### 75170 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 231 / Thursday, December 2, 2010 / Notices

**DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE**

**Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service** 

**[Docket No. APHIS–2010–0111]**

**APHIS User Fee Web Site**

**AGENCY :**  Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.

**ACTION :**  Notice.

**SUMMARY :**  The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service charges user fees, as authorized by law, to recover the costs of providing certain services. This notice announces the availability of a Web site that contains information about the Agency’s user fees.

**ADDRESSES :**  The Agency’s user fee Web site is located at: http:// www.aphis.usda.gov/userfees/ index.shtml.

**FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT :**  For information about the Web site, contact Ms. Cindy Howard, Assistant Deputy Administrator for Regulatory Coordination, Policy and Program Development, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 20, Riverdale, MD 20737; (301) 734–5957. For information about APHIS’ user fees, contact Mrs. Kris Caraher, Section Head, User Fees Section, Financial Services Branch, FMD, MRPBS, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 54, Riverdale, MD 20737; (301)
734–0882.

**SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION :**  A user fee is a charge to identifiable recipients ( e.g., individuals or firms)—users—of goods and services provided by the Federal Government. The Federal Government charges user fees only when prescribed or authorized by law. User fees are charged for goods and services that directly benefit the recipient or that are necessary to protect the public from incurring costs that may result from the recipient’s activities. Through the user fee, recipients of the goods or services pay the Federal Government for the cost of providing the goods or services. The cost is not borne by the general taxpayer.

APHIS charges a user fee to recover the costs of providing the following goods and services:

• Agricultural quarantine and inspection (AQI) services

• Export certification of plants and plant products

• Veterinary services for imports and exports of live animals and products

• Veterinary diagnostic goods and services Additionally, when Federal employeesprovide certain import- and exportrelated services funded by user fees outside their normal working hours, APHIS may charge an additional fee to cover the costs of overtime. This category of services is called reimbursable overtime services.

For each of these user fee programs, the Web site provides a description of the services or goods for which a fee is charged, the statutory authority for APHIS to collect and retain the fees, the current rates, how APHIS determined the amount of the fees, any scheduled rate changes, and other information pertinent to that user fee program. In the near future, we plan to add information on the status of collections and expenditures in each user fee program.

The Web site also answers general questions about APHIS’ user fees, including:

• Why does APHIS charge user fees for some activities and not others?

• What happens to the money that APHIS collects through user fees?

• How does APHIS determine the amount of its fees?

• How reliable are the projections upon which the fees are based?

• What happens when variable factors fluctuate?

• How often will user fees be adjusted?

• How often are the fees reviewed?

• What is the process for changing the fees?

APHIS developed the user fee Web site to enhance transparency and predictability regarding its user fee programs. The Web site will include a way in the near future for the public to submit comments or questions to APHIS on either the Web page itself ( e.g., ease of use, content) or on the user fee programs or specific fees. We also plan to allow interested members of the public to sign up to receive notifications when changes are made to the user fee Web page.

Done in Washington, DC, this 16th day of November 2010. Kevin Shea, Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 2010–30208 Filed 12–1–10; 8:45 am]

**BILLING CODE 3410–34–P**

**DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE**

**Rural Utilities Service**

**Minnkota Power Cooperative, Inc.: Bemidji to Grand Rapids 230 kV**  **Transmission Line Project**

**AGENCY :**  Rural Utilities Service, USDA.

**ACTION :**  Notice of availability of Record of Decision. **SUMMARY :**  The Rural Utilities Service, hereinafter referred to as RUS and/or the Agency, has issued a Record of Decision (ROD) for the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed Bemidji to Grand Rapids 230 kV Transmission Line Project (Project) in Beltrami, Hubbard, Itasca, and Cass counties, Minnesota. The Administrator of RUS has signed the ROD, which is effective upon signing. The RUS, U.S. Forest Service Chippewa National Forest (CNF), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), and Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Division of Resource Management (LLBO DRM) cooperated in the development of a Final Environmental Impact Statement (Final EIS) prepared pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) (U.S.C. 4231 et seq. ) and in accordance with the Council on Environmental Quality’s (CEQ) regulations for implementing the procedural provisions of NEPA (40 CFR Parts 1500–1508), and RUS’s NEPA implementing regulations (7 CFR Part 1794). RUS is the lead federal agency as defined at 40 CFR 1501.5, and CNF and USACE are cooperating agencies. LLBO DRM accepted an invitation to participate as a cooperating agency. As the lead federal agency, and as part of its broad environmental review process, RUS must take into account the effect of the proposal on historic properties in accordance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (16 U.S.C 470f) and its implementing regulation ‘‘Protection of Historic Properties’’ (36 CFR Part 800). The Final EIS evaluated the potential environmental impacts of and alternatives to the Project proposed by Minnkota Power Cooperative, Inc. (Minnkota) for RUS financing to construct the 230 kilovolt (kV) transmission line between the Wilton Substation near Bemidji, Minnesota and the Boswell Substation near Grand Rapids, Minnesota. The Project is being jointly developed by Minnkota, Otter Tail Power Company, and Minnesota Power (The Utilities).

**ADDRESSES :**  To obtain copies of the ROD, or for further information, contact: Ms. Stephanie Strength, Environmental Protection Specialist, USDA, Rural Utilities Service, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW., Stop 1571, Room 2244–S, Washington, DC 20250–1571, telephone: (970) 403–3559, fax: (202) 690–0649, or e-mail: Stephanie.strength@wdc.usda.gov. A copy of the ROD can be viewed online
at: http://www.usda.gov/rus/water/ees/ eis.htm.