1994, for the rulemaking proceeding
entitled ``Importation of Logs, Lumber, and Other Unmanufactured Wood
Articles.'' Supplementation of the impact statement is in response to a
Federal district court's finding that the final environmental impact
statement does not completely satisfy applicable requirements of the
National Environmental Policy Act and the Council on Environmental
Quality's implementing regulations. Comments on the proposed scope of
the supplement are welcome.
DATES: Consideration will be given only to comments received on or
before September 25, 1997.
ADDRESSES: Please send an original and three copies of your comments to
Docket No. 97-072-1, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS,
suite 3C03, 4700 River Road Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-1238. Please
state that your comments refer to Docket No. 97-072-1. Comments
received may be inspected 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 comments are requested to call ahead on (202) 690-2817 to
facilitate entry into the comment reading room.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Richard Orr, Entomologist, Risk
Analysis Systems, PPD, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 117, Riverdale, MD
20737-1238; (301) 734-8939.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In a final rule published in the Federal
Register on May 25, 1995 (60 FR 27665-27682, Docket No. 91-074-6) and
effective August 23, 1995, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection
Service (APHIS) established comprehensive regulations concerning
imported unmanufactured wood articles. That final rule was supported,
in part, by a final environmental impact statement (FEIS) issued in
July 1994 that addressed the potential impacts on the human
environment, including possible risks to human health, impacts on
forestry resources, impacts on biodiversity, impacts from the use of
methyl bromide, and impacts on global climate change, cultural
resources, and endangered and threatened species. A Federal court has
found (Oregon Natural Resources Council v. Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service, Nos. C 95-4066 CW and C 96-1541 CW [N.D. Cal. Feb.
27, 1997]) that the FEIS, which examined alternative means of
protecting domestic forests from pests or disease that could accompany
imported logs, lumber, and other unmanufactured wood articles, is
deficient in three areas.
First, the court found that the FEIS ``assumes without examination
that individually ineffective control measures [to minimize pest risks
associated with the importation of logs, lumber, and unmanufactured
wood articles] will be effective collectively.'' The impact statement,
according to the court, should highlight ``the considerable uncertainty
about the effectiveness of different mitigation measures'' when used in
combination.
Second, the court found that the FEIS ``omits significant
information concerning uncertainties expressed in the [pest] risk
assessments, concerning compliance [with certification requirements] by
exporting countries, and concerning the health consequences of measures
to mitigate infestations that may occur.'' The impact statement, the
court observed, must discuss ``in a significant manner the
uncertainties about the risks of infestation and the adequacy of
control measures.'' With this change, the FEIS will provide a less
biased portrayal of the risks associated with the preferred
alternative--i.e., to allow the importation of logs, lumber, and
unmanufactured wood articles under the conditions set forth in the May
1995 final rule--and improve its usefulness to the public and the
decisionmaker. The court also found that the FEIS must more thoroughly
consider the issue of ``how compliance problems abroad may limit the
effectiveness of the preferred alternative.'' Furthermore, the range of
human health consequences associated with pesticide applications that
might be required to eradicate any pests that control measures fail to
exclude must be included in the supplement to the FEIS.
Third, the court found that the FEIS ``fails to discuss adequately
the different environmental impacts of the various alternatives.'' The
court stated that ``[r]ather than sharply defining the issues and
providing a clear basis for choice among the alternatives, the [F]EIS
obscures the differences by labeling them all a matter of degree.'' The
court called for a clear comparison of the issues and environmental
effects among the alternatives.
The supplement will address the three areas which the court found
that APHIS failed to adequately address in the FEIS. Comments regarding
the proposed scope of the supplement to the FEIS are welcome and will
be fully considered. When the draft of the supplement is completed, a
notice announcing its availability and an invitation to comment on it
will be published in the Federal Register.
Done in Washington, DC, this 20th day of August 1997.
Terry L. Medley,
Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 97-22644 Filed 8-25-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-34-P
