[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 118 (Tuesday, June 20, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35408-35409]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-9661]


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

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

[Docket No. APHIS-2006-0015]


Availability of an Addendum to an Environmental Assessment for 
Field Release of Genetically Engineered Pink Bollworm

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice.

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

SUMMARY: We are advising the public that we have supplemented with an 
addendum the environmental assessment for a proposed field trial of 
pink bollworm genetically engineered to express green fluorescence as a 
marker. The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) proposes 
to use this marked strain to assess the effectiveness of lower doses of 
radiation to create sterile insects for its pink bollworm sterile 
insect program. This program, using sterile insect technique, has been 
conducted by APHIS, with State and grower cooperation, since 1968. Data 
gained from this field experiment will be used to improve the current 
program. APHIS has supplemented its environmental assessment in order 
to evaluate a new location and new conditions for the field test. The 
addendum is available to the public for review and comment.

DATES: We will consider all comments that we receive on or before July 
5, 2006.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by either of the following methods:
    Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and, 
in the lower ``Search Regulations and Federal Actions'' box, select 
``Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service'' from the agency drop-
down menu, then click on ``Submit.'' In the Docket ID column, select 
APHIS-2006-0015 to submit or view public comments and to view 
supporting and related materials available electronically. Information 
on using Regulations.gov, including instructions for accessing 
documents, submitting comments, and viewing the docket after the close 
of the comment period, is available through the site's ``User Tips'' 
link.
    Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: Please send four copies of your

[[Page 35409]]

comment (an original and three copies) to Docket No. APHIS-2006-0015, 
Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS, Station 3A-03.8, 4700 
River Road Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-1238. Please state that your 
comment refers to Docket No. APHIS-2006-0015.
    Reading Room: You may read the environmental assessment, the 
addendum, and any comments that we have received 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. The addendum is also available on the 
Internet at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/brs/aphisdocs/05_09801r_ea.pdf.
    Other Information: Additional information about APHIS and its 
programs is available on the Internet at http://www.aphis.usda.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Robyn Rose, Biotechnology 
Regulatory Services, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 147, Riverdale, MD 
20737-1236; (301) 734-0489. To obtain copies of the supplemented EA and 
FONSI, contact Ms. Ingrid Berlanger at (301) 734-4885; e-mail: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The regulations in 7 CFR part 340, 
``Introduction of Organisms and Products Altered or Produced Through 
Genetic Engineering Which Are Plant Pests or Which There Is Reason to 
Believe Are Plant Pests,'' regulate, among other things, the 
introduction (importation, interstate movement, or release into the 
environment) of organisms and products altered or produced through 
genetic engineering that are plant pests or that there is reason to 
believe are plant pests. Such genetically engineered organisms and 
products are considered ``regulated articles.'' A permit must be 
obtained or a notification acknowledged before a regulated article may 
be introduced. The regulations set forth the permit application 
requirements and the notification procedures for the importation, 
interstate movement, or release into the environment of a regulated 
article.
    On April 8, 2005, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service 
(APHIS) received a permit application (APHIS No. 05-098-01r) from 
APHIS' Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) Center for Plant Health 
Science and Technology (CPHST) Decision Support and Pest Management 
Systems Laboratory in Phoenix, AZ, for a field trial using the pink 
bollworm (PBW), Pectinophora gossypiella (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), 
that has been genetically engineered to express an enhanced green 
fluorescent protein (EGFP) derived from the jellyfish Aequora victoria. 
A piggyBac transposable element derived from the plant pest cabbage 
looper (Trichoplusia ni) was used to transform the subject PBW, and 
expression of the EGFP is controlled through use of a Bombyx mori 
cytoplasmic actin promoter.
    On April 19, 2006, APHIS published a notice \1\ in the Federal 
Register (Docket No. APHIS-2006-0015, 71 FR 20068-20069) in which we 
announced the availability of a final environmental assessment (EA) and 
finding of no significant impact (FONSI) to issue this permit. The 
FONSI was signed on April 10, 2006. On April 12, 2006, APHIS received a 
request to amend the permit application. The amendment includes a 
change of location from Pima County, AZ, to Yuma County, AZ. This 
change is necessary because the Southwest Pink Bollworm Eradication 
Program has moved into phase 2, which includes Pima County, AZ. The 
program and the field trial must be spatially isolated to ensure that 
the data collected in the field trial are not influenced by the 
eradication program. The changes also included new field conditions, 
including releasing fewer insects over a smaller area. These changes 
have resulted from factors associated with moving the field trial. None 
of these changes raised new plant pest issues.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ To view the notice, EA, and FONSI, follow the directions for 
accessing the Federal eRulemaking Portal in the ADDRESSES section of 
this notice.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The subject transgenic PBW is considered a regulated article under 
the regulations in 7 CFR part 340 because the recipient organism is a 
plant pest. The proposed field test will evaluate the mating efficiency 
and competitiveness of the transgenic insects in the field. The 
transgenic PBW will be reared in the Phoenix PBW genetic rearing 
facility and treated with radiation levels suitable to induce F1 
sterility. The irradiated insects will be released into a 4.6-acre 
field site in the middle of a 40- to 80-acre field of cotton expressing 
the Bt toxin, which is toxic to PBW. This release is part of the 
research to support and improve CPHST's PBW sterile insect program. 
Information resulting from this research will be used in support of 
APHIS' efforts to eradicate the PBW in the United States.
    Additional information on the PBW eradication plan for the United 
States may be found at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/pdmp/cotton/pinkbollworm/eradication/eradication.pdf. An EA prepared for the 
Southwest Pink Bollworm Eradication Program may be found at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppd/es/pdf%20files/swpbwea.pdf.
    On February 13, 2006, APHIS published a notice \2\ in the Federal 
Register (70 FR 7503-7504, Docket No. APHIS-2006-0015) announcing the 
availability of an EA for the proposed field trial. During the 30-day 
comment period, APHIS received two comments. You may read the response 
to comments in the April 19, 2006, Federal Register notice (Docket No. 
APHIS-2006-0015, 71 FR 20068-20069). The two comments were not site-
specific in nature.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \2\ To view the notice, EA, and the comments we received, follow 
the directions for accessing the Federal eRulemaking Portal in the 
ADDRESSES section of this notice.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    APHIS has prepared an addendum to the EA to address the potential 
impacts on the human environment and threatened or endangered species 
that may have arisen from changing the field site and field trial 
design. This document is available as an attachment to the EA [see 
ADDRESSES above]. APHIS is opening a 15-day comment period for the 
addendum due to the limited change in circumstances resulting from the 
change in locations of the field test trials, and the extreme 
similarities of facts, locations, and circumstances between the two 
locations.The EA and addendum were 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 1b), and (4) 
APHIS' NEPA Implementing Procedures (7 CFR part 372).

    Authority: 7 U.S.C. 7701-7772 and 7781-7786; 31 U.S.C. 9701; 7 
CFR 2.22, 2.80, and 371.3.

    Done in Washington, DC, this 15th day of June 2006.
Kevin Shea,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
 [FR Doc. E6-9661 Filed 6-19-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-34-P