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.

Notices Federal Register

60347

Vol. 69, No. 195

Friday, October 8, 2004

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service 

[Docket No. 04–048–2] 

Notice of Request for Emergency 

Approval of an Information Collection

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: New information collection; 

reopening of comment period. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the 

Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service announced in the Federal 

Register that it had submitted to the 

Office of Management and Budget a 

request for emergency review and 

approval of an information collection 

associated with a national animal 

identification system. That notice was 

published on September 23, 2004 (69 FR 

56990–56991), and comments were due 

by October 4, 2004. This notice 

announces our intention to reopen that 

comment period for an additional 20 

days beyond the date of this notice.

DATES: We will consider all comments 

that we receive on or before October 28, 

2004.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by any of the following methods: 

• Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: 

Please send four copies of your 

comment (an original and three copies) 

to Docket No. 04–048–1 Regulatory 

Analysis and Development, PPD, 

APHIS, Station 3C71, 4700 River Road 

Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737–1238. 

Please state that your comment refers to 

Docket No. 04–048–1. 

• E-mail: Address your comment to 

regulations@aphis.usda.gov. Your 

comment must be contained in the body 

of your message; do not send attached 

files. Please include your name and 

address in your message and ‘‘Docket 

No. 04–048–1’’ on the subject line. 

Agency Web site: Go to http://

www.aphis.usda.gov/ppd/rad/

cominst.html for a form you can use to 

submit an e-mail comment through the 

APHIS Web site. 

Reading Room: You may read any 

comments that we receive on this 

docket 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: You may view 

APHIS documents published in the 

Federal Register and related 

information, including the names of 

groups and individuals who have 

commented on APHIS dockets, on the 

Internet at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/

ppd/rad/webrepor.html.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

information on the national animal 

identification system, contact Mr. Neil 

Hammerschmidt, Animal Identification 

Coordinator, Eradication and 

Surveillance Team, National Center for 

Animal Health Programs, VS, APHIS, 

4700 River Road Unit 43, Riverdale, MD 

20737; (301) 734–5571, or Dr. John 

Wiemers, National Animal 

Identification Coordinator, Eradication 

and Surveillance Team, National Center 

for Animal Health Programs, VS, 

APHIS, 2100 S. Lake Storey Road, 

Galesburg, IL 61401; (309) 344–1942. 

For copies of more detailed information 

on the information collection, contact 

Mrs. Celeste Sickles, APHIS’’ 

Information Collection Coordinator, at 

(301) 734–7477.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Title: National Animal Identification 

System.

OMB Number: 0579–XXXX. 

Type of Request: Emergency approval 

of a new information collection. 

Abstract: The Animal and Plant 

Health Inspection Service (APHIS) of 

the U.S. Department of Agriculture 

(USDA) regulates the importation and 

interstate movement of animals and 

animal products and conducts various 

other activities to protect the health of 

our Nation’s livestock and poultry. 

Animal disease outbreaks around the 

globe over the past decade, and the 

detection of an imported cow infected 

with bovine spongiform encephalopathy 

in Washington State in December 2003, 

have intensified the public interest in 

developing a national animal 

identification program for the purpose 

of protecting animal health. 

Fundamental to controlling any 

disease threat, foreign or domestic, to 

the Nation’s animal resources is to have 

a system that can identify individual 

animals or groups, the premises where 

they are located, and the date of entry 

to each premises. Further, in order to 

achieve optimal success in controlling 

or eradicating an animal health threat, 

the timely retrieval of this information 

and implementation of intervention 

strategies after confirmation of a disease 

outbreak is necessary. 

While there is currently no 

nationwide animal identification system 

in the United States for all animals of a 

given species, some segments of certain 

species are required to be identified as 

part of current program disease 

eradication activities. In addition, some 

significant regional voluntary 

identification programs are in place, and 

others are currently being developed 

and tested. 

As a first stage of implementing a 

national animal identification system 

(NAIS), USDA has funded 29 State and 

tribal projects that will be conducted 

under cooperative agreements. States 

and tribes can use the funds to register 

premises, establish data transfer 

procedures, and conduct field trials or 

research in order to test and fine-tune 

identification technologies and collect 

animal movement data. Additional 

nonfederally funded projects may also 

be conducted. The pilot projects will 

help inform USDA’s decisions about 

how to proceed with the animal 

identification initiative. USDA has also 

solicited public comment on this 

initiative through an advance notice of 

proposed rulemaking published in the 

Federal Register on July 14, 2004 (69 FR 

42288–42300) and has conducted a 

series of listening sessions across the 

country to discuss the development, 

structure, and implementation of the 

NAIS with livestock producers and 

other interested persons. 

USDA’s ultimate goal for the NAIS is 

to gain the ability to identify all animals 

and premises that have had direct 

contact with a foreign animal disease or 

disease of concern within 48 hours of 

discovery. A functioning system will 

60348 Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 195 / Friday, October 8, 2004 / Notices 

also be crucial as USDA works to 

complete disease eradication programs 

in which States, industry, and the 

Federal Government have invested 

many years and millions of dollars. 

USDA is committed to developing a 

program that is tested both on the farm 

and in the livestock markets to ensure 

it is both practical and effective. USDA’s 

technology-neutral position will allow 

industry to determine which animal 

identification method or methods are 

the most practical and effective for each 

species. 

APHIS has submitted a request to the 

Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) for emergency approval of the 

information collection and 

recordkeeping activities that will be 

conducted under the State and tribal 

pilot projects discussed above. We have 

amended the estimate of burden shown 

in our initial notice to reflect only the 

time period that will be covered by the 

emergency approval.

The purpose of this notice is to solicit 

comments from the public (as well as 

affected agencies) concerning our 

information collection. These comments 

will help us: 

(1) Evaluate whether the collection of 

information is necessary for the proper 

performance of the functions of the 

Agency, including whether the 

information will have practical utility; 

(2) Evaluate the accuracy of our 

estimate of the burden of the 

information collection, including the 

validity of the methodology and 

assumptions used; 

(3) Enhance the quality, utility, and 

clarity of the information to be 

collected; and 

(4) Minimize the burden of the 

information collection on those who are 

to respond, through use, as appropriate, 

of automated, electronic, mechanical, 

and other collection technologies, e.g.,

permitting electronic submission of 

responses. 

Estimate of burden: Public reporting 

burden for this collection of information 

is estimated to average 0.1404691 hours 

per response. 

Respondents: State animal health 

authorities; federally recognized tribal 

governments; owner/operators of 

feedlots, markets, buying stations, and 

slaughter plants; producers; and 

nonproducer participants, such as 

accredited veterinarians, animal 

identification (ID) number managers 

(individuals or firms responsible for 

assigning animal ID numbers to 

producers), animal identification ID 

companies (companies that manufacture 

animal identification tags, microchips, 

or other animal ID devices), third party 

service providers (companies that 

provide herd management, dairy herd 

improvement, genetic evaluation, and 

other services to producers), and 

diagnostic laboratories and livestock 

buyers/dealers who submit data to the 

national database. 

Estimated annual number of 

respondents: 189,963. 

Estimated annual number of 

responses per respondent: 1.2055189. 

Estimated annual number of 

responses: 229,004. 

Estimated total annual burden on 

respondents: 32,168 hours. (Due to 

averaging, the total annual burden hours 

may not equal the product of the annual 

number of responses multiplied by the 

reporting burden per response.) 

APHIS will provide the Office of 

Management and Budget with a copy of 

all comments received on this notice. 

All comments will become a matter of 

public record.

Done in Washington, DC, this 6th day of 

October 2004. 

Elizabeth E. Gaston, 

Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant 

Health Inspection Service.

[FR Doc. 04–22788 Filed 10–7–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–34–P

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service 

[Docket No. 04–099–1] 

Notice of Request for Extension of 

Approval of an Information Collection

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Extension of approval of an 

information collection; comment 

request. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this 

notice announces the Animal and Plant 

Health Inspection Service’s intention to 

request an extension of approval of an 

information collection associated with 

nursery stock regulations that govern 

the importation of nursery stock (plants 

and plant parts and products for 

propagation) into the United States to 

prevent the introduction of plant pests.

DATES: We will consider all comments 

that we receive on or before December 

7, 2004.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by any of the following methods: 

• EDOCKET: Go to http://

www.epa.gov/feddocket to submit or 

view public comments, access the index 

listing of the contents of the official 

public docket, and to access those 

documents in the public docket that are 

available electronically. Once you have 

entered EDOCKET, click on the ‘‘View 

Open APHIS Dockets’’ link to locate this 

document. 

• Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: 

Please send four copies of your 

comment (an original and three copies) 

to Docket No. 04–099–1, Regulatory 

Analysis and Development, PPD, 

APHIS, Station 3C71, 4700 River Road 

Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737–1238. 

Please state that your comment refers to 

Docket No. 04–099–1. 

• E-mail: Address your comment to 

regulations@aphis.usda.gov. Your 

comment must be contained in the body 

of your message; do not send attached 

files. Please include your name and 

address in your message and ‘‘Docket 

No. 04–099–1’’ on the subject line. 

• Agency Web Site: Go to http://

www.aphis.usda.gov/ppd/rad/

cominst.html for a form you can use to 

submit an e-mail comment through the 

APHIS Web site. 

Reading Room: You may read any 

comments that we receive on this 

docket 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: You may view 

APHIS documents published in the 

Federal Register and related 

information, including the names of 

groups and individuals who have 

commented on APHIS dockets, on the 

Internet at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/

ppd/rad/webrepor.html.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

information regarding the nursery stock 

regulations, contact Ms. Jane Levy, 

Senior Staff Officer, Quarantine, Policy 

Analysis and Support, PPQ, APHIS, 

4700 River Road Unit 60, Riverdale, MD 

20737; (301) 734–8295. For copies of 

more detailed information on the 

information collection, contact Mrs. 

Celeste Sickles, APHIS’ Information 

Collection Coordinator, at (301) 734–

7477.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Title: Update of Nursery Stock 

Regulations. 

OMB Number: 0579–0190. 

Type of Request: Extension of 

approval of an information collection. 

Abstract: The Plant Protection Act (7 

U.S.C. 7701–7772) authorizes the 

Secretary of Agriculture to restrict the 

importation, entry, or interstate