[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 109 (Monday, June 8, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32409-32410]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-13842]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[FWS-R4-R-2014-N021; FXRS12610400000S3-145-FF04R02000]


National Wildlife Refuge System; Draft Programmatic Environmental 
Assessment for the Use of Genetically Modified Crops in National 
Wildlife Refuge Farming Programs in Region 4 (Southeast Region) of the 
United States Fish and Wildlife Service; Discontinuation of Preparation 
of NEPA Document

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of discontinuation of preparation of NEPA Document.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and 
in accordance with the negotiated settlement of a lawsuit, we, the U.S. 
Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), published a notice in the Federal 
Register on April 30, 2013, announcing and inviting comments on our 
intention to develop a draft programmatic environmental assessment 
(PEA) of the effects of the cultivation and use of genetically modified 
crops (GMCs) on certain refuges in the Southeast Region to meet 
wildlife management objectives. As part of the settlement agreement, we 
also agreed to discontinue cultivating and using the GMCs in the 
Southeast Region after the 2012 crop year and to refrain from such 
activities until 90 days after completion of an appropriate NEPA 
analysis of such activities. On July 17, 2014, the Chief of the 
Service's National Wildlife Refuge System issued a memorandum 
announcing that the use of GMCs to meet wildlife management objectives 
within the National Wildlife Refuge System (System) would be phased out 
and discontinued by January 2016. Accordingly, we have concluded that 
our NEPA process is no longer necessary and, therefore, are notifying 
the public that we are discontinuing preparation of the PEA.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tom MacKenzie, by email at 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Introduction

    On April 30, 2013, we published a notice in the Federal Register 
(78 FR 25297) announcing and inviting comments on our intention to 
prepare a PEA on the effects of the cultivation and use of GMCs on 
certain refuges in the Southeast Region. The Southeast Region is 
comprised of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, Kentucky, 
Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and the 
Caribbean. GMCs were primarily used on certain refuges in Alabama, 
Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, and North 
Carolina, to meet Service goals and objectives to provide migratory 
birds, especially waterfowl, with dependable high-energy food during 
the winter months.
    In 2011, three national nonprofit organizations, the Center for 
Food Safety, Beyond Pesticides, and Public Employees for Environmental 
Responsibility, sued the Secretary of the Department of the Interior, 
the Director of the Service, and the Service in Center for Food Safety, 
et al. v. Salazar, et al., Civil Action No. 11-1457 (DC 2011), on the 
Service's decision to allow GMCs to be cultivated on some 44,000 acres 
of refuge land in the Southeast Region. On November 5, 2012, the Court 
entered an Order adopting the negotiated settlement agreement of the 
Parties, which included a prohibition on the use of GMCs in the 
Southeast Region unless and until ninety (90) days after completion of 
appropriate NEPA analysis on such use.

[[Page 32410]]

Background

    In our April 30, 2013, Federal Register notice, we invited public 
input on our intent to prepare a PEA and requested submissions in the 
form of information and suggestions on the issues that should be 
considered during the NEPA planning process and in the PEA. We held 
five scoping meetings in Columbia, North Carolina; Decatur, Alabama; 
Dyersburg, Tennessee; Natchez, Mississippi; and Alexandria, Louisiana. 
We also created a Web site on which the public could submit comments 
and suggestions.
    After the scoping meetings and receipt of comments via the Web 
site, we began drafting the PEA, and were engaged in doing so when the 
Chief of the Service's National Wildlife Refuge System issued the July 
17, 2014, memorandum announcing the phasing out of the use of GMCs to 
achieve wildlife management objectives throughout the National Wildlife 
Refuge System by January 2016. Upon issuance of the memorandum, we 
determined that the need to prepare the PEA no longer existed and 
abandoned such preparation.

Authority

    This notice is published under the authority of the National 
Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997 (16 U.S.C. 668dd et 
seq.).

    Dated: March 27, 2015.
Michael Oetker,
Acting Regional Director.
[FR Doc. 2015-13842 Filed 6-5-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4310-55-P