Change in Disease Status of the Republic of Korea With Regard to Foot-and-Mouth Disease and Rinderpest; Availability of an Environmental Assessment

AGENCY:

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION:

Notice of availability of an environmental assessment.

SUMMARY:

We are advising the public that an environmental assessment has been prepared by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service relative to a proposed rule that would add the Republic of Korea to the list of regions considered free of rinderpest and foot-and-mouth disease. The environmental assessment documents our review and analysis of environmental impacts associated with adding the Republic of Korea to the list of regions considered free of rinderpest and foot-and-mouth disease. We are making this environmental assessment available to the public for review and comment.

DATES:

We will consider all comments that we receive on or before May 29, 2009.

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-2008-0147 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-2008-0147, 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-2008-0147.

Reading Room: You may read any comments that we receive on the environmental assessment 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:

Dr. Julia Punderson, Senior Staff Veterinarian, Regionalization Evaluation Services, National Center for Import and Export, VS, APHIS, 4700 River Road, Unit 38, Riverdale, MD 20737-1231; (301) 734-4356.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

In a proposed rule titled “Change in Disease Status of the Republic of Korea With Regard to Foot-and-Mouth Disease and Rinderpest” and published in the Federal Register on March 30, 2009 (74 FR 14093-14097, Docket No. APHIS-2008-0147), we proposed to amend the regulations in 9 CFR part 94 by adding the Republic of Korea to the list of regions that are considered free of rinderpest and foot-and-mouth disease.

APHIS' review and analysis of the potential environmental impacts associated with adding the Republic of Korea to the list of regions considered free of rinderpest and foot-and-mouth disease are documented in detail in an environmental assessment entitled “Proposed Rule for the Status of the Republic of Korea Regarding Foot-and-Mouth Disease and Rinderpest: Environmental Assessment” (February 2009). We are making this environmental assessment 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 may be viewed on the Regulations.gov Web site or in our reading room (see ADDRESSES above for a link to Regulations.gov and information on the location and hours of the reading room). You may request paper copies of the environmental assessment by calling or writing to the person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. Please refer to the title of the environmental assessment when requesting copies.

The environmental assessment was 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 1b), and (4) APHIS' NEPA Implementing Procedures (7 CFR part 372).