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[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 31 (Tuesday, February 15, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8709-8710]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-3364]

[[Page 8709]]

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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

[Docket No. APHIS-2010-0100]

Environmental Impact Statement; Proposed Cattle Fever Tick 
Control Barrier in South Texas

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement 
and hold public meetings.

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SUMMARY: We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health 
Inspection Service plans to prepare an environmental impact statement 
to analyze the effects of installing a tick control barrier using game 
fencing to keep cattle fever ticks and southern cattle ticks out of 
tick-free areas beyond the permanent quarantine zone in South Texas. 
This notice identifies potential issues and alternatives that will be 
studied in the environmental impact statement, requests public comments 
to further delineate the scope of the alternatives and environmental 
impacts and issues, and provides notice of public meetings.

DATES: We will consider all comments that we receive on or before March 
17, 2011. We will also consider comments made at public meetings to be 
held on March 7, 8, 9, and 10, 2011.

ADDRESSES: The public meetings will be held in Rio Grande City, TX, 
Zapata, TX, Laredo, TX, and Eagle Pass, TX (see the SUPPLEMENTARY 
INFORMATION section of this notice for the address of each meeting 
site). You may submit comments regarding the environmental impact 
statement by either of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=DocketDetail&d=APHIS-2010-0100 to submit or view public 
comments and to view supporting and related materials available 
electronically.
     Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: Please send one copy of 
your comment to Docket No. APHIS-2010-0100, Regulatory Analysis and 
Development, PPD, APHIS, Station 3A-03.8, 4700 River Road Unit 118, 
Riverdale, MD 20737-1238. Please state that your comment refers to 
Docket No. APHIS-2010-0100.
    Reading Room: You may read any comments that we receive on this 
docket 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: For questions related to the Cattle 
Fever Tick Eradication Program, contact Dr. Matthew T. Messenger, Staff 
Entomologist, Cattle Fever Tick Eradication Program Manager, Ruminant 
Health Programs, VS, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 43, Riverdale, MD 
20737; (301) 734-0647. For questions related to the environmental 
impact statement, contact Ms. Vicki Gutierrez, Environmental Protection 
Specialist, Environmental and Risk Analysis Services, PPD, APHIS, 4700 
River Road Unit 149, Riverdale, MD 20737; (301) 734-4883.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The Cattle Fever Tick Eradication Program is a cooperative effort 
between the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) of the 
U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Texas Animal Health Commission. 
The program was established to eliminate bovine babesiosis, a severe 
and often fatal cattle disease, from the U.S. cattle population. Cattle 
fever ticks and southern cattle ticks (collectively referred to as 
``fever ticks'') carry protozoan parasites that cause babesiosis. The 
disease and the fever ticks were officially eradicated from the 
continental United States in 1943, with the exception of a permanent 
quarantine zone extending over 500 miles along the Rio Grande from Del 
Rio, TX, to the Gulf of Mexico.
    Current efforts to control fever ticks along the permanent 
quarantine zone include horseback patrols, a segmented barrier 
consisting of game fencing, and treatments applied to cattle and deer 
to keep out ticks carried by stray or smuggled livestock or wildlife. 
However, an increasing number of fever tick outbreaks have occurred 
outside the permanent quarantine zone in three of the eight Texas 
counties through which the zone passes: Maverick, Zapata, and Starr. 
The increase in outbreaks is attributed to numerous factors, including 
the free movement of deer and stray livestock carrying ticks across the 
U.S.-Mexico border and an increase in the overall deer population.
    APHIS has determined that the installation of additional game 
fencing in the permanent quarantine zone would effectively stop the 
spread of cattle fever ticks by severely limiting or eliminating the 
movement of wildlife and stray livestock from the quarantine zone into 
locations where domestic livestock are maintained free of fever ticks.
    Under the provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act of 
1969 (NEPA), as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), Federal agencies must 
examine the potential environmental effects of proposed Federal actions 
and alternatives. We are planning to prepare an environmental impact 
statement (EIS) to analyze the effects of installing a tick control 
barrier using game fencing to keep fever ticks out of tick-free areas 
beyond the permanent quarantine zone we have established in South 
Texas. We are requesting public comment to help us identify or confirm 
potential alternatives and environmental issues that should be examined 
in the EIS, as well as comments that identify other issues that should 
be examined in the EIS.
    The EIS will be prepared in accordance with: (1) NEPA, (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).
    We have identified one alternative and the proposed action for 
further examination in the EIS:
    Take no action. Under this alternative, APHIS would provide no 
funding toward the installation of game fencing to close gaps existing 
in game-fenced areas in Maverick County, or in rural areas of Zapata 
and Starr Counties, TX, to prevent the spread of fever ticks via the 
free movement of white-tailed deer and other tick hosts into the 
permanent quarantine zone. This alternative represents the baseline 
against which a proposed action may be compared and involves no changes 
to the current situation.
    Provide funding toward the installation of a tick barrier utilizing 
game fencing in rural areas of Maverick, Zapata, and Starr Counties, 
TX. The proposed action involves APHIS providing funding toward the 
installation of game fencing on privately owned lands, with landowner 
consent and cost-share agreement, in rural areas of Maverick, Zapata, 
and Starr Counties, TX.
    We have identified the following potential environmental impacts or 
issues for further examination in the EIS:

[[Page 8710]]

     Effects on wildlife, including consideration of migratory 
bird species and changes in native wildlife habitat and populations.
     Effects on federally listed threatened and endangered 
species, including ocelots, Gulf Coast jaguarundis, and plant species.
     Effects on soil, vegetation, and water from the 
installation of game fencing.
     Effects on local residents, including impacts on daily 
activities.
     Effects on human health and safety in the proposed tick 
barrier locations during and after the installation of game fencing.
     Effects on cultural and historic resources that may not 
have yet been identified through professional surveys.
    We welcome comments on the proposed action and on other 
alternatives and environmental impacts or issues that should be 
considered for further examination in the EIS.

Public Meetings

    We are advising the public that we are hosting four public 
meetings. The public meetings will be held as follows:
     March 7, 2011, at the Holiday Inn, 5274 East Highway 83 
and Blanco Road, Rio Grande City, TX 78582, from 10 a.m. to noon.
     March 8, 2011, at the Zapata Community Center, 607 North 
U.S. Highway 83, Zapata, TX 78076, from 10 a.m. to noon.
     March 9, 2011, at the Laredo Civic Center, 2400 San 
Bernardo Avenue, Laredo, TX 78040, from 9 a.m. to noon.
     March 10, 2011, at the Hampton Inn, 3301 East Main Street, 
Eagle Pass, TX 78852, from 10 a.m. to noon.
    These open-house style meetings are intended to allow for an 
exchange of information about the proposed action and the EIS process 
and to receive public comments. No advance registration is required to 
attend the meetings. Interested parties may provide oral or written 
comments on the scope of the EIS at the meetings. Persons who wish to 
provide oral comments at a meeting will be asked to register with their 
names and organizations to establish a record for the meeting. 
Registration for providing oral comments will begin 30 minutes prior to 
the opening of each meeting. Oral comments will be taken by an English/
Spanish bilingual transcriber in the order of registration at each 
meeting. The presiding officer may limit the time for each speaker so 
that all interested persons appearing at each meeting have an 
opportunity to participate. We ask that anyone who reads a statement 
provide two copies to the presiding officer of the meeting. Written 
comments may also be submitted electronically or by postal mail as 
described in the ADDRESSES section of this notice.
    All comments on this notice will be carefully considered in 
developing the final scope of the EIS. Upon completion of the draft 
EIS, a notice announcing its availability and an invitation to comment 
on it will be published in the Federal Register. The notice of 
availability will also be published in local newspapers in English and 
Spanish.

    Done in Washington, DC, this 9th day of February 2011.
Kevin Shea,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 2011-3364 Filed 2-14-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-34-P
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