[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 218 (Wednesday, November 12, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Page 60683]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-29712]
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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. 62, No. 218 / Wednesday, November 12, 1997 /
Notices
[[Page 60683]]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
[Docket No. 97-106-1]
Availability of an Environmental Assessment and Finding of No
Significant Impact
AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: We are advising the public that an environmental assessment
and finding of no significant impact have been prepared by the Animal
and Plant Health Inspection Service relative to the proposed release
into the environment of nonindigenous species of wasps for use as
biological control agents to suppress the Pink Hibiscus Mealybug. The
environmental assessment provides a basis for our conclusion that the
release into the environment of the biological control agents will not
present a risk of introducing plant pests into the United States or
disseminating plant pests within the United States and will not have a
significant impact on the quality of the human environment. Based on
its finding of no significant impact, the Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service has determined that an environmental impact
statement need not be prepared.
ADDRESSES: Copies of the environmental assessment and finding of no
significant impact are available for public inspection at USDA, room
1141, South Building, 14th Street and Independence Avenue SW.,
Washington, DC, between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday,
except holidays. Persons wishing to inspect those documents are
requested to call ahead on (202) 690-2817 to facilitate entry into the
comment reading room.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Dale E. Meyerdirk, Senior Staff
Officer, Pink Hibiscus Mealybug Program, PPQ, APHIS, 4700 River Road
Unit 135, Riverdale, MD 20737-1236, (301) 734-5667. For copies of the
environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact, write to
Dr. Meyerdirk at the same address. Please refer to the title of the
environmental assessment when ordering copies.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: As a part of a biological control project to
suppress the Pink Hibiscus Mealybug (PHM) (Maconellicoccus hirsutus)
(Homoptera: Pseudococcidae), the Animal and Plant Health Inspection
Service (APHIS) is proposing to release nonindigenous wasps in the
genus Leptomastix in the continental United States and its Caribbean
territories. PHM is currently established on the islands of St. Thomas,
St. Croix, and St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands and on Vieques of
Puerto Rico. However, we anticipate that PHM will spread to other U.S.
territories in the Caribbean and to the mainland United States. As PHM
spreads, nonindigenous wasps in the genus Leptomastix, which have
controlled PHM in Egypt, would be released in affected areas to
suppress PHM. PHM is a devastating pest of cocoa, grapes, fiber crops,
hibiscus, and many other field crops and ornamental plants.
To provide the public with documentation of APHIS'' review and
analysis of the environmental impact and plant pest risk associated
with releasing these biological control agents into the environment, we
have prepared an environmental assessment and finding of no significant
impact relative to the release into the environment of the following
biological control agents:
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Date of
finding of
Organisms Title of environmental assessment no
significant
impact
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Leptomastix spp................................. ``Field Releases of Nonindigenous Species of 10/14/97
Leptomastix (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) for
Biological Control of Pink Hibiscus Mealybug,
Maconellicoccus hirsutus (Homoptera:
Pseudococidae)'' (September 1997).
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The environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact
have been prepared in accordance with: (1) The National Environmental
Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA) (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 November 1997.
Terry L. Medley,
Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 97-29712 Filed 11-10-97; 8:45 am]
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