Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 31 / Tuesday, February 15, 2011 / Notices 8709 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service 

[Docket No. APHIS–2010–0100] 

Environmental Impact Statement; 

Proposed Cattle Fever Tick Control 

Barrier in South Texas 

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an 

environmental impact statement and 

hold public meetings. 

SUMMARY: We are advising the public 

that the Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service plans to prepare an 

environmental impact statement to 

analyze the effects of installing a tick 

control barrier using game fencing to 

keep cattle fever ticks and southern 

cattle ticks out of tick-free areas beyond 

the permanent quarantine zone in South 

Texas. This notice identifies potential 

issues and alternatives that will be 

studied in the environmental impact 

statement, requests public comments to 

further delineate the scope of the 

alternatives and environmental impacts 

and issues, and provides notice of 

public meetings. 

DATES: We will consider all comments 

that we receive on or before March 17, 

2011. We will also consider comments 

made at public meetings to be held on 

March 7, 8, 9, and 10, 2011. 

ADDRESSES: The public meetings will be 

held in Rio Grande City, TX, Zapata, 

TX, Laredo, TX, and Eagle Pass, TX (see 

the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section 

of this notice for the address of each 

meeting site). You may submit 

comments regarding the environmental 

impact statement by either of the 

following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/ 

component/ 

main?main=DocketDetail&d=APHIS2010–0100 to submit or view public 

comments and to view supporting and 

related materials available 

electronically. 

• Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: 

Please send one copy of your comment 

to Docket No. APHIS–2010–0100, 

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– 

2010–0100. 

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. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

questions related to the Cattle Fever 

Tick Eradication Program, contact Dr. 

Matthew T. Messenger, Staff 

Entomologist, Cattle Fever Tick 

Eradication Program Manager, 

Ruminant Health Programs, VS, APHIS, 

4700 River Road Unit 43, Riverdale, MD 

20737; (301) 734–0647. For questions 

related to the environmental impact 

statement, contact Ms. Vicki Gutierrez, 

Environmental Protection Specialist, 

Environmental and Risk Analysis 

Services, PPD, APHIS, 4700 River Road 

Unit 149, Riverdale, MD 20737; (301) 

734–4883. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

The Cattle Fever Tick Eradication 

Program is a cooperative effort between 

the Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service (APHIS) of the U.S. Department 

of Agriculture and the Texas Animal 

Health Commission. The program was 

established to eliminate bovine 

babesiosis, a severe and often fatal cattle 

disease, from the U.S. cattle population. 

Cattle fever ticks and southern cattle 

ticks (collectively referred to as ‘‘fever 

ticks’’) carry protozoan parasites that 

cause babesiosis. The disease and the 

fever ticks were officially eradicated 

from the continental United States in 

1943, with the exception of a permanent 

quarantine zone extending over 500 

miles along the Rio Grande from Del 

Rio, TX, to the Gulf of Mexico. 

Current efforts to control fever ticks 

along the permanent quarantine zone 

include horseback patrols, a segmented 

barrier consisting of game fencing, and 

treatments applied to cattle and deer to 

keep out ticks carried by stray or 

smuggled livestock or wildlife. 

However, an increasing number of fever 

tick outbreaks have occurred outside the 

permanent quarantine zone in three of 

the eight Texas counties through which 

the zone passes: Maverick, Zapata, and 

Starr. The increase in outbreaks is 

attributed to numerous factors, 

including the free movement of deer 

and stray livestock carrying ticks across 

the U.S.-Mexico border and an increase 

in the overall deer population. 

APHIS has determined that the 

installation of additional game fencing 

in the permanent quarantine zone 

would effectively stop the spread of 

cattle fever ticks by severely limiting or 

eliminating the movement of wildlife 

and stray livestock from the quarantine 

zone into locations where domestic 

livestock are maintained free of fever 

ticks. 

Under the provisions of the National 

Environmental Policy Act of 1969 

(NEPA), as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et 

seq.), Federal agencies must examine 

the potential environmental effects of 

proposed Federal actions and 

alternatives. We are planning to prepare 

an environmental impact statement 

(EIS) to analyze the effects of installing 

a tick control barrier using game fencing 

to keep fever ticks out of tick-free areas 

beyond the permanent quarantine zone 

we have established in South Texas. We 

are requesting public comment to help 

us identify or confirm potential 

alternatives and environmental issues 

that should be examined in the EIS, as 

well as comments that identify other 

issues that should be examined in the 

EIS. 

The EIS will be prepared in 

accordance with: (1) NEPA, (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). 

We have identified one alternative 

and the proposed action for further 

examination in the EIS: 

Take no action. Under this 

alternative, APHIS would provide no 

funding toward the installation of game 

fencing to close gaps existing in gamefenced areas in Maverick County, or in 

rural areas of Zapata and Starr Counties, 

TX, to prevent the spread of fever ticks 

via the free movement of white-tailed 

deer and other tick hosts into the 

permanent quarantine zone. This 

alternative represents the baseline 

against which a proposed action may be 

compared and involves no changes to 

the current situation. 

Provide funding toward the 

installation of a tick barrier utilizing 

game fencing in rural areas of Maverick, 

Zapata, and Starr Counties, TX. The 

proposed action involves APHIS 

providing funding toward the 

installation of game fencing on privately 

owned lands, with landowner consent 

and cost-share agreement, in rural areas 

of Maverick, Zapata, and Starr Counties, 

TX. 

We have identified the following 

potential environmental impacts or 

issues for further examination in the 

EIS: 


jdjones on DSK8KYBLC1PROD with NOTICES
8710 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 31 / Tuesday, February 15, 2011 / Notices 

• Effects on wildlife, including 

consideration of migratory bird species 

and changes in native wildlife habitat 

and populations. 

• Effects on federally listed 

threatened and endangered species, 

including ocelots, Gulf Coast 

jaguarundis, and plant species. 

• Effects on soil, vegetation, and 

water from the installation of game 

fencing. 

• Effects on local residents, including 

impacts on daily activities. 

• Effects on human health and safety 

in the proposed tick barrier locations 

during and after the installation of game 

fencing. 

• Effects on cultural and historic 

resources that may not have yet been 

identified through professional surveys. 

We welcome comments on the 

proposed action and on other 

alternatives and environmental impacts 

or issues that should be considered for 

further examination in the EIS. 

Public Meetings 

We are advising the public that we are 

hosting four public meetings. The 

public meetings will be held as follows: 

• March 7, 2011, at the Holiday Inn, 

5274 East Highway 83 and Blanco Road, 

Rio Grande City, TX 78582, from 10 a.m. 

to noon. 

• March 8, 2011, at the Zapata 

Community Center, 607 North U.S. 

Highway 83, Zapata, TX 78076, from 10 

a.m. to noon. 

• March 9, 2011, at the Laredo Civic 

Center, 2400 San Bernardo Avenue, 

Laredo, TX 78040, from 9 a.m. to noon. 

• March 10, 2011, at the Hampton 

Inn, 3301 East Main Street, Eagle Pass, 

TX 78852, from 10 a.m. to noon. 

These open-house style meetings are 

intended to allow for an exchange of 

information about the proposed action 

and the EIS process and to receive 

public comments. No advance 

registration is required to attend the 

meetings. Interested parties may provide 

oral or written comments on the scope 

of the EIS at the meetings. Persons who 

wish to provide oral comments at a 

meeting will be asked to register with 

their names and organizations to 

establish a record for the meeting. 

Registration for providing oral 

comments will begin 30 minutes prior 

to the opening of each meeting. Oral 

comments will be taken by an English/ 

Spanish bilingual transcriber in the 

order of registration at each meeting. 

The presiding officer may limit the time 

for each speaker so that all interested 

persons appearing at each meeting have 

an opportunity to participate. We ask 

that anyone who reads a statement 

provide two copies to the presiding 

officer of the meeting. Written 

comments may also be submitted 

electronically or by postal mail as 

described in the ADDRESSES section of 

this notice. 

All comments on this notice will be 

carefully considered in developing the 

final scope of the EIS. Upon completion 

of the draft EIS, a notice announcing its 

availability and an invitation to 

comment on it will be published in the 

Federal Register. The notice of 

availability will also be published in 

local newspapers in English and 

Spanish. 

Done in Washington, DC, this 9th day of 

February 2011. 

Kevin Shea, 

Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant 

Health Inspection Service. 

[FR Doc. 2011–3364 Filed 2–14–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–34–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Food Safety and Inspection Service 

[Docket No. FSIS–2010–0046] 

Codex Alimentarius Commission: 

Meeting of the Codex Committee on 

Contaminants in Food 

AGENCY: Office of the Under Secretary 

for Food Safety, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of public meeting and 

request for comments. 

SUMMARY: The Office of the Under 

Secretary for Food Safety, U.S. 

Department of Agriculture (USDA), and 

the Food and Drug Administration 

(FDA), U.S. Department of Health and 

Human Services, are sponsoring a 

public meeting on February 22, 2011. 

The objective of the public meeting is to 

provide information and receive public 

comments on agenda items and draft 

United States (U.S.) positions that will 

be discussed at the 5th Session of the 

Codex Committee on Contaminants in 

Food (CCCF) of the Codex Alimentarius 

Commission (Codex), which will be 

held in The Hague, The Netherlands, 

March 21–25, 2011. The Under 

Secretary for Food Safety and FDA 

recognize the importance of providing 

interested parties the opportunity to 

obtain background information on the 

5th Session of the CCCF and to address 

items on the agenda. 

DATES: The public meeting is scheduled 

for Tuesday, February 22, 2011, from 1 

to 3 p.m. 

ADDRESSES: The public meeting will be 

held at the Harvey W. Wiley Federal 

Building, Room 1A–001, FDA, Center 

for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition 

(CFSAN), 5100 Paint Branch Parkway, 

College Park, MD 20740. Documents 

related to the 5th Session of the CCCF 

will be accessible via the World Wide 

Web at the following address: http:// 

www.codexalimentarius.net/ 

current.asp.Nega Beru, PhD, the U.S. 

Delegate to the 5th Session of the CCCF, 

invites interested U.S. parties to submit 

their comments electronically to the 

following e-mail address: 

henry.kim@fda.hhs.gov. 

Registration: Attendees may register 

electronically at the same e-mail address 

provided above by February 18, 2011. 

The meeting will be held in a Federal 

building, therefore, early registration is 

encouraged as it will expedite entry into 

the building and its parking area. You 

should also bring photo identification 

and plan for adequate time to pass 

through security screening systems. If 

you require parking, please include the 

vehicle make and tag number when you 

register. Attendees that are not able to 

attend the meeting in-person but wish to 

participate may do so by phone. 

Call-In Number: If you wish to 

participate in the public meeting for the 

5th Session of the CCCF by conference 

call, please use the call-in number and 

participant code listed below: 

Call-in Number: 1–866–692–3158. 

Participant Code: 5986642. 

For Further Information About the 5th 

Session of the CCCF Contact: Henry 

Kim, Ph.D., Office of Food Safety, 

CFSAN/FDA, HFS–317, 5100 Paint 

Branch Parkway, College Park, MD 

20740. Telephone: (301) 436–2023, Fax: 

(301) 436–2651, e-mail: 

henry.kim@fda.hhs.gov. 

For Further Information About the 

Public Meeting Contact: Barbara McNiff, 

U.S. Codex Office, 1400 Independence 

Avenue, SW., Room 4870, Washington, 

DC 20250. Telephone: (202) 690–4719, 

Fax: (202) 720–3157, e-mail: 

barbara.mcniff@fsis.usda.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

Codex was established in 1963 by two 

United Nations organizations, the Food 

and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and 

the World Health Organization (WHO). 

Through adoption of food standards, 

codes of practice, and other guidelines 

developed by its committees, and by 

promoting their adoption and 

implementation by governments, Codex 

seeks to protect the health of consumers 

and ensure that fair practices are used 

in the food trade. 

The CCCF establishes or endorses 

permitted maximum levels of 

contaminants, and where necessary 

revises existing guidelines for 


jdjones on DSK8KYBLC1PROD with NOTICES