Notice of Availability of an Environmental Assessment for Release of Aphelinus hordei for Biological Control of Russian Wheat Aphid
| Published date | 05 May 2020 |
| Citation | 85 FR 26656 |
| Record Number | 2020-09539 |
| Section | Notices |
| Court | Agriculture Department,Animal And Plant Health Inspection Service |
Federal Register, Volume 85 Issue 87 (Tuesday, May 5, 2020)
[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 87 (Tuesday, May 5, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Page 26656]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-09539]
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Notices
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Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 87 / Tuesday, May 5, 2020 / Notices
[[Page 26656]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
[Docket No. APHIS-2020-0009]
Notice of Availability of an Environmental Assessment for Release
of Aphelinus hordei for Biological Control of Russian Wheat Aphid
AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service has prepared an environmental assessment relative to
permitting the release of Aphelinus hordei for the biological control
of Russian wheat aphids, a pest of cereal crops, in the Western United
States. Based on the environmental assessment and other relevant data,
we have reached a preliminary determination that the release of this
control agent will not have a significant impact on the quality of the
human environment. We are making the environmental assessment available
to the public for review and comment.
DATES: We will consider all comments that we receive on or before June
4, 2020.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by either of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2020-0009.
Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: Send your comment to
Docket No. APHIS-2020-0009, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD,
APHIS, Station 3A-03.8, 4700 River Road, Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-
1238.
Supporting documents and any comments we receive on this docket may
be viewed at http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2020-
0009 or in our reading room, which 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) 799-7039 before coming.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Colin D. Stewart, Assistant
Director, Pests, Pathogens, and Biocontrol Permits, Permitting and
Compliance Coordination, PPQ, APHIS, 4700 River Road, Unit 133,
Riverdale, MD 20737-1231; (301) 851-2327, email:
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Russian wheat aphid is native to Central
Asia, the Middle East, Southern Europe, and North Africa, but has
spread to various areas such as Australia, South Africa, and North and
South America. It was detected in the Western United States in 1986,
Russian wheat aphid was discovered in 18 States: Arizona, California,
Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North
Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington,
Wisconsin, and Wyoming. This pest has not spread to the eastern areas
of the United States. The Russian wheat aphid is wingless, pale yellow-
green or gray-green insect lightly dusted with white wax powder that
feeds and develops on grass and cereal species; in North America, it
thrives best on wheat and barley.
Aphelinus hordei, a tiny, stingless wasp, was chosen as a potential
biological control agent due to its narrow host range, and it was the
only parasitoid that specialized on Russian wheat aphid.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's (APHIS') review
and analysis of the potential environmental impacts associated with the
proposed release are documented in detail in an environmental
assessment (EA) entitled ``Field Release of Aphelinus hordei
(Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) for Biological Control of the Russian Wheat
Aphid, Diuraphis noxia (Hemiptera: Aphididae), in the Continental
United States'' (February 2018). We are making the EA 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 EA may be viewed on the Regulations.gov website 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
also request paper copies of the EA by calling or writing to the person
listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. Please refer to the title
of the EA when requesting copies.
The EA has 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 1b), and (4)
APHIS' NEPA Implementing Procedures (7 CFR part 372).
Done in Washington, DC, this 24th day of April 2020.
Michael Watson,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 2020-09539 Filed 5-4-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-34-P
