[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 118 (Friday, June 19, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33629-33630]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-16280]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
[Docket No. 98-048-1]


Availability of an Environmental Assessment

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.


[[Page 33630]]


ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: We are advising the public that an environmental assessment 
has been prepared by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service 
relative to the proposed release into the environment of nonindigenous 
weevils for use as biological control agents to suppress hound's-tongue 
(Cynoglossum officinale), an introduced weed. The environmental 
assessment has been prepared to provide the public with documentation 
of APHIS' review and analysis of the environmental impact and plant 
pest risk associated with releasing these biological control agents 
into the environment.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the environmental assessment 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, 
Biotechnology and Biological Analysis, PPQ, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 
133, Riverdale, MD 20737, (301) 734-7839; or E-mail: 
[email protected]. For copies of the environmental assessment, 
write to Dr. Ronald D. Hennessey at the same address. Please refer to 
the title of the environmental assessment when ordering copies.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Animal and Plant Health Inspection 
Service (APHIS) has received an application from Montana State 
University for a permit to release a nonindigenous root-feeding weevil, 
Mogulones cruciger (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), for biological control 
of hound's-tongue, Cynoglossum officinale (Boraginaceae). Hound's-
tongue is an introduced weed that has been reported in 36 of the 48 
contiguous States. The purpose of the proposed action is to reduce the 
severity of infestations of hound's-tongue in the United States through 
the introduction of M. cruciger.
    Hound's-tongue is an invasive weed that significantly reduces 
forage and whose barbed seeds stick to sheep, reducing the value of 
wool, and stick to cattle, causing skin irritation and behavioral 
problems. Hound's-tongue also contains large quantities of 
pyrrolizidine alkaloids, which are toxic to cattle and horses. 
Distribution of hound's-tongue is currently increasing in Montana and 
British Columbia.
    The applicant is proposing to collect the M. cruciger adults from 
Hungary and Serbia and import them to the Insect Quarantine Laboratory 
at Montana State University in Boseman, MT, where their species 
identity would be confirmed, and examinations for diseases, 
parasitoids, and other contaminants would be made. The weevil would 
then be released in infestations of hound's-tongue at several selected 
sites in western and central Montana.
    After substantial weevil populations are established, insects would 
be collected and distributed to other sites in Montana. Distribution 
would follow in other affected States as soon as possible. Eventually, 
the weevil is expected to spread throughout many or all of the 36 
States in which hound's-tongue occurs.
    If a permit to release M. cruciger is issued, this weevil will be 
the first exotic biological control agent approved for release against 
Hound's-tongue in the United States.
    To provide the public with documentation of APHIS' review and 
analysis of the environmental impact and plant pest risk associated 
with releasing these biological control agents into the environment, we 
have prepared an environmental assessment relative to the release into 
the environment of M. cruciger entitled ``Field Release of Mogulones 
cruciger (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), a Nonindigenous Weevil Proposed 
for Biological Control of Hound's-Tongue, Cynoglossum officinale 
(Boraginaceae)'' (May 1998).
    The environmental assessment has been prepared in accordance with: 
(1) the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (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 1500-1509), (3) USDA regulations implementing NEPA 
(7 CFR part 1b), and (4) APHIS' NEPA Implementing Procedures (7 CFR 
part 372).

    Done in Washington, DC, this 12th day of June 1998.
Charles Schwalbe,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 98-16280 Filed 6-18-98; 8:45 am]
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