[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 137 (Friday, July 17, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42467-42469]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-17608]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
[Docket No. APHIS-2015-0047]
Oral Rabies Vaccine Trial; Availability of a Supplemental
Environmental Assessment
AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of availability and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service has prepared a supplemental environmental assessment
(EA) relative to an oral rabies vaccination field trial in New
Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Vermont, and West Virginia. The supplemental
EA analyzes expanding the field trial for an experimental oral rabies
vaccine for wildlife to additional areas in Ohio and increasing bait
distribution density in
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portions of West Virginia. The proposed field trial is necessary to
evaluate whether the wildlife rabies vaccine will produce sufficient
levels of population immunity against raccoon rabies. We are making the
supplemental EA available to the public for review and comment.
DATES: We will consider all comments that we receive on or before
August 17, 2015.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by either of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2015-0047.
Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: Send your comment to
Docket No. APHIS-2015-0047, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD,
APHIS, Station 3A-03.8, 4700 River Road Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-
1238.
The supplemental environmental assessment and any comments we
receive may be viewed at http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2015-0047 or in our reading room, which 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) 799-7039 before coming.
This notice and the supplemental EA are also posted on the APHIS
Web site at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/regulations/ws/ws_nepa_environmental_documents.shtml.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Richard Chipman, Rabies Program
Coordinator, Wildlife Services, APHIS, 59 Chennell Drive, Suite 7,
Concord, NH 03301; (603) 223-9623. To obtain copies of the supplemental
environmental assessment, contact Ms. Beth Kabert, Staff Wildlife
Biologist, Wildlife Services, 140-C Locust Grove Road, Pittstown, NJ
08867; (908) 735-5654, fax (908) 735-0821, email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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 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.
Currently, APHIS conducts an oral rabies vaccination (ORV) program
to control the spread of rabies. The ORV program has utilized a
vaccinia-rabies glycoprotein (V-RG) vaccine. APHIS-WS' use of the V-RG
vaccine has resulted in several notable accomplishments, including the
elimination of canine rabies from sources in Mexico, the successful
control of gray fox rabies virus variant in western Texas, and the
prevention of any appreciable spread of raccoon rabies in the eastern
United States. While the prevention of any appreciable spread of
raccoon rabies in the eastern United States represents a major
accomplishment in rabies management, the V-RG vaccine has not been
effective in eliminating raccoon rabies from high-risk spread
corridors. This fact prompted APHIS-WS to evaluate rabies vaccines
capable of producing higher levels of population immunity against
raccoon rabies to better control the spread of this disease.
In 2011, APHIS-WS initiated a field trial to study the
immunogenicity and safety of a promising new wildlife rabies vaccine,
human adenovirus type 5 rabies glycoprotein recombinant vaccine in
portions of West Virginia, including U.S. Department of Agriculture
Forest Service National Forest System lands. The vaccine used in this
field trial is an experimental oral rabies vaccine called ONRAB
(produced by Artemis Technologies Inc., Guelph, Ontario, Canada).
To further assess the immunogenicity of ONRAB in raccoons and
skunks for raccoon rabies virus variant, APHIS-WS determined the need
to expand the field trial into portions of New Hampshire, New York,
Ohio, Vermont, and West Virginia, including National Forest System
lands. On July 9, 2012, we published in the Federal Register (77 FR
40322-40323, Docket No. APHIS-2012-0052) a notice \1\ in which we
announced the availability, for public review and comment, of an
environmental assessment (EA) that examined the potential environmental
impacts associated with the proposed field trial to test the safety and
efficacy of the ONRAB vaccine in New Hampshire, New York, Ohio,
Vermont, and West Virginia. We announced the availability of our final
EA and finding of no significant impact in a notice published in the
Federal Register (see footnote 1) on August 16, 2012 (77 FR 49409-
49410, Docket No. APHIS-2012-0052). The field trial began in August
2012, taking place within approximately 10,483 square miles in portions
of New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Vermont, and West Virginia, including
portions of National Forest System lands, excluding Wilderness Areas.
The field trial is a collaborative effort among APHIS-WS; the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention; the vaccine manufacturer; the
appropriate agriculture, health, and wildlife agencies for the States
of New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Vermont, and West Virginia; the
Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources; and the Quebec Ministry of
Natural Resources and Wildlife.
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\1\ To view the notice, the comments we received, the EA, and
the followup finding of no significant impact, go to http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2012-0052.
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Given promising immunogenicity levels documented during the field
trial of the ONRAB vaccine and the need for further field testing,
APHIS is considering expanding the current field trial for the ONRAB
vaccine in Ohio. APHIS has prepared a supplemental EA in which we
analyze expanding the area of the field trial zone in Ohio to include
Ashtabula and Trumbull Counties. This would add approximately 405
square miles to the field trial. In addition, the supplemental EA
analyzes the impacts associated with increasing the ONRAB ORV bait
distribution density from the program standard rate of 194-388 baits
per square mile to 776 baits per square mile over a portion of the
current field trial zones in West Virginia. The supplemental EA
analyzes a number of environmental issues or concerns with the ONRAB
vaccine and activities associated with the field trial, such as capture
and handling animals for monitoring and surveillance purposes with
regard to the proposed action.
We are making the supplemental EA 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 supplemental EA may be viewed on the Regulations.gov Web site
or in our reading room (see ADDRESSES above for instructions for
accessing Regulations.gov and information on the location and hours of
the reading room). In addition, paper copies may be obtained by calling
or writing to the individual listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT.
The EA 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 1b), and (4)
APHIS' NEPA
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Implementing Procedures (7 CFR part 372).
Done in Washington, DC, this 13th day of July 2015.
Jere L. Dick,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 2015-17608 Filed 7-16-15; 8:45 am]
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