[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 26 (Wednesday, February 8, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7515-7516]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-2897]



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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
[Docket No. 95-008-1]


Availability of 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 the Animal and Plant Health 
Inspection Service has prepared an environmental assessment and a 
finding of no significant impact for the shipment and field testing of 
an unlicensed veterinary biological product. Risk analyses, which form 
the basis for the environmental assessment, have led us to conclude 
that shipment and field testing of the unlicensed veterinary biological 
product will not have a significant impact on the quality of the human 
environment. Based on our finding of no significant impact, we have 
determined that an environmental impact statement need not be prepared.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the environment assessment and finding of no 
significant impact may be obtained by writing to the person listed 
under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. Please refer to the docket 
number of this notice when requesting copies. Copies of the 
environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact (as well 
as the risk analyses with confidential business information removed) 
are also 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:

Mr. Gary Nunley, State Director, Animal Damage Control, APHIS, USDA, PO 
Box 100410, San Antonio, Texas 78201-1710; Telephone: (210) 731-3451.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A veterinary biological product regulated 
under the Virus-Serum-Toxin Act (21 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) must be shown 
to be pure, safe, potent, and efficacious before a veterinary 
biological product license may be issued. A field test is generally 
necessary to satisfy prelicensing requirements for veterinary 
biological products. In order to ship an unlicensed product for the 
purpose of conducting a proposed field test, a person must receive 
authorization from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service 
(APHIS).
    Rhone Merieux, Inc., and the State of Texas propose to distribute 
850,000 coyote baits laden with an experimental recombinant rabies 
vaccine in a 13,000-square-mile area stretching from Maverick County, 
at the Mexican border, to Calhoun County, on the gulf coast. This would 
allow the State of Texas to continue the efficacy portion of the 
ongoing field project initially approved by APHIS in 1993. The specific 
objective of this proposal is to evaluate the efficacy of the 
experimental vaccine in maintaining a barrier of immunized coyotes to 
prevent the proliferation of coyote rabies.
    In determining whether to authorize shipment and field testing of 
the unlicensed veterinary biological product referenced in this notice, 
APHIS conducted risk analyses to assess the product's potential effects 
on the safety of animals, public health, and the environment. Based on 
the risk analyses, APHIS has prepared an environmental assessment. 
APHIS has conducted that shipment and field testing of the unlicensed 
veterinary biological product will not significantly affect the quality 
of the human environment. Based on this finding of no significant 
impact, we have determined that there is no need to prepare an 
environmental impact statement.
    An environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact 
have been prepared for the shipment and field testing of the following 
unlicensed veterinary biological product:

                                                                                                                
[[Page 7516]]                                                                                                   
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       Requester                 Product            Field test location 
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Texas Department of      A live, genetically      Dimmit, Zavala, Frio, 
 Health; Rhone Merieux,   engineered, vaccinia-    Bexar, Atascosa,     
 Inc.; and the Centers    vectored rabies          Wilson, Karnes,      
 for Disease Control      vaccine that expresses   Goliad, Refugio,     
 and Prevention.          the rabies               Aransas, San         
                          glycoprotein; the        Patricio, Bee, Live  
                          vaccine is enclosed in   Oak, McMullen, La    
                          baits.                   Salle, Calhoun, and  
                                                   Maverick Counties,   
                                                   Texas.               
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    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 Guidelines 
Implementing NEPA (44 FR 50381-50384, August 28, 1979, and 44 FR 51272-
51274, August 31, 1979).

    Done in Washington, DC, this 1st day of February 1995.
George O. Winegar,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 95-2897 Filed 2-7-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-34-M