Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 201 / Tuesday, October 17, 2000 / Notices 61301

Transfer at the Beltsville address given

above; telephone: 301–504–5257.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

Federal Government’s intellectual

property rights to this invention are

assigned to the United States of

America, as represented by the

Secretary of Agriculture. It is in the

public interest to so license this

invention as the California Table Grape

Commission has submitted a complete

and sufficient application for a license.

The prospective exclusive license will

be royalty-bearing and will comply with

the terms and conditions of 35 U.S.C.

209 and 37 CFR 404.7. The prospective

exclusive license may be granted unless,

within ninety (90) days from the date of

this published Notice, the Agricultural

Research Service receives written

evidence and argument which

establishes that the grant of the license

would not be consistent with the

requirements of 35 U.S.C. 209 and 37

CFR 404.7.

Richard M. Parry, Jr.,

Assistant Administrator.

[FR Doc. 00–26651 Filed 10–16–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–03–P

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Animal and Plant Health Inspection

Service

[Docket No. 98–057–2]

Availability of Draft Pest Risk

Assessment for the Importation of

Solid Wood Packing Materials Into the

United States

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health

Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice and request for

comments.

SUMMARY: We are advising the public

that a draft pest risk assessment has

been prepared by the Animal and Plant

Health Inspection Service for the

importation of solid wood packing

materials into the United States. We are

making this draft pest risk assessment

available to the public for review and

comment.

DATES: We invite you to comment on the

draft pest risk assessment. We will

consider all comments that we receive

by February 15, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Please send your comment

and three copies to: Docket No. 98–057–

2, Regulatory Analysis and

Development, PPD, APHIS, Suite 3C03,

4700 River Road, Unit 118, Riverdale,

MD 20737–1238

Please state that your comment refers

to Docket No. 98–057–2.

You may also file comments on this

docket electronically, and review

comments filed electronically, at the

World Wide Web site http://

comments.aphis.usda.gov.

A copy of the draft pest risk

assessment, and any comments that we

receive on it, may be reviewed 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: Dr.

Judith E. Pasek, Center for Plant Health

Science and Technology, PPQ, APHIS,

1017 Main Campus Drive, Suite 2500,

Raleigh, NC 27606–5202; (919) 513–

2400.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

Animal and Plant Health Inspection

Service (APHIS) is considering

amending the regulations on the

importation of logs, lumber, and other

unmanufactured wood articles to

decrease the risk of solid wood packing

material (e.g., crates, dunnage, wooden

spools, pallets, packing blocks)

introducing exotic plant pests into the

United States. The regulations in 7 CFR

319.40–1 through 319.40–11 (referred to

below as the regulations) are intended to

mitigate the plant pest risk presented by

the importation of logs, lumber, and

other unmanufactured wood articles,

including solid wood packing material

(SWPM). Introductions into the United

States of exotic plant pests such as the

pine shoot beetle and the Asian

longhorned beetle have been linked to

the importation of SWPM. These and

other plant pests that could be carried

by imported SWPM pose a serious

threat to U.S. agriculture and to natural,

cultivated, and urban forests.

On January 20, 1999, we published an

advance notice of proposed rulemaking

in the Federal Register (64 FR 3049–

3052, Docket No. 98–057–1) to seek

information and develop regulatory

options on the general problem of plant

pests in SWPM imported from any

country. In the notice, we requested

public comment on what actions would

be most effective and appropriate to

further reduce the risk of SWPM

introducing exotic plant pests into the

United States. We received 102

comments in response to the advance

notice of proposed rulemaking.

To evaluate the risks associated with

the importation of solid wood packing

materials so that we can propose

regulations that are consistent with

those risks, we have prepared a draft

pest risk assessment entitled ‘‘Pest Risk

Assessment for the Importation of Solid

Wood Packing Materials Into the United

States.’’

The specific objectives of this pest

risk assessment are to:

• Describe the means by which pests

could potentially be transported via

SWPM (i.e., pathways);

• Assess the potential for insect and

pathogenic pests that may be

transported with SWPM to enter the

United States and become established;

and

• Estimate the potential economic

and environmental consequences these

pests may have on forest and tree

resources if they become established in

the United States.

We are making this draft pest risk

assessment available to the public for

review and comment. In particular, we

request feedback on the risk factors,

methodology, and documentation used

in the draft pest risk assessment. We

will consider all comments that we

receive by the date listed under the

heading DATES at the beginning of this

notice.

The draft pest risk assessment is

available in our reading room

(information on the location and hours

of the reading room is listed under the

heading ADDRESSES at the beginning of

this notice) or on the Internet at http:/

/www.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/pra/swpm.

You may also request that a copy be

mailed to you by registering at http://

www.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/pra/swpm or

by contacting the person listed under

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. If

you request that a copy be mailed to

you, please specify whether you desire

a printed copy or a copy on compact

disk.

Authority: Title IV, Pub. L. 106–224, 114

Stat. 438, 7 U.S.C. 7701–7772; 7 U.S.C. 166

and 450; 7 CFR 2.22, 2.80, and 371.3.

Done in Washington, DC, this 11th day of

October 2000.

Craig A. Reed,

Administrator, Animal and Plant Health

Inspection Service.

[FR Doc. 00–26652 Filed 10–16–00; 8:45 am]

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