[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 50 (Thursday, March 13, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Page 13525]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-5043]



[[Page 13525]]

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

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

[Docket No. APHIS-2007-0070]


Interstate Movement of Municipal Solid Waste From Hawaii; 
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 the Animal and Plant Health 
Inspection Service has prepared a regional programmatic environmental 
assessment relative to requests to allow the interstate movement of 
municipal solid waste from Hawaii to landfills in the States of Idaho, 
Oregon, and Washington. The environmental assessment contains a general 
assessment of the potential environmental effects associated with 
moving garbage interstate from Hawaii to Idaho, Oregon, and Washington 
subject to certain pest risk mitigation measures and documents our 
review and analysis of the environmental impacts associated with, and 
alternatives to, such movements. We are making the environmental 
assessment available to the public for review and comment.

DATES: We will consider all comments that we receive on or before April 
14, 2008.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by either of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=DocketDetail&d=APHIS-2007-0070 to submit or view comments and 
to view supporting and related materials available electronically.
     Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: Please send two copies of 
your comment to Docket No. APHIS-2007-0070, 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-2007-0070.
    Reading Room: You may read any comments that we receive on this 
docket 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.
    Other Information: Additional information about APHIS and its 
programs is available on the Internet at http://www.aphis.usda.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Shannon Hamm, Acting Deputy 
Administrator, Policy and Program Development, APHIS, 4700 River Road, 
Unit 20, Riverdale, MD 20737-1231; (301) 734-4957.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The importation and interstate movement of garbage is regulated by 
the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) under 7 CFR 
330.400 and 9 CFR 94.5 (referred to below as the regulations) in order 
to protect against the introduction into and dissemination within the 
United States of plant and animal pests and diseases.
    APHIS has received several requests to transport baled municipal 
solid waste via barge from Hawaii to landfills in other States, 
including Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, and we recognize that it is 
possible that additional companies may request approval from APHIS for 
such activity in the future. Given that expectation, we believe it 
would be most efficient to comprehensively review the impacts of these 
potential municipal solid waste actions in a single regional 
programmatic environmental assessment of those connected and similar 
actions.
    Therefore, we have prepared a regional programmatic environmental 
assessment, titled ``Regional Movement of Plastic-baled Municipal Solid 
Waste from Hawaii to Washington, Oregon, and Idaho'' (February 2008), 
that considers the movement of a cumulative maximum amount of baled 
municipal solid waste from the State of Hawaii to any qualified 
landfill in Washington, Oregon, or Idaho, under compliance agreements 
with APHIS and in accordance with the standards previously established 
by APHIS regarding baling, handling, spill response, and disposal.
    As new requests to move municipal solid waste from Hawaii are 
received, a specific environmental analysis will be prepared relative 
to each request to determine whether the request is consistent with the 
environmental effects and impacts analyzed in our February 2008 
regional programmatic environmental assessment. The specific 
environmental analysis prepared for each new request to move municipal 
solid waste will be made available for a 30-day public comment period, 
after which APHIS will announce its environmental and pest risk 
decision regarding the new municipal solid waste movement proposal. If 
a new petitioner's request were to result in exceeding the amount of 
municipal solid waste moved from Hawaii (either individually or 
cumulatively) or exceeding the number of barge trips or the amount of 
rail or truck traffic considered in our February 2008 regional 
programmatic environmental assessment, APHIS will amend the regional 
programmatic environmental assessment to analyze the potential impacts 
resulting from the changed conditions. The amended environmental 
assessment would be made available for public comment followed by an 
environmental and pest risk decision regarding the changed 
characteristics for the movement of municipal solid waste from Hawaii 
under the proposal.
    We are making the regional programmatic environmental assessment 
available to the public for review and comment. We will consider all 
comments that we receive on or before the date listed under the heading 
DATES at the beginning of this notice. The environmental assessment may 
be viewed on the Internet on the Regulations.gov Web site or in our 
reading room (see ADDRESSES above for a link to Regulations.gov and for 
information on the location and hours of the reading room). 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 document when requesting copies.
    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 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 7th day of March 2008.
Kevin Shea,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. E8-5043 Filed 3-12-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-34-P