[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 185 (Tuesday, September 23, 2008)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 54665-54667]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-22194]
========================================================================
Rules and Regulations
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains regulatory documents
having general applicability and legal effect, most of which are keyed
to and codified in the Code of Federal Regulations, which is published
under 50 titles pursuant to 44 U.S.C. 1510.
The Code of Federal Regulations is sold by the Superintendent of Documents.
Prices of new books are listed in the first FEDERAL REGISTER issue of each
week.
========================================================================
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 185 / Tuesday, September 23, 2008 /
Rules and Regulations
[[Page 54665]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
7 CFR Part 319
[Docket No. APHIS-2007-0111]
RIN 0579-AC87
Importation of Ash Plants
AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Interim rule and request for comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: We are amending the regulations governing the importation of
nursery stock to prohibit or restrict the importation of ash (Fraxinus
spp.) plants for planting, except seed, from all foreign countries
except for certain areas in Canada that are not regulated areas for
emerald ash borer. This action is necessary to prevent further
introductions of this plant pest into the United States and to prevent
the artificial spread of the emerald ash borer.
DATES: This interim rule is effective September 23, 2008. We will
consider all comments that we receive on or before November 24, 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-2007-0111 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-2007-0111, 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-2007-0111.
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: Dr. Arnold T. Tschanz, Senior Risk
Manager, Commodity Import Analysis and Operations, PPQ, APHIS, 4700
River Road, Unit 133, Riverdale, MD 20737-1231; (301) 734-5306.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The emerald ash borer (EAB, Agrilus planipennis) is a destructive
wood-boring insect that attacks ash trees (Fraxinus spp., including
green ash, white ash, black ash, and several horticultural varieties of
ash). The insect, which is indigenous to Asia and known to occur in
China, Korea, Japan, Mongolia, the Russian Far East, and Taiwan,
eventually kills healthy ash trees after it bores beneath their bark
and disrupts their vascular tissues.
EAB was first found in North America in ash trees in several
counties in Michigan in July 2002, and subsequently in an area in
Ontario, Canada, and in the States of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, and Maryland. These States have quarantined the EAB-
infested areas and imposed restrictions on the intrastate movement of
certain articles from the regulated areas to prevent the artificial
spread of EAB within each State. Officials of the United States
Department of Agriculture (USDA) and of State, county, and city
agencies have been conducting intensive survey and eradication programs
in the infested areas in the affected States.
Similarly, provincial officials in Ontario and officials of the
Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) have been conducting extensive
survey and eradication activities in the infested areas in Ontario.
Plant health officials in the United States and Canada have been
working cooperatively to establish a regulatory framework to address
the risk of the artificial spread of EAB between the two countries. To
that end, on June 1, 2007, we published an interim rule in the Federal
Register (72 FR 30462-30468, Docket No. APHIS-2006-0125) which amended
our regulations in 7 CFR part 319 to restrict or prohibit the
importation of EAB host material into the United States from EAB-
infested areas of Canada. That interim rule also prohibited the
importation of all ash trees that originate in any county or municipal
regional county in Canada regulated because of the EAB, i.e., those
areas of Canada regulated under the Canadian Ministry of Agriculture
and the CFIA's EAB Infested Place Declaration and Orders.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Infested Place Declaration and Orders are the means by which
the CFIA regulates EAB-infested areas within Canada. Links to the
Infested Place Declaration and Orders for the infested areas in
Canada and other information about Canada's EAB program can be
viewed online at the CFIA's Web site at http://www.inspection.gc.ca/
english/plaveg/pestrava/agrpla/mc/2007ontarioe.shtml.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The regulations in 7 CFR part 319, ``Foreign Quarantine Notices,''
prohibit or restrict the importation of certain plants and plant
products to prevent the introduction or dissemination of plant pests
and noxious weeds into the United States. Specifically, the regulations
contained in ``Subpart--Nursery Stock, Plants, Roots, Bulbs, Seeds, and
Other Plant Products,'' Sec. Sec. 319.37 through 319.37-14 (referred
to below as the regulations), restrict, among other things, the
importation of living plants, plant parts, and seeds for propagation.
Nursery stock, plants, and other propagative plant material that
cannot be feasibly inspected, treated, or handled to prevent them from
introducing plant pests new to or not known to be widely prevalent in
or distributed within and throughout the United States are listed in
Sec. 319.37-2 as prohibited articles. Prohibited articles may not be
imported into the United States unless imported by the USDA for
experimental or scientific purposes, or under specified safeguards.
These prohibited articles are listed in paragraph (a) of Sec. 319.37-
2.
Under paragraph (a) of Sec. 319.37-2, ash (Fraxinus spp.) plants
for planting, except seed, from Europe have been
[[Page 54666]]
prohibited because of Pseudomonas savastanoi var. fraxini, canker and
dwarfing disease of ash. In addition, as of the June 1, 2007, effective
date of the interim rule discussed above, ash (Fraxinus spp.) plants
for planting, except seed, are also prohibited from any county or
municipal regional county in Canada regulated because of EAB.
As noted previously, EAB is indigenous to Asia and is known to be
prevalent in several countries in that region. We do not, however, know
the full extent of the distribution of EAB throughout Asia and in other
regions, nor do we know if there are other serious plant pests
affecting Fraxinus spp. plants for planting present elsewhere in the
world. Therefore, we are further amending the regulations in Sec.
319.37-2 to prohibit ash (Fraxinus spp.) plants for planting, except
seed, from all foreign countries except those areas of Canada that are
not regulated because of EAB. To reflect this prohibition, we are also
amending Sec. 319.37-7(a)(3) by removing Fraxinus spp. from the list
of plants requiring postentry quarantine. This action is necessary to
prevent the artificial spread of EAB into uninfested areas of the
United States.
We note that Fraxinus spp. plants for planting are only
occasionally imported into the United States, none have been imported
from any country other than Canada in several years, and regulations
are already in place with respect to Fraxinus spp. plants for planting
from Canada. Therefore, the practical effect of this rule will be
minimal. In addition, we would, if requested, consider lifting the
prohibition in whole or in part after completing a pest risk analysis
to determine the pest risk associated with the importation of Fraxinus
spp. plants for planting from a particular country.
Emergency Action
Immediate action is necessary to prevent the spread of EAB into
noninfested regions of the United States. Under these circumstances,
the Administrator has determined that prior notice and opportunity for
public comment are contrary to the public interest and that there is
good cause under 5 U.S.C. 553 for making this action effective less
than 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.
We will consider comments we receive during the comment period for
this interim rule (see DATES above). After the comment period closes,
we will publish another document in the Federal Register. The document
will include a discussion of any comments we receive and any amendments
we are making to the rule.
Executive Order 12866 and Regulatory Flexibility Act
This rule has been reviewed under Executive Order 12866. The rule
has been determined to be not significant for the purposes of Executive
Order 12866 and, therefore, has not been reviewed by the Office of
Management and Budget.
The following analysis addresses the economic effects of this rule
on small entities, as required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act.
This rule amends the regulations to prohibit or restrict the
importation of ash (Fraxinus spp.) plants for planting, except seed,
from all foreign countries except for certain areas of Canada which are
not currently regulated for emerald ash borer. Fraxinus spp. plants for
planting are only occasionally imported into the United States, and in
these few importations the number of ash plants is small. During the
fiscal years 2005 and 2006, no Fraxinus spp. plants for planting were
imported from any country except Canada. As discussed above, the
importation from Canada of Fraxinus spp. plants for planting, and other
articles, is already regulated to prevent the artificial spread of EAB.
Therefore we do not anticipate that this rule will have any economic
effect on any entities, large or small.
Under these circumstances, the Administrator of the Animal and
Plant Health Inspection Service has determined that this action will
not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small
entities.
Executive Order 12988
This rule has been reviewed under Executive Order 12988, Civil
Justice Reform. This rule: (1) Preempts all State and local laws and
regulations that are inconsistent with this rule; (2) has no
retroactive effect; and (3) does not require administrative proceedings
before parties may file suit in court challenging this rule.
Paperwork Reduction Act
This rule contains no new information collection or recordkeeping
requirements under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501
et seq.).
List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 319
Coffee, Cotton, Fruits, Imports, Logs, Nursery stock, Plant
diseases and pests, Quarantine, Reporting and recordkeeping
requirements, Rice, Vegetables.
0
Accordingly, 7 CFR part 319 is amended as follows:
PART 319--FOREIGN QUARANTINE NOTICES
0
1. The authority citation for part 319 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 7 U.S.C. 450, 7701-7772, and 7781-7786; 21 U.S.C. 136
and 136a; 7 CFR 2.22, 2.80, and 371.3.
0
2. In Sec. 319.37-2, paragraph (a), the table entry for ``Fraxinus
spp. (ash)'' is revised to read as follows:
Sec. 319.37-2 Prohibited articles.
(a) * * *
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Plant pests existing
Prohibited article (includes in the places named
seeds only if specifically Foreign places from and capable of being
mentioned) which prohibited transported with the
prohibited article
------------------------------------------------------------------------
* * * * * * *
Fraxinus spp. (ash)......... All except for any Agrilus planipennis
county or municipal (emerald ash
regional county in borer).
Canada not
regulated because
of the emerald ash
borer.
Europe.............. Pseudomonas
savastanoi var.
fraxini (Brown)
Dowson (Canker and
dwarfing disease of
ash).
* * * * * * *
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Page 54667]]
* * * * *
Sec. 319.37-7 [Amended]
0
3. In Sec. 319.37-7, paragraph (a)(3), the table is amended by
removing the entry for ``Fraxinus spp. (ash)''.
Done in Washington, DC, this 17th day of September 2008.
Kevin Shea,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. E8-22194 Filed 9-22-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-34-P