[Federal Register: July 31, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 148)]
[Notices]
[Page 44702-44703]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr31jy08-22]
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Notices
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
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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[[Page 44702]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
[Docket No. APHIS-2008-0062]
Availability of Site-Specific Environmental Assessment and Pest
Risk Assessment for the Interstate Movement of Garbage From Hawaii to
Oregon
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 a site-specific environmental
assessment and pest risk assessment relative to a request to allow the
interstate movement of garbage from Hawaii to a landfill in the State
of Oregon. The environmental assessment has been prepared to determine
whether the request is consistent with the environmental effects and
impacts analyzed in our March 2008 regional programmatic environmental
assessment as well as to evaluate potential site-specific environmental
impacts of the proposed action. The pest risk assessment evaluates the
risks associated with the interstate movement of garbage from Hawaii to
Oregon. We are making these documents available to the public for
review and comment.
DATES: We will consider all comments that we receive on or before
September 2, 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-2008-0062 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-2008-0062, 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-2008-0062.
Reading Room: You may read 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.
Other Information: Additional information about APHIS and its
programs is available on the Internet at http://www.aphis.usda.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Shannon Hamm, Associate Deputy
Administrator, Policy and Program Development, APHIS, 4700 River Road
Unit 20, Riverdale, MD 20737-1231; (301) 734-4957.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The importation and interstate movement of garbage is regulated by
the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) under 7 CFR
330.400 and 9 CFR 94.5 in order to protect against the introduction
into and dissemination within the United States of plant and animal
pests and diseases.
On March 13, 2008, we published in the Federal Register (73 FR
13525, Docket No. APHIS-2007-0070) a notice in which we announced the
availability, for public review and comment, of a regional programmatic
environmental assessment relative to the interstate movement of
municipal solid waste from Hawaii to landfills in the States of Idaho,
Oregon, and Washington. On June 18, 2008 (73 FR 34700-34701, Docket No.
APHIS-2007-0070), we published a follow-up notice in which we announced
the availability of our final regional programmatic environmental
assessment and finding of no significant impact.
In our March 2008 notice, we stated that as new requests to move
municipal solid waste from Hawaii are received, a specific
environmental analysis will be prepared relative to each request to
determine whether the request is consistent with the environmental
effects and impacts analyzed in our regional programmatic environmental
assessment. We also stated that the specific environmental analyses
prepared for each new request to move municipal solid waste will be
made available for a 30-day public comment period, after which APHIS
will announce its environmental and pest risk decision regarding the
new municipal solid waste movement proposal.
In accordance with the process described in our March 2008 notice,
we have prepared a site-specific environmental assessment to ensure
that the circumstances surrounding a new request we have received fit
within the criteria evaluated in the regional programmatic
environmental assessment as well as to evaluate potential site-specific
environmental impacts of the proposed action. The site-specific
assessment, titled ``Site Specific Environmental Assessment for Off
Island Transfer Proposal to Transport Municipal Solid Waste from Hawaii
to Columbia Ridge Landfill,'' is accompanied by a pest risk assessment.
The pest risk assessment, titled ``The Risk of Introducing Pests to
Gilliam County, Oregon via Hawaiian Plastic-Baled Municipal Solid
Waste'' (June 2008), evaluates the plant pest risks associated with the
interstate movement of garbage from Hawaii to the Columbia Ridge Solid
Waste Landfill in Gilliam County, OR.
We are making these documents 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 environmental assessment and pest risk assessment may be
viewed on the Internet 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). You may request paper copies of the documents by calling
or writing to the person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
Please refer to the title of the document(s) you wish to receive when
requesting copies.
[[Page 44703]]
Following the conclusion of the comment period, we will announce
our environmental and pest risk decision regarding the new municipal
solid waste movement proposal.
Authority: 7 U.S.C. 450, 7701-7772, 7781-7786, and 8301-8317; 21
U.S.C. 136 and 136a; 31 U.S.C. 9701; 7 CFR 2.22, 2.80, and 371.3.
Done in Washington, DC, this 25th day of July 2008.
Kevin Shea,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. E8-17589 Filed 7-30-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-34-P