This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains notices to the public of the proposed

issuance of rules and regulations. The

purpose of these notices is to give interested

persons an opportunity to participate in the

rule making prior to the adoption of the final

rules.

Proposed Rules Federal Register

474 

Vol. 83, No. 3 

Thursday, January 4, 2018 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Office of the Secretary 

7 CFR Subtitles A and B 

9 CFR Chapters I, II, and III 

Withdrawal of Certain Proposed Rules 

and Other Proposed Actions 

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of withdrawal. 

SUMMARY: The United States Department 

of Agriculture (USDA) is announcing 

that it has withdrawn certain advance 

notice of proposed rulemakings 

(ANPRM) and proposed rules that were 

either published in the Federal Register 

more than 4 years ago without 

subsequent action or determined to no 

longer be candidates for final action. 

USDA is taking this action to reduce its 

regulatory backlog and focus its 

resources on higher priority actions. The 

Department’s actions are part of an 

overall regulatory reform strategy to 

reduce regulatory burden on the public 

and to ensure the Spring and Fall 2017 

Unified Agendas of Regulatory and 

Deregulatory Actions provided the 

public accurate information about 

rulemakings the Department intends to 

undertake. 

DATES: The advance notice of proposed 

rulemakings and proposed rules are 

withdrawn on January 4, 2018. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Michael Poe, Telephone Number: (202) 

720–3323. Email: Michael.poe@

obpa.usda.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

USDA reviewed its pending proposed 

rules and other notices that published in 

the Federal Register more than 4 years 

ago, and for which no final rule or 

notice of withdrawal has been issued. 

The agency identified 14 such 

regulatory proposals for withdrawal. 

Additionally, USDA identified two 

proposed rules for withdrawal because 

they are not considered candidates for 

final action at this time. 

Although not required to do so by the 

Administrative Procedure Act or by 

regulations of the Office of the Federal 

Register, the agency believes the public 

interest is best served by announcing in 

the Federal Register that it has 

withdrawn these 16 items. Therefore, 

for the reasons set forth above, USDA 

announces that it has withdrawn the 

following documents, published in the 

Federal Register on the dates indicated 

in the table below. 

Agency RIN Title Published 

action Date FR cite 

FAS ............... 0551–AA68 Quality Samples Program .................................................... NPRM 8/03/2006 71 FR 43992 

FAS ............... 0551–AA81 Export Sales Reporting Program ......................................... NPRM 3/19/2013 78 FR 16819 

RUS ............... 0572–AC21 Project Financing—Renewable Energy Loans .................... ANPRM 6/5/2013 78 FR 33755 

RUS ............... 0572–AC32 Rural Determination and Financing Percentage ................. NPRM 6/5/2013 78 FR 33757 

APHIS ............ 0579–AC28 Viruses, Serums, Toxins, and Analogous Products; Detection of Avian Lymphoid Leukosis Virus.NPRM 1/31/2007 72 FR 4467 

APHIS ............ 0579–AC65 Tuberculosis: Require Approved Herd Plans Prior to Payment of Indemnity.NPRM 7/24/2008 73 FR 43171 

APHIS ............ 0579–AD50 Forfeiture Procedures Under the Endangered Species Act 

and the Lacey Act Amendments.

NPRM 5/21/2013 78 FR 29659 

APHIS ............ 0579–AD67 Chrysanthemum White Rust Regulatory Status Restrictions.ANPRM 8/3/2012 77 FR 46339 

AMS ............... 0581–AC83 Farmers’ Market Promotion Program .................................. NPRM 1/19/2011 76 FR 3046 

AMS ............... 0581–AD24 Hardwood Lumber and Hardwood Plywood Research and 

Promotion Program.

NPRM 11/13/2013 78 FR 68297 

AMS ............... 0581–AD63 Soybean Promotion, Research, and Consumer Information; Beef Promotion and Research; Amendments to 

Allow Redirection of State Assessments to the National 

Program; Technical Amendments.

NPRM 7/15/2016 81 FR 45984 

FNS ............... 0584–AC72 National School Lunch Program: Reimbursement for 

snacks in afterschool care programs.

NPRM 10/11/2000 65 FR 60502 

Forest Service 0596–AC46 Small Business Administration Timber Sale Set-Aside Program.NPRM 8/1/2006 71 FR 43435 

Forest Service 0596–AC71 Proposed Directive on Groundwater Resource Management, Forest Service Manual 2560.NPRM 5/6/2014 79 FR 25824 

Forest Service 0596–AC89 Enhancing Policies Relating to Partnerships ...................... ANPRM 9/14/2010 75 FR 55710 

Forest Service 0596–AD03 Management of Surface Activities Associated with Outstanding Mineral Rights on National Forest System 

Lands (Directive).

ANPRM 12/29/2008 73 FR 79424 

The withdrawal of these proposals 

identified in this document does not 

preclude the Department from 

reinstituting rulemaking concerning the 

issues addressed in the proposals listed 

in the chart. Should we decide to 

undertake such rulemakings in the 

future, we will re-propose the actions 

and provide new opportunities for 

comment. Furthermore, this notice is 

only intended to address the specific 

actions identified in this document, and 


rmajette on DSKBCKNHB2PROD with PROPOSALS
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 3 / Thursday, January 4, 2018 / Proposed Rules 475 

1We define conservation-reliant species in this 

case as those that have generally met recovery 

criteria but require continued active management to 

sustain the species and associated habitat in a 

recovered condition. 

not any other pending proposals that 

USDA has issued or is considering. The 

Department notes that withdrawal of a 

proposal does not necessarily mean that 

the preamble statement of the proposal 

no longer reflects the current position of 

USDA on the matter addressed. You 

may wish to review the Department’s 

website (http://www.USDA.gov) for any 

current guidance on these matter 

matters. 

Dated: December 26, 2017. 

Rebeckah Adcock, 

Regulatory Reform Officer and Senior Advisor 

to the Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2017–28433 Filed 1–3–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–90–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

50 CFR Part 17 

[Docket No. FWS–R1–ES–2017–0051; 

FXES11130900000–178–FF09E42000] 

RIN 1018–BC09 

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife 

and Plants; Removing the Foskett 

Speckled Dace From the List of 

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Proposed rule; availability of 

draft post-delisting monitoring plan. 

SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service (Service or USFWS), 

propose to remove the Foskett speckled 

dace (Rhinichthys osculus ssp.), a fish 

native to Oregon, from the Federal List 

of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife 

on the basis of recovery. This 

determination is based on a review of 

the best available scientific and 

commercial information, which 

indicates that the threats to the Foskett 

speckled dace have been eliminated or 

reduced to the point where it no longer 

meets the definition of an endangered or 

threatened species under the 

Endangered Species Act of 1973, as 

amended (Act). We are seeking 

information and comments from the 

public regarding this proposed rule and 

the draft post-delisting monitoring plan 

for the Foskett speckled dace. 

DATES: We will accept comments 

received or postmarked on or before 

March 5, 2018. Please note that if you 

are using the Federal eRulemaking 

Portal (see ADDRESSES), the deadline for 

submitting an electronic comment is 

11:59 p.m. Eastern time on this date. We 

must receive requests for public 

hearings, in writing, at the address 

shown in FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT by February 20, 2018. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by one of the following methods: 

(1) Electronically: Go to the Federal 

eRulemaking Portal: http://

www.regulations.gov. In the Search box, 

enter FWS–R1–ES–2017–0051, which is 

the docket number for this rulemaking. 

Then click on the Search button. On the 

resulting page, in the Search panel on 

the left side of the screen, under the 

Document Type heading, click on the 

Proposed Rules link to locate this 

document. You may submit a comment 

by clicking on ‘‘Comment Now!’’ 

(2) By hard copy: Submit by U.S. mail 

or hand-delivery to: Public Comments 

Processing, Attn: Docket No. FWS–R1– 

ES–2017–0051, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service, MS: BPHC, 5275 Leesburg Pike, 

Falls Church, VA 22041–3803. 

We request that you send comments 

only by the methods described above. 

We will post all comments on http://

www.regulations.gov. This generally 

means that we will post any personal 

information you provide us (see 

Information Requested, below, for more 

information). 

Document availability: This proposed 

rule and a copy of the draft postdelisting monitoring (PDM) plan 

referenced throughout this document 

can be viewed at http://

www.regulations.gov under Docket No. 

FWS–R1–ES–2017–0051, or at the 

Oregon Fish and Wildlife Office’s 

website at https://www.fws.gov/ 

oregonfwo. In addition, the supporting 

file for this proposed rule will be 

available for public inspection by 

appointment, during normal business 

hours, at the Oregon Fish and Wildlife 

Office, 2600 SE 98th Avenue, Suite 100, 

Portland, OR 97226; telephone 503– 

231–6179. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul 

Henson, State Supervisor, 2600 SE 98th 

Avenue, Suite 100, Portland, OR 97266; 

telephone: 503–231–6179; facsimile 

(fax): 503–231–6195. If you use a 

telecommunications device for the deaf 

(TDD), call the Federal Relay Service at 

1–800–877–8339. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Executive Summary 

Why we need to publish a rule. Under 

the Act, a species may be removed from 

the Federal List of Endangered and 

Threatened Wildlife (List) due to 

recovery. A species is an ‘‘endangered 

species’’ for purposes of the Act if it is 

in danger of extinction throughout all or 

a significant portion of its range and is 

a ‘‘threatened species’’ if it is likely to 

become an endangered species within 

the foreseeable future throughout all or 

a significant portion of its range. The 

Act does not define the term 

‘‘foreseeable future.’’ The Foskett 

speckled dace is listed as threatened, 

and we are proposing to delist the 

species (i.e., remove the species from 

the List) because we have determined it 

is not likely to become an endangered 

species now or within the foreseeable 

future. Delistings can only be made by 

issuing a rulemaking. 

The basis for our action. Under the 

Act, we may determine that a species is 

an endangered or threatened species 

because of any one or a combination of 

five factors: (A) The present or 

threatened destruction, modification, or 

curtailment of its habitat or range; (B) 

overutilization for commercial, 

recreational, scientific, or educational 

purposes; (C) disease or predation; (D) 

the inadequacy of existing regulatory 

mechanisms; or (E) other natural or 

manmade factors affecting its continued 

existence. We have determined that the 

Foskett speckled dace is no longer at 

risk of extinction and has exceeded or 

met the following criteria for delisting 

described in the species’ recovery plan: 

(1) Long-term protection of habitat, 

including spring source aquifers, spring 

pools and outflow channels, and 

surrounding lands, is assured; 

(2) Long-term habitat management 

guidelines are developed and 

implemented to ensure the continued 

persistence of important habitat features 

and include monitoring of current 

habitat and investigation for and 

evaluation of new spring habitats; and 

(3) Research into life history, genetics, 

population trends, habitat use and 

preference, and other important 

parameters is conducted to assist in 

further developing and/or refining 

criteria (1) and (2), above. 

As per recovery criterion (2), we 

consider the Foskett speckled dace to be 

a conservation-reliant species 1 (see 

Scott et al. 2010, entire), given that it 

requires active management to maintain 

suitable habitat. To address this 

management need, the Bureau of Land 

Management (BLM), the Oregon 

Department of Fish and Wildlife 

(ODFW), and the Service developed and 

are implementing the Foskett Speckled 

Dace (Rhinichthys osculus ssp.) 

Cooperative Management Plan (CMP; 

USFWS et al. 2015), and are committed 


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