<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<meta name="cp:revision" content="10">
<meta name="meta:word-count" content="1065">
<meta name="extended-properties:Application" content="Microsoft Office Word">
<meta name="meta:last-author" content="Sarah Stella">
<meta name="dc:creator" content="Sarah Stella">
<meta name="extended-properties:Company" content="USDA APHIS">
<meta name="meta:print-date" content="2009-09-22T13:17:00Z">
<meta name="xmpTPg:NPages" content="5">
<meta name="dcterms:created" content="2010-05-05T14:15:00Z">
<meta name="dcterms:modified" content="2010-05-05T20:46:00Z">
<meta name="meta:character-count" content="6072">
<meta name="extended-properties:Template" content="NS proposed certification.dotx">
<meta name="X-TIKA:Parsed-By" content="org.apache.tika.parser.DefaultParser">
<meta name="X-TIKA:Parsed-By" content="org.apache.tika.parser.microsoft.OfficeParser">
<meta name="extended-properties:TotalTime" content="207600000000">
<meta name="Content-Length" content="35328">
<meta name="meta:page-count" content="5">
<meta name="Content-Type" content="application/msword">
<title></title>
</head>
<body><div class="header"></div>
<p class="no_Spacing">Analysis in Support of Certification that the Rule will not have a Significant Economic Impact on a Substantial Number of Small Entities</p>
<p class="no_Spacing">Interim Rule
</p>
<h1 class="title">Expansion of the Asian Longhorned Beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis) Quarantine Area in Worcester County, Massachusetts and addition of Cercidiphyllum (Katsura tree) to the list of genera regulated
</h1>
<h1 class="title">10-004-1</h1>
<h2 class="subtitle">U.S. Department of Agriculture
</h2>
<h2 class="subtitle">Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
</h2>
<p class="no_Spacing">March 2010
</p>
<p class="no_Spacing">Summary</p>
<p>The Asian Longhorned Beetle (ALB) is an invasive forest pest that was introduced into the United States in 1996.  ALB attacks hardwood trees and can cause extensive economic and environmental damage.  Since its introduction, ALB has spread to areas in Illinois, New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts.  This interim rule expands the quarantine area in Worcester County, Massachusetts to comprise an area including the municipalities of Worcester, Holden, West Boylston, Boylston, and Shrewsbury.  In addition, this rule amends the current regulations to include the Katsura tree (<i>Cercidiphyllum</i>) in the list of regulated genera.  
</p>
<p>Potentially affected entities within the expanded quarantine area include 7 nurseries, 37 site developers or construction companies, 124 tree service companies or landscapers, 8 garden centers, 6 firewood dealers, 6 utility companies, 89 other establishments (including haulers, trucking companies, schools and groundskeepers), and 10 municipal agencies.  The expansion of the Federal quarantine is not expected to result in any additional costs to small entities beyond those already incurred because of the State quarantine in Massachusetts.  We welcome public comment with additional information on the extent to which small entities in the regulated area are affected.
</p>
<h1>Introduction 
</h1>
<p>This analysis provides a factual basis, as required by § 605 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act, for certification by the Administrator of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, that the interim rule, if promulgated, will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
</p>
<p>The Asian Longhorned Beetle (ALB) (<i>Anoplophora glabripennis</i>) is an invasive forest pest that attacks a number of hardwood tree species.  ALB larvae bore deep into the heartwood of host trees, tunnel back out as adult beetles to mate and lay eggs (typically on the same tree from which they emerged).  The resulting tunnels weaken and eventually kill the host trees.  The beetle was introduced into the United States from Asia on solid wood packing materials, and was first observed in New York in 1996.  Other infestations have since been identified in Chicago, Illinois; Hudson, Middlesex, and Union Counties, New Jersey; and Worcester, Massachusetts.
</p>
<p>APHIS has implemented quarantines in the areas of previous infestations in order to prevent the spread of ALB to non-infested areas.  These quarantine orders restrict the movement of regulated articles including firewood of all hardwood species, green lumber and other material living, dead, cut, or fallen. Other regulated materials include nursery stock, logs, stumps, roots, branches, and debris of one-half inch or more in diameter of all ALB host tree species (which include <i>Acer, Aesculus, Albizia, Betula, Celtis, Fraxinus, Platanus, Populus, Salix, Sorbus</i> and <i>Ulmus</i>).
</p>
<p>This interim rule will expand the current quarantine area in Worcester County, Massachusetts to cover an area including the municipalities of Worcester, Holden, West Boylston, Boylston, and Shrewsbury.  In addition, this rule will amend the current regulations to include the Katsura tree (<i>Cercidiphyllum</i>) in the list of genera regulated in 7 CFR 301.51-3.  This analysis examines the economic impact of these changes on small entities in the affected areas.
</p>
<h1>Impact on Small Entities</h1>
<p>The businesses potentially affected by this rule are nurseries, tree care services, firewood retailers, lawn maintenance and landscaping companies, general contractors, garden centers, recyclers of waste material, and lumber and building material outlets.  These businesses could be affected by the regulations in two ways.  First, if a business wishes to move regulated articles interstate from a quarantined area, that business must either:  (1) Enter into a compliance agreement with APHIS for the inspection and certification of regulated articles to be moved interstate from the quarantined area; or (2) present its regulated articles for inspection by an inspector and obtain a certificate or limited permit, issued by the inspector, for the movement of regulated articles.  The inspections may be inconvenient, but not costly; businesses operating under a compliance agreement would perform the inspections themselves and for those businesses that elect not to enter into a compliance agreement, APHIS would provide the services of an inspector without cost.  There is also no cost for the compliance agreement, certificate, or limited permit for the interstate movement of regulated articles.</p>
<p>There is a possibility that, upon inspection, a regulated article could be determined by the inspector to be potentially infested with ALB and, as a result, the inspector would not issue a certificate.  In this case, the entity’s ability to move regulated articles interstate would be restricted.  However, the affected entity could conceivably obtain a limited permit under the conditions of § 301.51-5(b).</p>
<p>Additionally, entities may incur additional costs in disposing of regulated articles such as wood debris from tree pruning and removal.
</p>
<p>Within the 74 square mile expanded quarantine area in Worcester County, Massachusetts, there are approximately 287 entities potentially affected, including 7 nurseries, 37 site developers or construction companies, 124 tree service companies or landscapers, 8 garden centers, 6 firewood dealers, 6 utility companies, and 89 other establishments (including haulers, trucking companies, schools, and groundskeepers).  In addition, 10 municipal agencies are regulated.
  </p>
<p>While the size of these entities is unknown, it is reasonable to assume that most would be classified as small entities, based on the U.S. Small Business Administration’s size standards.  
</p>
<p>Because the regulated area is primarily suburban, the entities located in that area are more likely to be receiving regulated articles from outside the quarantined area than they are to be shipping regulated articles interstate to nonquarantined areas.  It is unlikely, therefore, that most entities located in the newly regulated area would be moving regulated articles that would require inspection in the first place.
</p>
<p>The Katsura tree was added to the listed of regulated genera by Federal Order in November 5, 2009 and has been handled accordingly since that time.  As such, we expect that the addition of this genus to the regulations will not create significant additional burden.
</p>
<p> SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1Under these circumstances, the Administrator of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has determined that this action would not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.</p>
<p>� Personal Communication, Patricia Sharp (USDA-APHIS, MA ALB Cooperative Eradication Program). 
</p>
<p>
</p>
<div class="footer"><p class="footer">i</p>
</div>
</body></html>