[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 135 (Monday, July 17, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32676-32677]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-14921]
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Notices
Federal Register
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This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules
or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings
and investigations, committee meetings, agency decisions and rulings,
delegations of authority, filing of petitions and applications and agency
statements of organization and functions are examples of documents
appearing in this section.
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Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 135 / Monday, July 17, 2017 /
Notices
[[Page 32676]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
[Docket No. APHIS-2017-0046]
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 New York, Ohio, and 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 16, 2017.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by either of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2017-0046.
Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: Send your comment to
Docket No. APHIS-2017-0046, 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-2017-0046 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, email:
[email protected]. 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-WS 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 (FONSI) in a notice published
in the Federal Register (see footnote 1) on August 16, 2012 (77 FR
49409-49410, Docket No. APHIS-2012-0052).
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\1\ To view the notice, the comments we received, the EA, and
the follow-up finding of no significant impact, go to http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2012-0052.
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On July 17, 2015, we published in the Federal Register (80 FR
42467-42469, Docket No. APHIS-2015-0047) a notice \2\ in which we
announced the availability, for public review and comment, of a
supplemental EA that examined the potential environmental impacts
associated with expanding the
[[Page 32677]]
field trial to additional areas in Ohio and increasing bait
distribution density in portions of West Virginia. We announced the
availability of our final EA and FONSI in a notice published in the
Federal Register (see footnote 2) on September 17, 2015 (80 FR 55826-
55827, Docket No. APHIS-2015-0047).
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\2\ To view the notice, the supplemental EA, and the FONSI, go
to http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D= APHIS-2015-0047.
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In 2017, there were two confirmed cases of raccoon variant rabies
8-10 km (5-6 miles) west of the established V-RG ORV zone in Ohio
(approximately 20 km [12 miles]) east of the city of Canton, OH). To
address this emergency, APHIS-WS proposes to shift the existing ORV
zone in Ohio in an effort to contain the outbreak and to secure the
zone. ONRAB vaccine-baits will be distributed in this revised portion
of the ORV zone.
APHIS-WS is also proposing to add Webster, Braxton, Nicholas,
Wyoming, McDowell, Upshur, Barbour, Harrison, Lewis, Tyler, Ritchie,
Doddridge, Wetzel, Taylor, Marion, Monongalia, and Preston Counties in
West Virginia so that ONRAB vaccine-baits may be applied to the western
edge of the ORV zone in West Virginia to provide added confidence in
the seroconversion rates based on results from previous field trials.
This will provide an opportunity to improve serological sampling
spatially throughout the zone as part of an increased monitoring
initiative.
Finally, APHIS-WS is proposing to expand the field trial zone in
New York into Oswego County. The current ORV ONRAB zone in New York
includes Jefferson County, which shares a border with Oswego County.
Current ONRAB bait distribution occurs very close to the Oswego County
border and including this county will allow APHIS-WS to
opportunistically distribute any remaining excess baits while
collecting additional serological data to further assess the field
trial.
APHIS-WS has prepared a supplemental EA in which we analyze
expanding the area of the field trial zone in New York, Ohio, and West
Virginia. 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 Implementing Procedures (7 CFR part 372).
Done in Washington, DC, this 12th day of July 2017.
Michael C. Gregoire,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 2017-14921 Filed 7-14-17; 8:45 am]
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