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Notices Federal Register

18764 

Vol. 87, No. 62 

Thursday, March 31, 2022 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service 

[Docket No. APHIS–2022–0015] 

Notice of Availability of an 

Environmental Assessment for 

Release of Psyllaephagus euphyllurae 

for Biological Control of Olive Psyllid 

in the Contiguous United States 

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of availability. 

SUMMARY: We are advising the public 

that the Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service has prepared an 

environmental assessment relative to 

permitting the release of the insect, 

Psyllaephagus euphyllurae, for the 

biological control of olive psyllid 

(Euphyllurae olivina) in the contiguous 

United States. Based on the 

environmental assessment and other 

relevant data, we have reached a 

preliminary determination that the 

release of this control agent within the 

contiguous United States will not have 

a significant impact on the quality of the 

human environment. We are making the 

environmental assessment available to 

the public for review and comment. 

DATES: We will consider all comments 

that we receive on or before May 2, 

2022. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by either of the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

www.regulations.gov. Enter APHIS– 

2022–0015 in the Search field. Select 

the Documents tab, then select the 

Comment button in the list of 

documents. 

• Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: 

Send your comment to Docket No. 

APHIS–2022–0015, Regulatory Analysis 

and Development, PPD, APHIS, Station 

3A–03.8, 4700 River Road, Unit 118, 

Riverdale, MD 20737–1238. 

Supporting documents and any 

comments we receive on this docket 

may be viewed at regulations.gov or in 

our reading room, which is located in 

room 1620 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. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. 

Colin D. Stewart, Assistant Director, 

Pests, Pathogens, and Biocontrol 

Permits, Permitting and Compliance 

Coordination, PPQ, APHIS, 4700 River 

Road, Unit 133, Riverdale, MD 20737– 

1238; (301) 851–2327; email: 

Colin.Stewart@usda.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service (APHIS) is proposing to issue 

permits for the release of the insect, 

Psyllaephagus euphyllurae, for the 

biological control of olive psyllid 

(Euphyllurae olivina) in the contiguous 

United States. The action is proposed to 

reduce the severity of damage to olive 

crops from infestations of olive psyllid 

in the contiguous United States. 

The olive psyllid is native to southern 

Europe. It was first detected in North 

America in 2007. By the time this 

psyllid was found on olives in southern 

California, it was widespread in the 

region. This pest feeds exclusively on 

the flower blossoms and growing tissue 

of olive, causing reductions in fruit set, 

with reductions in fruit yield as high as 

60 percent reported in some parts of the 

Mediterranean Basin. 

Permitting the release of P. 

euphyllurae is necessary to reduce the 

severity of damage to olives from 

infestations of olive psyllid. P. 

euphyllurae is a small, stingless 

parasitoid wasp specific only to olive 

psyllid. The adult wasp lays an egg 

inside the olive psyllid. The egg hatches 

and consumes the olive psyllid host. 

The P. euphyllurae then goes into 

prolonged dormancy as a preadult in the 

host mummy’s remains until the 

following spring. The wasp poses no 

risk to humans, livestock, or wildlife. 

Current olive psyllid control relies 

primarily on cultural control and 

insecticides, which are expensive and 

temporary. They are not always 

effective, and they may cause non-target 

impacts. Host-specificity testing 

indicates P. euphyllurae is unlikely to 

attack non-target species. Classical 

biological control is a potentially useful 

management strategy for an invasive 

pest species whenever effective resident 

natural enemies are lacking in the new 

distribution range. 

APHIS’ review and analysis of the 

potential environmental impacts 

associated with the proposed release are 

documented in an environmental 

assessment (EA) titled ‘‘Release of 

Psyllaephagus euphyllurae 

(Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) for 

Biological Control of Olive Psyllid, 

Euphyllura olivina (Hemiptera: 

Liviidae), in the Contiguous United 

States’’ (November 2021). Based on our 

findings in the EA, we are proposing to 

issue permits for the release of the 

insect, P. euphyllurae, as a biological 

control agent to reduce the severity of 

infestations of olive psyllid. We are 

making the 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 EA may be viewed on the 

regulations.gov website or in our 

reading room (see ADDRESSES above for 

a link to regulations.gov and 

information on the location and hours of 

the reading room). You may also request 

paper copies of the EA by calling or 

writing to the person listed under FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. Please 

refer to the title of the EA when 

requesting copies. 

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 25th day of 

March 2022. 

Anthony Shea, 

Administrator, Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service. 

[FR Doc. 2022–06760 Filed 3–30–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–34–P 


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