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###### Department of Agriculture

###### Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

          - [Docket No. APHIS-2018-0033]

# AGENCY:

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.

# ACTION:

Notice of availability and request for comments.

# SUMMARY:

We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has prepared a supplemental environmental assessment (EA) relative to an oral rabies vaccination field trial in New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Vermont, and West Virginia. The supplemental EA analyzes expanding the field trial for an experimental oral rabies vaccine for wildlife to additional areas in Ohio and West Virginia. The proposed field trial is necessary to evaluate whether the wildlife rabies vaccine will produce sufficient levels of population immunity against raccoon rabies. We are making the supplemental EA available to the public for review and comment.

# DATES:

We will consider all comments that we receive on or before August 2, 2018.

# ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments by either of the following methods:
      -  Federal eRulemaking Portal:                          Go to                          http://www.regulations.gov/​#!docketDetail;​D=​APHIS-2018-0033. 
      -  Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery:                          Send your comment to Docket No. APHIS-2018-0033, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS, Station 3A-03.8, 4700 River Road, Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-1238.                    

                        The supplemental environmental assessment and any comments we receive may be viewed at                         *http://www.regulations.gov/​#!docketDetail;​D=​APHIS-2018-0033*                         or in our reading room, which 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) 799-7039 before coming.                    

                        This notice and the supplemental environmental assessment are also posted on the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service website at                         *http://www.aphis.usda.gov/​regulations/​ws/​ws_​nepa_​environmental_​documents.shtml*.                    

# FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

                        Mr. Richard Chipman, Rabies Program Coordinator, Wildlife Services, APHIS, 59 Chennell Drive, Suite 7, Concord, NH 03301; (603) 223-9623, email:                         *richard.b.chipman@aphis.usda.gov*. To obtain copies of the supplemental environmental assessment, contact Ms. Beth Kabert, Staff Wildlife Biologist, Wildlife Services, 140-C Locust Grove Road, Pittstown, NJ 08867; (908) 735-5654, fax (908) 735-0821; email:                         *beth.e.kabert@aphis.usda.gov*.                    

# SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The Wildlife Services (WS) program in the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) cooperates with Federal agencies, State and local governments, and private individuals to research and implement the best methods of managing conflicts between wildlife and human health and safety, agriculture, property, and natural resources. Wildlife-borne diseases that can affect domestic animals and humans are among the types of conflicts that APHIS-WS addresses. Wildlife is the dominant reservoir of rabies in the United States.

APHIS-WS conducts an oral rabies vaccination (ORV) program to control the spread of rabies. The ORV program has utilized a vaccinia-rabies glycoprotein (V-RG) vaccine. APHIS-WS' use of the V-RG vaccine has resulted in several notable accomplishments, including the elimination of canine rabies from sources in Mexico, the successful control of gray fox rabies virus variant in western Texas, and the prevention of any appreciable spread of raccoon rabies in the eastern United States. While the prevention of any appreciable spread of raccoon rabies in the eastern United States represents a major accomplishment in rabies management, the V-RG vaccine has not been effective in eliminating raccoon rabies from high-risk spread corridors. This fact prompted APHIS-WS to evaluate rabies vaccines capable of producing higher levels of population immunity against raccoon rabies to better control the spread of this disease.

Since 2011, APHIS-WS has been conducting field trials to study the immunogenicity and safety of an experimental oral rabies vaccine, a human adenovirus type 5 rabies glycoprotein recombinant vaccine called ONRAB (produced by Artemis Technologies Inc., Guelph, Ontario, Canada). The field trials began in portions of West Virginia, including U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service National Forest System lands.

Beginning in 2012, APHIS-WS has expanded the field trials into portions of New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Vermont, and new areas of West Virginia, including National Forest System lands, in order to further assess the immunogenicity of ONRAB in raccoons and skunks for raccoon rabies virus variant.

APHIS-WS is now proposing to add Belmont and Monroe Counties in Ohio, and Brooke, Hancock, Marshall, and Ohio Counties in West Virginia to the field trial bait zone. Based on favorable results from previous U.S. ONRAB field trials and pressure from rabies cases in Pennsylvania and the West Virginia panhandle, we determined the need to use ONRAB vaccine baits in the remaining areas of the Ohio and West Virginia where rabies cases may still persist.

                    APHIS-WS has prepared a supplemental environmental assessment (EA) in which we analyze expanding the area of the field trial zone in Ohio and West Virginia. We are making the supplemental EA available to the public for review and comment. We will consider all comments that we receive on or before the date listed under the heading                     **DATES**                     at the beginning of this notice.                

                    The supplemental EA may be viewed on the                     *Regulations.gov*                     website or in our reading room (see                     **ADDRESSES**                     above for instructions for accessing                     *Regulations.gov*                     and information on the location and hours of the reading room). In addition, paper copies may be obtained by calling or writing to the                           ( print page 31118)                        individual listed under                     **FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT**                    .                

                    The EA has been prepared in accordance with: (1) The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321*et seq.*), (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).                

Done in Washington, DC, this 27th day of June 2018.

Kevin Shea,

Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

[FR Doc. 2018-14307 Filed 7-2-18; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410-34-P