[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 201 (Tuesday, October 19, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56305-56306]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-27321]


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 Notices
                                                 Federal Register
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 This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules 
 or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings 
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  Federal Register / Vol. 64, No. 201 / Tuesday, October 19, 1999 / 
Notices  

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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
[Docket No. 99-073-1]


Availability of an Environmental Assessment

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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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 suppression of papaya mealybugs, Paracoccus marginatus 
Williams (Homoptera, Pseudococcidae). The environmental assessment's 
preferred alternative is to release into the environment nonindigenous 
wasps for use as biological control agents to suppress the papaya 
mealybugs. 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.

DATES: We invite you to comment on this docket. We will consider all 
comments that we receive by November 18, 1999.

ADDRESSES: Please send your comment and three copies to: Docket No. 99-
073-1, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS, Suite 3C03, 
4700 River Road, Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-1238. Please state that 
your comment refers to Docket No. 99-073-1.
    You may read any comment that we receive on this docket and review 
copies of the environmental assessment in our reading room. The reading 
room is located in room 1141 of the USDA South Building, 14th Street 
and Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC. Normal reading room hours 
are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, except holidays. To be 
sure someone is there to help you, please call (202) 690-2817 before 
coming.
    APHIS documents published in the Federal Register, and related 
information, including the names of organizations and individuals who 
have commented on APHIS rules, are available on the Internet at http://
www.aphis.usda.gov/ppd/rad/webrepor.html.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Dale E. Meyerdirk, Supervisory 
Agriculturist, Pink Hibiscus Mealybug Program, PPQ, APHIS, 4700 River 
Road, Unit 135, Riverdale, MD 20737-1236; (301) 734-5667. For copies of 
the environmental assessment, write to Dr. Dale E. Meyerdirk at the 
same address. Please refer to the title of the environmental assessment 
when ordering copies.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: As a part of a biological control project to 
suppress papaya mealybugs, Paracoccus marginatus Williams (Homoptera, 
Pseudococcidae), the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) 
is proposing to release nonindigenous wasps in the genera Anagyrus, 
Apoanagyrus, and Acerophagus (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae). Papaya 
mealybugs can cause serious damage to numerous agricultural products, 
including papayas, hibiscus, citrus, cotton, and avocados, which can 
result in significant economic losses. The purpose of the proposed 
action is to suppress papaya mealybug infestations throughout the 
United States.
    Papaya mealybugs exist in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, 
have recently been found in a few locations in Florida, and have been 
intercepted in Texas and California. From Florida, papaya mealybugs 
could spread rapidly through the Gulf States and eventually on to Texas 
and California. The limits of its spread northward cannot be accurately 
predicted, but certain greenhouse crops would be at risk, even in cold 
regions.
    The wasps will be imported from Mexico into U.S. Department of 
Agriculture (USDA)-certified insect quarantine facilities at the 
Beneficial Insects Introduction Research Laboratory (BIIRL) in Newark, 
DE. At BIIRL, species identifications would be confirmed by USDA and 
State taxonomists, and undesirable organisms, such as hyperparasites, 
would be screened out and properly eliminated. Laboratory colonies 
would be established by APHIS and State cooperators. The wasps would 
then be released by APHIS and State cooperators in areas invaded by the 
papaya mealybug. Such areas include the U.S. Virginia Islands, Puerto 
Rico, and Florida, where the papaya mealybug is now present. The papaya 
mealybug may also spread to other States due to the presence of hosts 
and favorable habitats. These areas include Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, 
California, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maryland, 
Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, 
South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. If the papaya mealybug 
does spread to these areas, APHIS and State cooperators will release 
the wasps in the affected areas also.
    We expect that these stingless wasps would become established and 
reproduce naturally without further human intervention.
    If APHIS does release the Anagyrus, Apoanagyrus, and Acerophagus 
wasps, these wasps will be the first exotic biological control agents 
approved for release against papaya mealybugs in the United States.
    To document 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 Anagyrus, 
Apoanagyrus, and Acerophagus entitled ``Control of Papaya Mealybug, 
Paracoccus marginatus (Homoptera: Pseudococcidae)'' (October 1999). We 
are making this environmental assessment available to the public for 
review and comment.
    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 1500-1508), (3) USDA regulations implementing NEPA 
(7 CFR part 1B), and (4) APHIS' NEPA

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Implementing Procedures (7 CFR part 372).

    Done in Washington, DC, this 14th day of October 1999.
Richard L. Dunkle,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 99-27321 Filed 10-18-99; 8:45 am]
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