4718 Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 10 / Thursday, January 16, 2025 / Notices 

Daniel Folmer, U.S. Delegate to the 55th 

Session of the CCFA, at Daniel.Folmer@

fda.hhs.gov. Written comments should 

state that they relate to activities of the 

55th Session of the CCFA. 

Additional Public Notification 

Public awareness of all segments of 

rulemaking and policy development is 

important. Consequently, the U.S. 

Codex Office will announce this Federal 

Register publication on-line through the 

USDA Codex web page located at: 

https://www.usda.gov/codex, a link that 

also offers an email subscription service 

providing access to information related 

to Codex. Customers can add or delete 

their subscriptions themselves and have 

the option to password protect their 

accounts. 

USDA Non-Discrimination Statement 

No agency, officer, or employee of the 

USDA shall, on the grounds of race, 

color, national origin, religion, sex, 

gender identity, sexual orientation, 

disability, age, marital status, family/ 

parental status, income derived from a 

public assistance program, or political 

beliefs, exclude from participation in, 

deny the benefits of, or subject to 

discrimination any person in the United 

States under any program or activity 

conducted by the USDA. 

How To File a Complaint of 

Discrimination 

To file a complaint of discrimination, 

complete the USDA Program 

Discrimination Complaint Form, which 

may be accessed online at https://

www.usda.gov/oascr/filing-programdiscrimination-complaint-usdacustomer, or write a letter signed by you 

or your authorized representative. Send 

your completed complaint form or letter 

to USDA by mail, fax, or email. Mail: 

U.S. Department of Agriculture, 

Director, Office of Adjudication, 1400 

Independence Avenue SW, Washington, 

DC 20250–9410; Fax: (202) 690–7442; 

Email: program.intake@usda.gov. 

Persons with disabilities who require 

alternative means for communication 

(Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) 

should contact USDA’s TARGET Center 

at (202) 720–2600 (voice and TDD). 

Done at Washington, DC, on January 13, 

2025. 

Julie A. Chao, 

Deputy U.S. Manager for Codex Alimentarius. 

[FR Doc. 2025–01036 Filed 1–15–25; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3420–3F–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Natural Resources Conservation 

Service 

[Docket No. NRCS–2024–0021] 

Notice of Intent To Prepare an 

Environmental Impact Statement for 

the Owyhee Irrigation District 

Infrastructure Modernization Project, 

Malheur County, OR 

AGENCY: Natural Resources 

Conservation Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare 

an Environmental Impact Statement 

(EIS). 

SUMMARY: The Natural Resources 

Conservation Service (NRCS) Oregon 

State Office, in coordination with the 

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, announces 

its intent to prepare an EIS for the 

Owyhee Irrigation District (OID) 

Infrastructure Modernization Project 

(Modernization Project). The project 

area is located along the Owyhee and 

Snake rivers in Eastern Oregon 50 miles 

west of Boise, Idaho in proximity to the 

town of Nyssa, Oregon. The proposed 

EIS will examine alternative solutions to 

improve the OID agricultural water 

management. OID is the sponsoring 

local organization for the project. NRCS 

is requesting comments to identify 

significant issues, potential alternatives, 

information, and analyses relevant to 

the proposed action from all interested 

individuals, Federal and State agencies, 

and Tribes. 

DATES: We will consider comments that 

we receive by February 18, 2025. We 

will consider comments received after 

close of the comment period to the 

extent possible. 

ADDRESSES: We invite you to submit 

comments in response to this notice. 

You may submit your comments 

through the method below: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

https://www.regulations.gov and search 

for docket ID NRCS–2024–0021. Follow 

the online instructions for submitting 

comments. 

All comments received will be posted 

without change and made publicly 

available on www.regulations.gov. 

Individuals who require alternative 

means for communication should 

contact the U.S. Department of 

Agriculture (USDA) Target Center at 

(202) 720–2600 (voice and text 

telephone (TTY)) or dial 711 for 

Telecommunications Relay service (both 

voice and text telephone users can 

initiate this call from any telephone). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Purpose and Need 

The purpose of the OID 

Modernization Project is to improve 

agricultural water management by 

making the delivery of irrigation water 

for agricultural lands within OID more 

reliable and efficient. Watershed 

planning is authorized under the 

Watershed Protection and Flood 

Prevention Act of 1954 (Pub. L. 83–566), 

as amended, and the Flood Control Act 

of 1944 (Pub. L. 78–534). 

This action is needed to alleviate 

inefficient and unreliable access to 

irrigation water which causes 

agricultural damages for farmers in OID. 

Agriculture is an essential part of the 

Malheur County economy which only 

receives 10.1 inches of precipitation a 

year, with only 1.5 inches falling during 

the months of June, July, and August. 

The insignificant amounts of 

precipitation limit the ability of 

agricultural production. OID was 

formed with the primary purpose of 

providing the delivery of Owyhee River 

and Snake River water within Malheur 

County. Access to this irrigation water 

has allowed development of the 

agricultural community within the area. 

The OID area has been reliant on 

irrigation water delivery for over 100 

years. The OID supplies water to 

approximately 312,000 acres during a 

normal water year. 

OID operates and maintains more 

than 400 miles of canals, laterals, and 

siphons through the Bureau of 

Reclamation’s Owyhee Project. OID 

delivers water to 1,012 patrons and 

1,364 parcels from three primary 

diversions: the Owyhee River via the 

Owyhee Reservoir and two pumping 

stations located along the Snake River. 

The OID conveyance system irrigates 

approximately 67,000 total acres of 

onions, sugar beets, corn, alfalfa, and 

other crops. 

Due to rising temperatures and 

decreasing snowpack, supply shortages 

are expected to worsen in the coming 

decades. Between 2013 and 2023, the 

State issued drought declarations six 

times in Malheur County. The ability to 

deliver water efficiently and effectively, 

especially during drought years, is 

essential. The majority of the OID 

infrastructure is approximately 90 years 

old, which has reduced the water 

delivery reliability for agricultural use 

and is at risk of failure. Catastrophic 

failure of the OID infrastructure would 

stop water deliveries while the 

conveyance system is fixed, which 

would have large impacts to crops and 

users that rely on water supplied by 

OID. 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1
Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 10 / Thursday, January 16, 2025 / Notices 4719 

The proposed project would 

modernize the OID system through a 

series of projects including canal piping; 

canal lining; siphon improvements; 

headgate and diversion improvements; 

and installation of supervisory control 

and data acquisition (SCADA) systems. 

During the irrigation season, the current 

OID system loses water due to seepage, 

evaporation, and operational 

inefficiencies. The water that is lost 

enters the OID system, but never reaches 

the farms. 

In accordance with the regulation in 

7 CFR 650.7(a)(2), an EIS is required for 

projects requiring congressional action 

such as this proposed project, where 

estimated federal funds required for 

construction may exceed $25 million. 

16 U.S.C. 1002. 

Preliminary Proposed Action and 

Alternatives, Including No Action 

The EIS objective is to formulate and 

evaluate alternatives that would 

decrease agricultural damages due to the 

unreliable and inefficient access to 

irrigation water within OID. The EIS is 

expected to evaluate two alternatives: 

one no action alternative and one action 

alternative. 

The alternatives that may be 

considered for detailed analysis include: 

• Alternative 1—No Action 

Alternative: Taking no action would 

consist of activities conducted if no 

Federal action or funding were 

provided. No watershed project would 

be implemented, and the OID 

infrastructure would not be modernized. 

OID would continue operating and 

maintaining its system in its current 

state. The No Action Alternative would 

not meet the OID Modernization 

Project’s purpose and need. 

• Alternative 2—Proposed Action 

Alternative: The proposed action is to 

evaluate a suite of system improvement 

measures across OID including: piping 

74.8 miles of canal; lining 8.5 miles of 

canal; installing 13 SCADA sites; 

upgrading 2 headgates; and upgrading 

13 siphons. The projects included in the 

Proposed Action would serve 67,134.5 

acres within OID. 

Summary of Expected Impacts 

As mentioned above, the estimated 

Federal contribution to construction 

cost will exceed $25 million. 

The EIS will be prepared as required 

by section 102(2)(C) of the National 

Environmental Policy Act of 1969 

(NEPA); the Council on Environmental 

Quality Regulations (40 CFR parts 1500 

through 1508); and NRCS regulations 

that implement NEPA in 7 CFR part 

650. 

Resource concerns for scoping were 

identified and categorized as relevant or 

not relevant to the proposed OID 

Modernization Project action. OID and 

NRCS evaluated the current 

infrastructure conditions in addition to 

relevant resource concerns for each 

proposed solution. Environmental 

resources in the project area consist of 

the natural and human-made 

environment. Resource concerns to be 

identified and addressed in the EIS 

include: cultural resources; economics; 

soils; land use; environmental justice; 

endangered and threatened species; 

wildlife, hydrology, wetlands, 

vegetation, and climate change. Other 

resources may be identified through the 

scoping process. 

Anticipated Permits and Authorizations 

The following permits and 

authorizations are anticipated to be 

required: 

• Endangered Species Act (ESA). 

Consultation with the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service and National Marine 

Fisheries Service will be conducted as 

required by the ESA of 1973. 

• National Historic Preservation Act 

(NHPA) Section 106. Consultation with 

Tribal Nations and interested parties 

would be conducted as required by the 

NHPA. 

• Clean Water Act (CWA) and 

National Pollutant Discharge 

Elimination System (NPDES). The 

project would require water quality 

certification under section 401 of CWA; 

permitting under section 402 of NPDES; 

and section 404 of CWA for potential 

wetland impacts. 

Schedule of Decision-Making Process 

A Draft EIS (DEIS) will be prepared 

and circulated for review and comment 

by agencies, Tribes, consulting parties, 

and the public for 45 days as required 

by the regulations in 40 CFR 1503.1, 

1502.20, 1506.11, and 1502.17, and 7 

CFR 650.13. The DEIS is anticipated to 

be published in the Federal Register, 

approximately 16 months after 

publication of this NOI. A Final EIS is 

anticipated to be published within 6 

months of completion of the public 

comment period for the DEIS. 

NRCS will decide whether to 

implement one of the action alternatives 

as evaluated in the EIS. A Record of 

Decision will be completed after the 

required 30-day waiting period and will 

be publicly available. The Responsible 

Federal Official (RFO) and decision 

maker for NRCS is the Oregon NRCS 

State Conservationist. 

Public Scoping Process 

A public scoping meeting is 

scheduled to occur early 2025 and will 

be held at a public venue near the OID 

project area. Exact meeting locations 

and times will be determined closer to 

the dates of the events. Public notices 

will be placed in local newspapers and 

on the NRCS, OID, and the U.S. Bureau 

of Reclamation websites. Additionally, a 

letter providing details on the public 

meetings and the scoping comment and 

objection processes will be sent to 

Federal and State agencies, Tribes, local 

landowners, and interested parties. 

Scoping meeting presentation materials 

will be available on the project website: 

https://project.com/watershed-project/. 

Public scoping meetings provide an 

opportunity to review and evaluate the 

alternatives, express concern or support, 

and gain further information regarding 

the project. Comments received, 

including the names and addresses of 

those who comment, will be part of the 

public record. Comments submitted 

anonymously will be accepted and 

considered. 

Identification of Potential Alternatives, 

Information, and Analyses 

NRCS, OID, and the U.S. Bureau of 

Reclamation invite agencies, Tribes, and 

individuals that have special expertise, 

legal jurisdiction, or interest, to provide 

comments concerning the scope of the 

analysis and identification of potential 

alternatives, information, and analyses 

relevant to the Proposed Action. 

NRCS, OID, and the U.S. Bureau of 

Reclamation will use the scoping 

process to help fulfill the public 

involvement process under section 106 

of NHPA (54 U.S.C. 306108), as 

provided in 36 CFR 800.2(d)(3). The 

information about historic and cultural 

resources within the area potentially 

affected by the proposed project will 

assist NRCS in identifying and 

evaluating impacts to resources in the 

context of both NEPA and NHPA. 

NRCS will consult with Native 

American tribes on a government-togovernment basis in accordance with 

the regulations in 36 CFR 800.2 and 

800.3, Executive Order 13175, and other 

policies. Tribal concerns, including 

impacts on Indian trust assets and 

potential impacts to cultural resources 

and historic properties, will be given 

due consideration. 

Authorities 

This document is published as 

specified by the NEPA regulations 

regarding publication of an NOI to issue 

an EIS (40 CFR 1501.9(d)). Watershed 

planning is authorized under the 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1
4720 Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 10 / Thursday, January 16, 2025 / Notices 

1See https://sam.gov/content/assistance-listings. 

1See Vanillin from the People’s Republic of 

China: Initiation of Less-Than-Fair Value 

Investigation, 89 FR 54424 (July 1, 2024) (Initiation 

Notice). 

2See Memorandum, ‘‘Tolling of Deadlines for 

Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 

Proceedings,’’ dated July 22, 2024. 

3See Vanillin from the People’s Republic of 

China: Postponement of Preliminary Determination 

in the Less-Than-Fair Value Investigation, 89 FR 

84330 (October 22, 2024). 

4See Memorandum, ‘‘Decision Memorandum for 

the Preliminary Affirmative Determination in the 

Investigation of Sales at Less Than Fair Value of 

Vanillin from People’s Republic of China,’’ dated 

concurrently with and hereby adopted by this 

notice (Preliminary Decision Memorandum). 

5See Antidumping Duties, Countervailing Duties, 

Final Rule, 62 FR 27296, 27323 (May 19, 1997). 

6See Initiation Notice, 89 FR at 54424. 

Watershed Protection and Flood 

Prevention Act of 1954, as amended, 

and the Flood Control Act of 1944. 

Federal Assistance Programs 

The title and number of the Federal 

Assistance Program as found in the 

Assistance Listing 1 to which this 

document applies is 10.904, Watershed 

Protection and Flood Prevention. 

Executive Order 12372 

Executive Order 12372, 

‘‘Intergovernmental Review of Federal 

Programs,’’ requires consultation with 

State and local officials that would be 

directly affected by proposed Federal 

financial assistance. The objectives of 

the Executive Order are to foster an 

intergovernmental partnership and a 

strengthened federalism, by relying on 

State and local processes for State and 

local government coordination and 

review of proposed Federal financial 

assistance and direct Federal 

development. This proposed project is 

subject to the provisions of Executive 

Order 12372, which requires 

intergovernmental consultation with 

State and local officials. 

USDA Non-Discrimination Policy 

In accordance with Federal civil 

rights law and USDA civil rights 

regulations and policies, USDA, its 

agencies, offices, and employees, and 

institutions participating in or 

administering USDA programs are 

prohibited from discriminating based on 

race, color, national origin, religion, sex, 

gender identity (including gender 

expression), sexual orientation, 

disability, age, marital status, family or 

parental status, income derived from a 

public assistance program, political 

beliefs, or reprisal or retaliation for prior 

civil rights activity, in any program or 

activity conducted or funded by USDA 

(not all bases apply to all programs). 

Remedies and complaint filing 

deadlines vary by program or incident. 

Individuals who require alternative 

means of communication for program 

information (for example, braille, large 

print, audiotape, American Sign 

Language, etc.) should contact the 

responsible Agency or USDA TARGET 

Center at (202) 720–2600 (voice and 

telephone) or dial 711 for 

Telecommunications Relay Service 

(both voice and text telephone users can 

initiate this call from any phone). 

Additionally, program information may 

be made available in languages other 

than English. 

To file a program discrimination 

complaint, complete the USDA Program 

Discrimination Complaint Form, AD– 

3027, found online at: https://

www.usda.gov/oascr/how-to-file-aprogram-discrimination-complaint and 

at any USDA office or write a letter 

addressed to USDA and provide in the 

letter all the information requested in 

the form. To request a copy of the 

complaint form, call (866) 632–9992. 

Submit your completed form or letter to 

USDA by: (1) mail to: U.S. Department 

of Agriculture, Office of the Assistant 

Secretary for Civil Rights, 1400 

Independence Avenue SW, Washington, 

DC 20250–9410; (2) Fax: (202)690–7442; 

or (3) email: program.intake@usda.gov. 

USDA is an equal opportunity 

provider, employer, and lender. 

Greggory Becker, 

Oregon State Conservationist, Natural 

Resources Conservation Service. 

[FR Doc. 2025–00958 Filed 1–15–25; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–16–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

International Trade Administration 

[A–570–172] 

Vanillin From the People’s Republic of 

China: Preliminary Affirmative 

Determination of Sales at Less Than 

Fair Value, Postponement of Final 

Determination and Extension of 

Provisional Measures 

AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, 

International Trade Administration, 

Department of Commerce. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of 

Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily 

determines that vanillin from the 

People’s Republic of China (China) is 

being, or is likely to be, sold in the 

United States at less than fair value 

(LTFV). The period of investigation 

(POI) is October 1, 2023, through March 

31, 2024. Interested parties are invited 

to comment on this preliminary 

determination. 

DATES: Applicable January 16, 2025. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Claudia Cott or Bryan Hansen, AD/CVD 

Operations, Office I, Enforcement and 

Compliance, International Trade 

Administration, U.S. Department of 

Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue 

NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: 

(202) 482–4270 or (202) 482–3683, 

respectively. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

This preliminary determination is 

made in accordance with section 733(b) 

of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended 

(the Act). Commerce published the 

notice of initiation of this investigation 

on July 1, 2024.1 On July 22, 2024, 

Commerce tolled certain deadlines in 

this investigation by seven days.2 On 

October 22, 2024, Commerce postponed 

the preliminary determination of this 

investigation.3 The deadline for the 

preliminary determination is now 

January 8, 2025. 

For a complete description of the 

events that followed the initiation of 

this investigation, see the Preliminary 

Decision Memorandum.4 A list of topics 

included in the Preliminary Decision 

Memorandum is included as Appendix 

II to this notice. The Preliminary 

Decision Memorandum is a public 

document and is on file electronically 

via Enforcement and Compliance’s 

Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 

Centralized Electronic Service System 

(ACCESS). ACCESS is available to 

registered users at https://

access.trade.gov. In addition, a complete 

version of the Preliminary Decision 

Memorandum can be accessed directly 

at https://access.trade.gov/public/ 

FRNoticesListLayout.aspx. 

Scope of the Investigation 

The product covered by this 

investigation is vanillin from China. For 

a complete description of the scope of 

this investigation, see Appendix I. 

Scope Comments 

In accordance with the Preamble to 

Commerce’s regulations,5 the Initiation 

Notice set aside a period of time for 

parties to raise issues regarding product 

coverage, i.e., scope.6 No interested 

party commented on the scope of the 

investigation as it appeared in the 

Initiation Notice. As a result, Commerce 

is not preliminarily modifying the scope 

language as it appeared in the Initiation 

Notice. See the scope in Appendix I to 

this notice. 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1