[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 125 (Monday, June 30, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38669-38670]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-16475]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

[Docket No. 01-009-5]


Wildlife Services; Availability of a Supplemental Environmental 
Assessment and Decision/Finding of No Significant Impact for Oral 
Rabies Vaccine Program

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 we have prepared a June 2003 
supplemental environmental assessment and decision/finding of no 
significant impact relative to oral rabies vaccination programs in 
several States. Since the publication of our original environmental 
assessment and decision/finding of no significant impact and a 
subsequent supplemental decision/finding of no significant impact, we 
have determined there is a need to expand the oral rabies vaccine 
program to include the States of Georgia and Maine to effectively stop 
the westward and northward spread of the rabies virus across the United 
States and into Canada. The purpose of the supplemental environmental 
assessment and decision/finding of no significant impact is to 
facilitate planning, interagency coordination, and program management 
and to provide the public with our analysis of potential individual and 
cumulative impacts of an expanded oral rabies vaccine program.

DATES: We will consider all comments that we receive on or before July 
30, 2003. Unless new substantial issues bearing on the effects of the 
proposed expansion of the oral rabies vaccine programs are brought to 
our attention, the new decision/finding of no significant impact will 
take effect upon the close of the comment period.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by postal mail/commercial delivery 
or by e-mail. If you use postal mail/commercial delivery, please send 
four copies of your comment (an original and three copies) to: Docket 
No. 01-009-5, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS, Station 
3C71, 4700 River Road Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-1238. Please state 
that your comment refers to Docket No. 01-009-5. If you use e-mail, 
address your comment to [email protected]. Your comment must 
be contained in the body of your message; do not send attached files. 
Please include your name and address in your message and ``Docket No. 
01-009-5'' on the subject line.
    To obtain copies of any of the documents discussed in this notice, 
contact Tara Wilcox, Operational Support Staff, Wildlife Services, 
APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 87, Riverdale, MD 20737-1234; phone (301) 
734-7921, fax (301) 734-5157, or e-mail: [email protected]. 
When requesting copies, please specify the document or documents you 
wish to receive.
    You may also read the documents discussed in this notice, as well 
as any comments that we receive, 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 dockets, are available on the Internet at 
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppd/rad/webrepor.html.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Dennis Slate, Rabies Program 
Coordinator, Wildlife Services, APHIS, 59 Chennell Drive, Suite 7, 
Concord, NH 03301-8548; phone (603) 223-6832.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The Wildlife Services (WS) program in the Animal and Plant Health 
Inspection Service (APHIS) cooperates with Federal agencies, State and 
local governments, and private individuals to

[[Page 38670]]

research and implement the best methods of managing conflicts between 
wildlife and human health and safety, agriculture, property, and 
natural resources. Wildlife-borne diseases that can affect domestic 
animals and humans are among the types of conflicts that APHIS-WS 
addresses. Wildlife is the dominant reservoir of rabies in the United 
States.
    On December 7, 2000, a notice was published in the Federal Register 
(65 FR 76606-76607, Docket No. 00-045-1) in which the Secretary of 
Agriculture declared an emergency and transferred funds from the 
Commodity Credit Corporation to APHIS-WS for the continuation and 
expansion of oral rabies vaccination (ORV) programs to address rabies 
in the States of Ohio, New York, Vermont, Texas, and West Virginia.
    On March 7, 2001, we published a notice in the Federal Register (66 
FR 13697-13700, Docket No. 01-009-1) to solicit public involvement in 
the planning of a proposed cooperative program to stop the spread of 
rabies in the States of New York, Ohio, Texas, Vermont, and West 
Virginia. The notice also stated that a small portion of northeastern 
New Hampshire and the western counties in Pennsylvania that border Ohio 
could also be included in these control efforts, and discussed the 
possibility of APHIS-WS cooperating in smaller-scale ORV projects in 
the States of Florida, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia, 
and Alabama. The March 2001 notice contained detailed information about 
the history of the problems with raccoon rabies in eastern States and 
with gray fox and coyote rabies in Texas, along with information about 
previous and ongoing efforts using ORV baits in programs to prevent the 
spread of the rabies variants or ``strains'' of concern.
    Subsequently, on May 17, 2001, we published in the Federal Register 
(66 FR 27489, Docket No. 01-009-2) a notice in which we announced the 
availability, for public review and comment, of an environmental 
assessment (EA) that examined the potential environmental effects of 
the ORV programs described in our March 2001 notice. We solicited 
comments on the EA for 30 days ending on June 18, 2001. We received one 
comment by that date. The comment was from an animal protection 
organization and supported APHIS' efforts toward limiting or 
eradicating rabies in wildlife populations. The commenter did not, 
however, support the use of lethal monitoring methods or local 
depopulation as part of an ORV program.
    Finally, on August 30, 2001, we published a notice in the Federal 
Register (66 FR 45835-45836, Docket No. 01-009-3) in which we advised 
the public of APHIS' decision and finding of no significant impact 
(FONSI) regarding the use of oral vaccination to control specific 
rabies virus strains in raccoons, gray foxes, and coyotes in the United 
States. That decision allows APHIS-WS to purchase and distribute ORV 
baits, monitor the effectiveness of the ORV programs, and participate 
in implementing contingency plans that may involve the reduction of a 
limited number of local target species populations through lethal means 
(i.e., the preferred alternative identified in the EA). The decision 
was based upon the final EA, which reflected our review and 
consideration of the comments received from the public in response to 
our March 2001 and May 2001 notices and information gathered during 
planning/scoping meetings with State health departments, other State 
and local agencies, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, and the 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
    Following the August 2001 publication of our original decision/
FONSI, we determined there was a need to expand the ORV programs to 
include the States of Kentucky and Tennessee to effectively stop the 
westward spread of raccoon rabies. Accordingly, we prepared a 
supplemental decision/FONSI to document the potential effects of 
expanding the programs. We published a notice announcing the 
availability of the supplemental decision/FONSI in the Federal Register 
on July 5, 2002 (67 FR 44797-44798, Docket No. 01-009-4).
    We have recently determined that there is a need to further expand 
the ORV programs to include the States of Georgia and Maine to 
effectively prevent the westward and northward spread of the rabies 
virus across the United States and into Canada. To facilitate planning, 
interagency coordination, and program management and to provide the 
public with our analysis of potential individual and cumulative impacts 
of the expanded ORV programs, we have prepared a June 2003 supplemental 
EA that addresses the inclusion of Georgia and Maine, as well as the 
2002 inclusion of Kentucky and Tennessee, in the ORV programs. In 
addition, we have prepared a new decision/FONSI based on the 
supplemental EA.
    The States where APHIS-WS involvement would be continued or 
expanded include Maine, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, 
Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, 
Florida, and Texas. APHIS-WS would also continue to cooperate in 
smaller scale ORV projects in the States of Massachusetts, Maryland, 
and New Jersey. Currently, cooperative rabies surveillance activities 
are conducted in each of the aforementioned States. ORV baiting 
programs are conducted or are planned to be conducted in all of the 
aforementioned States, except Kentucky. However, based upon 
surveillance information, ORV baiting programs may be expanded in the 
future under the proposed action to include this remaining State. As 
noted above, the primary goal of the ORV programs is to stop the spread 
of specific strains of the rabies virus, i.e., raccoon rabies in the 
eastern States and gray fox and coyote rabies in Texas. The June 2003 
supplemental EA analyzes the proposed action and several alternatives 
with respect to a number of environmental and other issues raised by 
involved cooperating agencies and the public.
    The August 2001 EA and decision/FONSI, the July 2002 supplemental 
decision/FONSI, and the June 2003 supplemental EA and decision/FONSI 
that are the subject of this notice have 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 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 19th day of June 2003.
Bobby R. Acord,
Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 03-16475 Filed 6-27-03; 8:45 am]
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