[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 20 (Monday, January 31, 2000)]
[Unknown Section]
[Pages 4594-4595]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-1493]


========================================================================
Notices
                                                Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________

This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules 
or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings 
and investigations, committee meetings, agency decisions and rulings, 
delegations of authority, filing of petitions and applications and agency 
statements of organization and functions are examples of documents 
appearing in this section.

========================================================================


  Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 20 / Monday, January 31, 2000 / 
Notices

[[Page 4594]]



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

[Docket No. 99-093-1]


Asian Longhorned Beetle; Availability of an Environmental 
Assessment

AGENCY:  Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION:  Notice of availability and request for comments.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY:  We are advising the public that an environmental assessment 
has been prepared by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service 
relative to a proposed field test program for the control of the Asian 
longhorned beetle, Anoplophora glabripennis (Motschulsky). The 
environmental assessment documents our review and analysis of 
environmental impacts associated with the proposed field test program. 
We are making this environmental assessment available to the public for 
review and comment.

DATES:  We will consider all comments that we receive by March 31, 
2000.

ADDRESSES:  Please send your comment and three copies to: Docket No. 
99-093-1, 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. 99-093-1.
    You may read any comments that we receive on this 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:  Mr. Ron Milberg, Operations Officer, 
PPQ, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 135, Riverdale, MD 20737-1236; (301) 
734-5255.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The Asian longhorned beetle, Anoplophora glabripennis 
(Motschulsky), an insect native to China, Japan, Korea, and the Isle of 
Hainan, is a destructive pest of hardwood trees. It is known to attack 
healthy maple, horse chestnut, birch, Rose of Sharon, poplar, willow, 
elm, locust, mulberry, chinaberry, apple, cherry, pear, and citrus 
trees. It may also attack other species of hardwood trees. In addition, 
nursery stock, logs, green lumber, firewood, stumps, roots, branches, 
and debris of a half an inch or more in diameter are subject to 
infestation. The beetle bores into the heartwood of a host tree, 
eventually killing it. Immature beetles bore into tree trunks and 
branches, causing heavy sap flow from wounds and sawdust accumulation 
at tree bases. They feed on, and overwinter in, the interiors of trees. 
Adult beetles emerge in the spring and summer months from round holes 
approximately 3/8-inch diameter (about the size of a dime) that they 
bore through the trunks of trees. After emerging, adult beetles feed 
for 2 to 3 days and then mate. Adult females then lay eggs in 
oviposition sites that they make on the branches of trees. A new 
generation of Asian longhorned beetle is produced each year. If this 
pest moves into the hardwood forests of the United States, the nursery 
and forest products industries could experience severe economic losses.
    The Asian longhorned beetle regulations (7 CFR 301.51-1 through 
301.51.9) restrict the interstate movement of regulated articles from 
quarantined areas to prevent the artificial spread of Asian longhorned 
beetle to noninfested areas of the United States. Portions of New York 
City and Nassau and Suffolk Counties in the State of New York and 
portions of the city of Chicago, Du Page County, and the village of 
Summit in the State of Illinois are already designated as quarantined 
areas.
    APHIS' current Asian longhorned beetle eradication activities are 
limited to the removal and destruction of trees that are determined to 
be infested with Asian longhorned beetle. Because the removal of host 
trees is time consuming and expensive, APHIS is investigating the use 
of prophylactic methods to prevent new infestations of healthy trees in 
the vicinity of infected areas.
    APHIS has completed an environmental assessment that considers 
various methods of prophylactic protection for trees against the 
harmful effects of the Asian longhorned beetle. Based on our findings, 
we believe that the most effective prophylactic treatment available for 
trees appears to be the use of a soil-injected insecticide. Therefore, 
we are planning to conduct field tests on this method in the spring of 
2000 to determine whether it can be a successful and efficient 
deterrent to the spread of the Asian longhorned beetle.
    APHIS' review and analysis of the potential environmental impacts 
associated with these proposed field tests are documented in detail in 
an environmental assessment entitled ``Asian Longhorned Beetle Field 
Trial'' (October 1999). We are making this environmental assessment 
available to the public for review and comment. We will consider all 
comments that we receive by the date listed under the heading DATES at 
the beginning of this notice.
    The environmental assessment may be viewed on the Internet at 
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/ead/alb/html. You may request paper 
copies of the environmental assessment by calling or writing to the 
person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. Please refer to 
the title of the environmental assessment when requesting copies. The 
environmental assessment is also available for review in our reading 
room (information on the location and hours of the reading room is 
listed under the heading ADDRESSES at the beginning of this notice).
    The environmental assessment has been prepared in accordance with: 
(1) The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), as amended 
(42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), (2) regulations of the Council on 
Environmental Quality for

[[Page 4595]]

implementing the procedural provisions of NEPA (40 CFR parts 1500-
1508), (3) USDA regulations implementing NEPA (7 CFR part 1), and (4) 
APHIS' NEPA Implementing Procedures (7 CFR part 372).

    Done in Washington, DC, this 14th day of January 2000.
Craig A. Reed,
Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 00-1493 Filed 1-27-00; 11:53 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-34-U