5848 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 25 / Monday, February 7, 2000 / Proposed Rules

Issued on: February 2, 2000.

Stephen R. Kratzke,

Acting Associate Administrator for Safety

Performance Standards.

[FR Doc. 00–2717 Filed 2–2–00; 4:34 pm]

BILLING CODE 4910–59–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

50 CFR Part 17

RIN 1018–AF56

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife

and Plants; Notice of Withdrawal of

Released Study, Submission of New

Report, and Opening of Comment

Period on the New Report as it Relates

to the Proposed Rule to List the

Alabama Sturgeon as Endangered

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service,

Interior.

ACTION: Proposed rule; opening of

comment period.

SUMMARY: We, the Fish and Wildlife

Service, give notice that we are

withdrawing consideration of Dr. Steven

Fain’s 1999 study, ‘‘The Development of

a DNA Procedure for the Forensic

Identification of Caviar,’’ from the

decision-making process associated

with the proposal to list the Alabama

sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus suttkusi) as

endangered. We are replacing it with a

report relevant to the Alabama sturgeon

listing process. The report, ‘‘Genetic

Variation in the River Sturgeon

Scaphirhynchus (Acipenseridae) as

Inferred from Partial mtDNA Sequences

of Cytochrome b,’’ summarizes

information from the retracted study

which is specific only to the Alabama

sturgeon and its relevancy to the

proposed listing. We are accepting

comments related specifically to the

relationship of this report, as it pertains

to the proposed listing of the Alabama

sturgeon as endangered. You may also

provide comments concerning our

decision to withdraw Dr. Steven Fain’s

1999 study, ‘‘The Development of a

DNA Procedure for the Forensic

Identification of Caviar’’ from the

decision-making process for listing the

Alabama sturgeon as endangered.

DATES: We will accept comments until

March 8, 2000.

ADDRESSES: If you wish to comment,

you may submit your comments by any

one of several methods. You may mail

or hand-deliver comments to the Field

Supervisor, U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Service, Mississippi Field Office, 6578

Dogwood View Parkway, Jackson,

Mississippi 39213. You may also

comment via the Internet to paul—

hartfield@fws.gov. See the

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section for

comment procedures.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul

Hartfield (see‘‘ADDRESSES’’ section),

telephone 601/321–1125; facsimile 601/

965–4340.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

On March 26, 1999, we published a

rule proposing endangered status for the

Alabama sturgeon in the Federal

Register (64 FR 14676). On January 11,

2000, we published a notice in the

Federal Register (65 FR 1583), to reopen

the comment period through February

10, 2000, to make available for comment

Dr. Steven Fain’s 1999 study, ‘‘The

Development of a DNA Procedure for

the Forensic Identification of Caviar.’’

With this notice, we are withdrawing

from consideration Dr. Steven Fain’s

1999 study, ‘‘The Development of a

DNA Procedure for the Forensic

Identification of Caviar.’’ This study

describes a method for identifying the

species source of sturgeon/paddlefish

caviar in international trade and

includes information that is not relevant

to the decision to list the Alabama

sturgeon as endangered. Nonetheless,

The information contained in that study

that is relevant to the decision to list the

Alabama sturgeon is summarized in this

new report, ‘‘Genetic Variation in the

River Sturgeon Scaphirhynchus

(Acipenseridae) as Inferred from Partial

mtDNA Sequences of Cytochrome b.’’

For clarity and ease of understanding,

we have added this new report, which

describes the amount of genetic

variation observed within and between

species of the genus Scaphirhynchus,

for consideration in the decision-making

process, and retracted the more general

report that covers identification of the

species source of sturgeon/paddlefish

caviar in international trade.

Public Comments Solicited

We request comments or suggestions

from the public, other concerned

governmental agencies, the scientific

community, industry, or any other

interested party concerning this report

and its relation to the proposed rule.

You may also provide comments

concerning our decision to withdraw Dr.

Steven Fain’s 1999 study, ‘‘The

Development of a DNA Procedure for

the Forensic Identification of Caviar’’

from consideration in the decisionmaking process for the listing of the

Alabama sturgeon as endangered.

Comment Procedures

Please submit Internet comments as

an ASCII file, avoiding the use of special

characters and any form of encryption.

Please also include ‘‘Attention:

[Alabama sturgeon]’’ and your name and

return address in your Internet message.

If you do not receive a confirmation

from the system that we have received

your Internet message, contact us

directly at the address given in the

ADDRESSES section or by telephone at

601/965–4900. Finally, you may also

hand-deliver comments to the address

given in the ADDRESSES Section. Our

practice is to make comments, including

names and home addresses of

respondents, available for public review

during regular business hours.

Individual respondents may request that

we withhold their home address from

the rulemaking record, which we will

honor to the extent allowable by law.

There also may be circumstances in

which we would withhold from the

rulemaking record a respondent’s

identity, as allowable by law. If you

wish us to withhold your name and/or

address, you must state this

prominently at the beginning of your

comment. However, we will not

consider anonymous comments. We

will make all submissions from

organizations or businesses, and from

individuals identifying themselves as

representatives or officials or

organizations or businesses, available

for public inspection in their entirety.

Comments and materials received will

be available for public inspection, by

appointment, during normal business

hours at the above address. To obtain

copies of either of the aforementioned

reports, you can download or print one

from http://endangered.fws.gov/listing/

index.html (under Announcements) or

contact Kelly Bibb at 404/679–7132

(phone) or 404/679–7081 (facsimile) to

receive a faxed or mailed copy. All

questions related to this notice should

be directed to Paul Hartfield at the

address or phone number listed in the

ADDRESSES section of this notice.

References Cited

Fain, S.R., J.P. Lemay, J. Shafer, R.M.

Hoesch, and B.H. Hamlin. 1999.

Unpublished study. National Fish and

Wildlife Forensics Laboratory,

Ashland, OR. 23 pp. with figures.

Fain, S.R., B. Hamlin, and D. Straughan.

1999. Unpublished report. Genetic

Variation in the River Sturgeon

Scaphirhynchus (Acipenseridae) as

Inferred from Partial mtDNA

Sequences of Cytochrome b. National

Fish and Wildlife Forensics

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 25 / Monday, February 7, 2000 / Proposed Rules 5849

Laboratory, Ashland, OR. 14 pp. with

figures.

Author

The primary author of this notice is

Paul Hartfield (see ADDRESSES section).

Authority

The authority for this notice is the

Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16

U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).

Dated: February 1, 2000.

Sam D. Hamilton,

Regional Director, Fish and Wildlife Service.

[FR Doc. 00–2638 Filed 2–4–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P