[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 197 (Wednesday, October 9, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52906-52907]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-25932]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
[Docket No. 96-073-1]


Availability of Environmental Assessments and Findings 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 three environmental 
assessments and findings of no significant impact have been prepared by 
the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service relative to the issuance 
of permits to allow the release into the environment of nonindigenous 
biological control agents. The environmental assessments provide a 
basis for our conclusion that the release into the environment of the 
biological control agents 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 findings of no significant impact, 
the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has determined that 
environmental impact statements need not be prepared.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the environmental assessments and findings 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

[[Page 52907]]

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. Robert Flanders, Entomologist, 
Biological Assessment and Taxonomic Support, PPQ, APHIS, 4700 River 
Road Unit 133, Riverdale, MD 20737-1236, (301) 734-8896. For copies of 
any of the environmental assessments and findings 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 it has reason 
to believe are plant pests 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 
applications for permits for the release into the environment of 
nonindigenous biological control agents. In the course of reviewing 
each permit application, APHIS assessed the plant pest risk posed by 
each organism and the impact on the environment of releasing each 
organism under the conditions described in the permit application. 
APHIS has issued permits for the release into the environment of the 
organisms listed below after concluding that their release in 
accordance with conditions on the permits will not present a risk of 
the introduction or dissemination of plant pests within the United 
States and will not have a significant impact on the quality of the 
human environment. The environmental assessments and findings of no 
significant impact, which are based on data submitted by the applicant 
and on a review of other relevant literature, provide the public with 
documentation of APHIS' review and analysis of the environmental impact 
and plant pest risk associated with releasing the biological control 
agents into the environment.
    Environmental assessments and findings of no significant impact 
have been prepared by APHIS relative to the issuance of permits for the 
release into the environment of the following biological control agents 
with plant pest potential:

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                                                                                                      Date of   
                                                                                                   finding of no
                 Organism                            Title of environmental assessment              significant 
                                                                                                      impact    
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eteobalea intermediella and Eteobalea      ``Field Release of the Exotic Moths, (Eteobalea               4/26/96
 serratella.                                intermediella and E. serratella (Lepidoptera:                       
                                            Cosmopterigidae), for Biological Control of                         
                                            Dalmatian Toadflax, Linaria dalmatica, and Yellow                   
                                            Toadflax, L. vulgaris (Scrophulariaceae)'' (April                   
                                            1996).                                                              
Mecinus janthinus .......................  ``Field Release of the Exotic Weevil, Mecinus                 4/26/96
                                            janthinus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), for                          
                                            Biological Control of Dalmatian Toadflax, Linaria                   
                                            dalmatica, and Yellow Toadflax, L. vulgaris                         
                                            (Scrophulariaceae)'' (April 1996).                                  
Septoria passiflorae ....................  ``Release of the Phytopathogenic Fungus Septoria              2/23/96
                                            passiflorae for Biological Control of Banana Poka,                  
                                            Passiflora tripartita var. Tripartita                               
                                            (Passifloraceae), in Hawaii'' (February 1996).                      
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    The environmental assessments and findings 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 4th day of October 1996.

A. Strating,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 96-25932 Filed 10-8-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-34-P