Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 240 / Monday, December 15, 1997 / Notices 65693

the full texts of the Decisions and

Orders are available in the Public

Reference Room of the Office of

Hearings and Appeals.

Heart L Ranch et al .............................................................................................................................................. RK272–2006 9/24/97

Mabel Eikleberry et al .......................................................................................................................................... RK272–01828 9/26/97

Dismissals

The following submissions were dismissed.

Name Case No.

Nebraska Asphalt Paving Company ................................................................................................................................................. RR272–293

[FR Doc. 97–32643 Filed 12–12–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY

[FRL–5935–1]

Shrimp Virus Workshop

AGENCY: Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of meeting.

SUMMARY: This document announces a

workshop sponsored by the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency

(EPA), in cooperation with the Joint

Subcommittee on Aquaculture (JSA;

Office of Science and Technology

Policy). The JSA includes

representatives from Federal

organizations including the National

Marine Fisheries Service, U.S.

Department of Agriculture, U.S. Fish

and Wildlife Service, and the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency. The

purpose of the workshop is to develop

a qualitative ecological risk assessment

of the potential impacts of shrimp

viruses on cultured shrimp and on wild

shrimp populations in the Gulf of

Mexico and southeastern U.S. Atlantic

coastal waters. The workshop will also

develop recommendations for

conducting a future, more

comprehensive risk assessment.

DATES: The workshop will begin on

Wednesday, January 7, 1998, at 8:30

a.m. and end on Thursday, January 8,

1998, at 5 p.m. Members of the public

may attend as observers.

ADDRESSES: The workshop will be held

at the Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel,

1700 Jefferson Davis Highway,

Arlington, VA. To make hotel

reservations, please call the hotel

directly at 703–920–3230 by December

29, 1997. Reference the EPA shrimp

virus workshop to receive the group

rate. Eastern Research Group, Inc.

(ERG), an EPA contractor, is providing

logistical support for the workshop. To

attend the workshop as an observer,

register by calling the ERG conference

registration line at (781) 674–7374 by

December 31, 1997, and reference the

shrimp virus workshop. There is no

charge for attending the workshop;

however, seating is limited.

Background information provided to

workshop panelists includes a

document containing a report on the

shrimp virus problem and the minutes

of several public meetings at which the

report was reviewed. Printed copies will

available on or about January 31, 1998.

To obtain a single copy of this

document, interested parties should

contact the Center for Environmental

Research Information, U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency, 26

West Martin Luther King Drive,

Cincinnati, OH 45268, Tel: (513) 569–

7562, FAX: (513) 569–7566. Please

provide your name and mailing address,

and request the document by the EPA

number (EPA/600/R–97/136) and title,

Minutes of the Stakeholder Meetings on

the Report of the JSA Shrimp Virus

Work Group. In addition, portions of

this report are available on the internet,

at http://www.epa.gov/ncea/svra.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For

technical information, contact Dr.

Thomas McIlwain, Chairperson of the

JSA Shrimp Virus Work Group, National

Marine Fisheries Service, 3209

Frederick Street, Pascagoula, MS 39567,

(601) 762–4591. For workshop

information, contact Dr. Bill van der

Schalie, U.S. Environmental Protection

Agency (8623), 401 M Street, SW,

Washington, DC 20460, Telephone (202)

260–4191; FAX: 202–260–6370; e-mail:

vanderschalie.william@epamail.epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Evidence

suggests that exotic shrimp viruses may

be inadvertently introduced into U.S.

coastal regions. If established, these

introduced viruses have the potential to

infect both wild shrimp stocks and

shrimp in aquaculture. To address this

problem the JSA has been developing an

ecological risk assessment. In support of

information exchange and education,

and to determine any necessary course

of action to avert the introduction of

pathogenic viruses, the JSA tasked a

Federal interagency work group (Shrimp

Virus Work Group; SVWG) with

preparing a report that summarizes

readily-available risk-relevant

information on shrimp viruses (see 62

FR 31790–31791 (June 11, 1997)). This

SVWG report was approved by the JSA

and was reviewed at several stakeholder

meetings in July 1997. The minutes of

these meetings, the SVWG report, and

additional stakeholder comments

received in conjunction with the release

of the report and the stakeholder

meetings are the starting points for a

peer-review workshop being conducted

under contract to the EPA’s National

Center for Environmental Assessment,

in cooperation with the JSA. The goals

of this workshop are to develop a

qualitative ecological risk assessment of

the potential impacts of shrimp viruses

on cultured shrimp and on wild shrimp

populations in the Gulf of Mexico and

southeastern U.S. Atlantic coastal

waters and to develop recommendations

for conducting a future, more

comprehensive risk assessment.

Workshop results will provide one

source of information for a proposed

JSA-sponsored risk management

workshop on the shrimp virus problem

and may be useful in supporting

environmental decisionmaking.

Dated: December 9, 1997.

William H. Farland,

Director, National Center for Environmental

Assessment.

[FR Doc. 97–32646 Filed 12–12–97; 8:45 am]

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