[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 131 (Monday, July 9, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40322-40323]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-16799]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
[Docket No. APHIS-2012-0052]
Oral Rabies Vaccine Trial; Availability of an 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 an environmental assessment relative to
an oral rabies vaccination field trial in New Hampshire, New York,
Ohio, Vermont, and West Virginia. The environmental assessment analyzes
the use of an experimental rabies vaccine in field safety and
immunogenicity trials in portions of New Hampshire, New York, Ohio,
Vermont, and West Virginia. The proposed field trial is necessary to
evaluate a wildlife rabies vaccine that will produce sufficient levels
of population immunity in raccoons and striped skunks. We are making
the environmental assessment available to the public for review and
comment.
DATES: We will consider all comments that we receive on or before
August 8, 2012.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by either of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=APHIS-2012-0052-0001.
Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: Send your comment to
Docket No. APHIS-2012-0052, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD,
APHIS, Station 3A-03.8, 4700 River Road Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-
1238.
The environmental assessment and any comments we receive may be
viewed at http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2012-0052
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 environmental assessment 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, Acting Rabies
Program Coordinator, Wildlife Services, APHIS, 59 Chennell Drive, Suite
7, Concord, NH 03301; (603) 223-9623. To obtain copies of the
environmental assessment, contact Ms. Beth Kabert, Environmental
Coordinator, Wildlife Services, 140-C Locust Grove Road, Pittstown, NJ
08867; (908) 735-5654, fax (908) 735-0821, email:
beth.e.kabert@aphis.usda.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
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.
One of the activities undertaken by APHIS-WS to address rabies is
an Oral Rabies Vaccination (ORV) program involving the distribution of
baits containing vaccinia-rabies glycoprotein (V-RG) vaccine to stop
the spread of specific raccoon (eastern States), coyote (Texas), and
gray fox (Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona) rabies virus variants to new
areas. While this vaccine has proven to be orally effective in
raccoons, coyotes, and foxes, it does not produce detectable levels of
population immunity in striped skunks. Because skunks infected with
raccoon rabies likely serve as a source of perpetuating and maintaining
this rabies virus variant (i.e., raccoon rabies), they may compromise
the effectiveness of our ORV program.
APHIS-WS is the lead agency regarding a proposed action that will
test the safety and immunogenicity of a new human adenovirus type 5-
rabies glycoprotein recombinant virus (AdRG1.3) rabies vaccine in an
effort to find a rabies vaccine that will be safe and immunogenic in a
variety of animal species including raccoons, skunks, foxes, and
coyotes. The proposed field trial would take place within approximately
10,483 square miles of portions of New Hampshire, New York, Ohio,
Vermont, and West Virginia, including portions of the U.S. Department
of Agriculture Forest Service National Forest System lands, excluding
Wilderness Areas. The proposed field trial is a collaborative effort
among APHIS-WS; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; the
vaccine manufacturer (Artemis Inc.); 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.
APHIS' review and analysis of the proposed action are documented in
detail in an environmental assessment (EA) titled ``Field Trial of an
Experimental Rabies Vaccine, Human Adenovirus Type 5 Vector in New
Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Vermont, and West Virginia'' (May 2012). The
EA analyzes a number of environmental issues or concerns with the oral
rabies vaccine and activities associated with ORV field trials, such as
capture and handling animals for monitoring and surveillance purposes.
The EA also analyzes alternatives to the proposed action, including no
action (continuation of the current program, which involves field
trials in West Virginia only) and no ORV field trials. 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 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
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(7 CFR part 1b), and (4) APHIS' NEPA Implementing Procedures (7 CFR
part 372).
Done in Washington, DC, this 29th day of June 2012.
Kevin Shea,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 2012-16799 Filed 7-6-12; 8:45 am]
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