[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: 
[email protected]. 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]]



------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               Date of  
                                                              finding of
              Organism               Title of environmental       no    
                                           assessment        significant
                                                                impact  
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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).                     
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    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]
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