[Federal Register: June 30, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 125)]
[Notices]
[Page 38669-38670]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr30jn03-41]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
[Docket No. 01-009-5]
Wildlife Services; Availability of a Supplemental Environmental
Assessment and Decision/Finding of No Significant Impact for Oral
Rabies Vaccine Program
AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: We are advising the public that we have prepared a June 2003
supplemental environmental assessment and decision/finding of no
significant impact relative to oral rabies vaccination programs in
several States. Since the publication of our original environmental
assessment and decision/finding of no significant impact and a
subsequent supplemental decision/finding of no significant impact, we
have determined there is a need to expand the oral rabies vaccine
program to include the States of Georgia and Maine to effectively stop
the westward and northward spread of the rabies virus across the United
States and into Canada. The purpose of the supplemental environmental
assessment and decision/finding of no significant impact is to
facilitate planning, interagency coordination, and program management
and to provide the public with our analysis of potential individual and
cumulative impacts of an expanded oral rabies vaccine program.
DATES: We will consider all comments that we receive on or before July
30, 2003. Unless new substantial issues bearing on the effects of the
proposed expansion of the oral rabies vaccine programs are brought to
our attention, the new decision/finding of no significant impact will
take effect upon the close of the comment period.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by postal mail/commercial delivery
or by e-mail. If you use postal mail/commercial delivery, please send
four copies of your comment (an original and three copies) to: Docket
No. 01-009-5, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS, Station
3C71, 4700 River Road Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-1238. Please state
that your comment refers to Docket No. 01-009-5. If you use e-mail,
address your comment to regulations@aphis.usda.gov. Your comment must
be contained in the body of your message; do not send attached files.
Please include your name and address in your message and ``Docket No.
01-009-5'' on the subject line.
To obtain copies of any of the documents discussed in this notice,
contact Tara Wilcox, Operational Support Staff, Wildlife Services,
APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 87, Riverdale, MD 20737-1234; phone (301)
734-7921, fax (301) 734-5157, or e-mail: Tara.C.Wilcox@aphis.usda.gov.
When requesting copies, please specify the document or documents you
wish to receive.
You may also read the documents discussed in this notice, as well
as any comments that we receive, 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.
APHIS documents published in the Federal Register, and related
information, including the names of organizations and individuals who
have commented on APHIS dockets, are available on the Internet at
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppd/rad/webrepor.html.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Dennis Slate, Rabies Program
Coordinator, Wildlife Services, APHIS, 59 Chennell Drive, Suite 7,
Concord, NH 03301-8548; phone (603) 223-6832.
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
[[Page 38670]]
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.
On December 7, 2000, a notice was published in the Federal Register
(65 FR 76606-76607, Docket No. 00-045-1) in which the Secretary of
Agriculture declared an emergency and transferred funds from the
Commodity Credit Corporation to APHIS-WS for the continuation and
expansion of oral rabies vaccination (ORV) programs to address rabies
in the States of Ohio, New York, Vermont, Texas, and West Virginia.
On March 7, 2001, we published a notice in the Federal Register (66
FR 13697-13700, Docket No. 01-009-1) to solicit public involvement in
the planning of a proposed cooperative program to stop the spread of
rabies in the States of New York, Ohio, Texas, Vermont, and West
Virginia. The notice also stated that a small portion of northeastern
New Hampshire and the western counties in Pennsylvania that border Ohio
could also be included in these control efforts, and discussed the
possibility of APHIS-WS cooperating in smaller-scale ORV projects in
the States of Florida, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia,
and Alabama. The March 2001 notice contained detailed information about
the history of the problems with raccoon rabies in eastern States and
with gray fox and coyote rabies in Texas, along with information about
previous and ongoing efforts using ORV baits in programs to prevent the
spread of the rabies variants or ``strains'' of concern.
Subsequently, on May 17, 2001, we published in the Federal Register
(66 FR 27489, Docket No. 01-009-2) a notice in which we announced the
availability, for public review and comment, of an environmental
assessment (EA) that examined the potential environmental effects of
the ORV programs described in our March 2001 notice. We solicited
comments on the EA for 30 days ending on June 18, 2001. We received one
comment by that date. The comment was from an animal protection
organization and supported APHIS' efforts toward limiting or
eradicating rabies in wildlife populations. The commenter did not,
however, support the use of lethal monitoring methods or local
depopulation as part of an ORV program.
Finally, on August 30, 2001, we published a notice in the Federal
Register (66 FR 45835-45836, Docket No. 01-009-3) in which we advised
the public of APHIS' decision and finding of no significant impact
(FONSI) regarding the use of oral vaccination to control specific
rabies virus strains in raccoons, gray foxes, and coyotes in the United
States. That decision allows APHIS-WS to purchase and distribute ORV
baits, monitor the effectiveness of the ORV programs, and participate
in implementing contingency plans that may involve the reduction of a
limited number of local target species populations through lethal means
(i.e., the preferred alternative identified in the EA). The decision
was based upon the final EA, which reflected our review and
consideration of the comments received from the public in response to
our March 2001 and May 2001 notices and information gathered during
planning/scoping meetings with State health departments, other State
and local agencies, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, and the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Following the August 2001 publication of our original decision/
FONSI, we determined there was a need to expand the ORV programs to
include the States of Kentucky and Tennessee to effectively stop the
westward spread of raccoon rabies. Accordingly, we prepared a
supplemental decision/FONSI to document the potential effects of
expanding the programs. We published a notice announcing the
availability of the supplemental decision/FONSI in the Federal Register
on July 5, 2002 (67 FR 44797-44798, Docket No. 01-009-4).
We have recently determined that there is a need to further expand
the ORV programs to include the States of Georgia and Maine to
effectively prevent the westward and northward spread of the rabies
virus across the United States and into Canada. To facilitate planning,
interagency coordination, and program management and to provide the
public with our analysis of potential individual and cumulative impacts
of the expanded ORV programs, we have prepared a June 2003 supplemental
EA that addresses the inclusion of Georgia and Maine, as well as the
2002 inclusion of Kentucky and Tennessee, in the ORV programs. In
addition, we have prepared a new decision/FONSI based on the
supplemental EA.
The States where APHIS-WS involvement would be continued or
expanded include Maine, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania,
Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia,
Florida, and Texas. APHIS-WS would also continue to cooperate in
smaller scale ORV projects in the States of Massachusetts, Maryland,
and New Jersey. Currently, cooperative rabies surveillance activities
are conducted in each of the aforementioned States. ORV baiting
programs are conducted or are planned to be conducted in all of the
aforementioned States, except Kentucky. However, based upon
surveillance information, ORV baiting programs may be expanded in the
future under the proposed action to include this remaining State. As
noted above, the primary goal of the ORV programs is to stop the spread
of specific strains of the rabies virus, i.e., raccoon rabies in the
eastern States and gray fox and coyote rabies in Texas. The June 2003
supplemental EA analyzes the proposed action and several alternatives
with respect to a number of environmental and other issues raised by
involved cooperating agencies and the public.
The August 2001 EA and decision/FONSI, the July 2002 supplemental
decision/FONSI, and the June 2003 supplemental EA and decision/FONSI
that are the subject of this notice have 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 1), and (4) APHIS' NEPA Implementing Procedures (7 CFR part
372).
Done in Washington, DC, this 19th day of June 2003.
Bobby R. Acord,
Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 03-16475 Filed 6-27-03; 8:45 am]
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