[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 69 (Wednesday, April 10, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Page 14340]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-07071]



[[Page 14340]]

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

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

[Docket No. APHIS-2018-0101]


Notice of Availability of an Environmental Assessment; 
Importation of Plants in Approved Growing Media Into the United States

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 is making available a draft programmatic 
environmental assessment for the importation of plants in approved 
growing media. The programmatic environmental assessment considers the 
potential environmental effects of a standardized set of pest risk 
mitigations for routine market requests to import plants in approved 
growing media. The programmatic environmental assessment would 
eliminate the need to prepare a unique environmental assessment for 
each routine market request, thereby making the process for approving 
imports of plants in approved growing media simpler and more efficient. 
We are making the programmatic environmental assessment available to 
the public for review and comment.

DATES: We will consider all comments that we receive on or before May 
10, 2019.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by either of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2018-0101.
     Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: Send your comment to 
Docket No. APHIS-2018-0101, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, 
APHIS, Station 3A-03.8, 4700 River Road Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-
1238.
    Supporting documents and any comments we receive on this docket may 
be viewed at http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2018-
0101 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Lydia E. Col[oacute]n, Senior 
Regulatory Policy Specialist, Plant Health Programs, Plant Protection 
and Quarantine, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, 4700 River 
Road Unit 133, Riverdale, MD 20737-1237; [email protected]; 
(301) 851-2302.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The requirements for importing plants in 
growing media (PIGM) consist of overlapping phytosanitary risk 
mitigation measures that together comprise a ``systems approach.'' The 
systems approach is designed to protect imported PIGM against pests and 
diseases during all stages of international trade from the greenhouse 
to final product delivery. The goal of the systems approach is to 
minimize the likelihood that any quarantine pest species enter the 
United States on the commodity proposed for import.
    As part of the process for considering PIGM import requests, the 
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) currently prepares 
an environmental assessment (EA) unique to each country's request to 
import a specific plant genus in growing media into the United States. 
We also prepare a pest risk assessment (PRA) and risk mitigation 
document (RMD) that identify pest mitigation measures that help prevent 
the entry of pests on the commodity.
    The pest mitigation measures we propose for most PIGM import 
requests are very similar from one request to the next, and for this 
reason we determined that a single programmatic EA could reduce the 
need for repetitive documentation of comparable risks for the majority 
of PIGM import requests we receive. To the extent that the PRA and the 
RMD prepared for a routine import request do not identify new areas for 
consideration, a Finding of No Significant Impact could be issued 
without additional environmental documentation.
    We are therefore announcing the availability of a draft 
programmatic EA that considers the potential environmental effects of a 
standardized set of pest risk mitigations for routine market requests 
to import plants in approved growing media. Under APHIS' preferred 
alternative in the draft EA, requests for the importation of PIGM would 
be analyzed in a pest risk analysis and compared to the current systems 
approach in the USDA Plants for Planting Manual.\1\ This process would 
streamline approvals for the importation of PIGM by relying on the 
known combination of pest mitigation measures to provide overlapping or 
sequential safeguards to manage a wide range of pests. While the 
systems approach and pest surveillance practices would apply to all 
PIGM importations, detection of quarantine pests on PIGM would preclude 
further importation of that plant from that country until revised 
phytosanitary practices are shown to be effective.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ https://www.aphis.usda.gov/import_export/plants/manuals/ports/downloads/plants_for_planting.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    By considering the current systems approach as the default risk 
mitigation structure for approving imports of PIGM, APHIS would ensure 
continued levels of safeguarding while facilitating international 
trade, allowing healthier plant imports, reducing the growing time for 
plants to reach markets, reducing unnecessary or repetitive 
environmental and other documentation, and increasing the speed of port 
of entry inspections.
    APHIS' review and analysis of the proposed action are documented in 
detail in a draft programmatic EA entitled ``Importation of Plants in 
Approved Growing Media (PIGM) into the United States'' (November 2018). 
We are making the 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 EA may be viewed on the Regulations.gov website or in our 
reading room (see ADDRESSES above for a link to Regulations.gov and 
information on the location and hours of the reading room). You may 
request paper copies of the EA by calling or writing to the person 
listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. Please refer to the title 
of the EA when requesting copies.
    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 5th day of April 2019.
Kevin Shea,
Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 2019-07071 Filed 4-9-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3410-34-P