[Federal Register: October 19, 1999 (Volume 64, Number 201)] [Notices] [Page 56305-56306] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr19oc99-26] ======================================================================== 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. ======================================================================== [[Page 56305]] ======================================================================= ----------------------------------------------------------------------- DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service [Docket No. 99-073-1] Availability of an Environmental Assessment AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA. ACTION: Notice and request for comments. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: We are advising the public that an environmental assessment has been prepared by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service relative to the suppression of papaya mealybugs, Paracoccus marginatus Williams (Homoptera, Pseudococcidae). The environmental assessment's preferred alternative is to release into the environment nonindigenous wasps for use as biological control agents to suppress the papaya mealybugs. The environmental assessment has been prepared 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. DATES: We invite you to comment on this docket. We will consider all comments that we receive by November 18, 1999. ADDRESSES: Please send your comment and three copies to: Docket No. 99- 073-1, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS, Suite 3C03, 4700 River Road, Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-1238. Please state that your comment refers to Docket No. 99-073-1. You may read any comment that we receive on this docket and review copies of 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. APHIS documents published in the Federal Register, and related information, including the names of organizations and individuals who have commented on APHIS rules, are available on the Internet at http:// www.aphis.usda.gov/ppd/rad/webrepor.html. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Dale E. Meyerdirk, Supervisory Agriculturist, Pink Hibiscus Mealybug Program, PPQ, APHIS, 4700 River Road, Unit 135, Riverdale, MD 20737-1236; (301) 734-5667. For copies of the environmental assessment, write to Dr. Dale E. 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 papaya mealybugs, Paracoccus marginatus Williams (Homoptera, Pseudococcidae), the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is proposing to release nonindigenous wasps in the genera Anagyrus, Apoanagyrus, and Acerophagus (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae). Papaya mealybugs can cause serious damage to numerous agricultural products, including papayas, hibiscus, citrus, cotton, and avocados, which can result in significant economic losses. The purpose of the proposed action is to suppress papaya mealybug infestations throughout the United States. Papaya mealybugs exist in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, have recently been found in a few locations in Florida, and have been intercepted in Texas and California. From Florida, papaya mealybugs could spread rapidly through the Gulf States and eventually on to Texas and California. The limits of its spread northward cannot be accurately predicted, but certain greenhouse crops would be at risk, even in cold regions. The wasps will be imported from Mexico into U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)-certified insect quarantine facilities at the Beneficial Insects Introduction Research Laboratory (BIIRL) in Newark, DE. At BIIRL, species identifications would be confirmed by USDA and State taxonomists, and undesirable organisms, such as hyperparasites, would be screened out and properly eliminated. Laboratory colonies would be established by APHIS and State cooperators. The wasps would then be released by APHIS and State cooperators in areas invaded by the papaya mealybug. Such areas include the U.S. Virginia Islands, Puerto Rico, and Florida, where the papaya mealybug is now present. The papaya mealybug may also spread to other States due to the presence of hosts and favorable habitats. These areas include Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. If the papaya mealybug does spread to these areas, APHIS and State cooperators will release the wasps in the affected areas also. We expect that these stingless wasps would become established and reproduce naturally without further human intervention. If APHIS does release the Anagyrus, Apoanagyrus, and Acerophagus wasps, these wasps will be the first exotic biological control agents approved for release against papaya mealybugs in the United States. To document 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 relative to the release into the environment of Anagyrus, Apoanagyrus, and Acerophagus entitled ``Control of Papaya Mealybug, Paracoccus marginatus (Homoptera: Pseudococcidae)'' (October 1999). We are making this environmental assessment available to the public for review and comment. The environmental assessment has 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 [[Page 56306]] Implementing Procedures (7 CFR part 372). Done in Washington, DC, this 14th day of October 1999. Richard L. Dunkle, Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. [FR Doc. 99-27321 Filed 10-18-99; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 3410-34-U