[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 109 (Monday, June 8, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32409-32410]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-13842]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-R4-R-2014-N021; FXRS12610400000S3-145-FF04R02000]
National Wildlife Refuge System; Draft Programmatic Environmental
Assessment for the Use of Genetically Modified Crops in National
Wildlife Refuge Farming Programs in Region 4 (Southeast Region) of the
United States Fish and Wildlife Service; Discontinuation of Preparation
of NEPA Document
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of discontinuation of preparation of NEPA Document.
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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and
in accordance with the negotiated settlement of a lawsuit, we, the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), published a notice in the Federal
Register on April 30, 2013, announcing and inviting comments on our
intention to develop a draft programmatic environmental assessment
(PEA) of the effects of the cultivation and use of genetically modified
crops (GMCs) on certain refuges in the Southeast Region to meet
wildlife management objectives. As part of the settlement agreement, we
also agreed to discontinue cultivating and using the GMCs in the
Southeast Region after the 2012 crop year and to refrain from such
activities until 90 days after completion of an appropriate NEPA
analysis of such activities. On July 17, 2014, the Chief of the
Service's National Wildlife Refuge System issued a memorandum
announcing that the use of GMCs to meet wildlife management objectives
within the National Wildlife Refuge System (System) would be phased out
and discontinued by January 2016. Accordingly, we have concluded that
our NEPA process is no longer necessary and, therefore, are notifying
the public that we are discontinuing preparation of the PEA.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tom MacKenzie, by email at
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Introduction
On April 30, 2013, we published a notice in the Federal Register
(78 FR 25297) announcing and inviting comments on our intention to
prepare a PEA on the effects of the cultivation and use of GMCs on
certain refuges in the Southeast Region. The Southeast Region is
comprised of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, Kentucky,
Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and the
Caribbean. GMCs were primarily used on certain refuges in Alabama,
Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, and North
Carolina, to meet Service goals and objectives to provide migratory
birds, especially waterfowl, with dependable high-energy food during
the winter months.
In 2011, three national nonprofit organizations, the Center for
Food Safety, Beyond Pesticides, and Public Employees for Environmental
Responsibility, sued the Secretary of the Department of the Interior,
the Director of the Service, and the Service in Center for Food Safety,
et al. v. Salazar, et al., Civil Action No. 11-1457 (DC 2011), on the
Service's decision to allow GMCs to be cultivated on some 44,000 acres
of refuge land in the Southeast Region. On November 5, 2012, the Court
entered an Order adopting the negotiated settlement agreement of the
Parties, which included a prohibition on the use of GMCs in the
Southeast Region unless and until ninety (90) days after completion of
appropriate NEPA analysis on such use.
[[Page 32410]]
Background
In our April 30, 2013, Federal Register notice, we invited public
input on our intent to prepare a PEA and requested submissions in the
form of information and suggestions on the issues that should be
considered during the NEPA planning process and in the PEA. We held
five scoping meetings in Columbia, North Carolina; Decatur, Alabama;
Dyersburg, Tennessee; Natchez, Mississippi; and Alexandria, Louisiana.
We also created a Web site on which the public could submit comments
and suggestions.
After the scoping meetings and receipt of comments via the Web
site, we began drafting the PEA, and were engaged in doing so when the
Chief of the Service's National Wildlife Refuge System issued the July
17, 2014, memorandum announcing the phasing out of the use of GMCs to
achieve wildlife management objectives throughout the National Wildlife
Refuge System by January 2016. Upon issuance of the memorandum, we
determined that the need to prepare the PEA no longer existed and
abandoned such preparation.
Authority
This notice is published under the authority of the National
Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997 (16 U.S.C. 668dd et
seq.).
Dated: March 27, 2015.
Michael Oetker,
Acting Regional Director.
[FR Doc. 2015-13842 Filed 6-5-15; 8:45 am]
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