Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 129 / Thursday, July 7, 2022 / Proposed Rules 40477 

III. Request for Public Feedback 

GSA invites comment on the issues 

discussed in this ANPR to help inform 

future rulemaking on how to best reduce 

single-use plastics from packaging, 

while limiting burden and liability on 

our industry and logistics partners. 

Specifically, GSA seeks responses to the 

questions listed below. Please explain 

the reasoning behind your responses in 

detail. Also, provide any data, studies, 

or other evidence that supports your 

response. You do not have to answer all 

the questions in your response. 

To help GSA review comments 

efficiently, identify the question to 

which you are responding by its 

associated number and letter (e.g., ‘‘III. 

a’’) or whether you are commenting on 

a topic not listed below. 

1. What is your role in your product’s 

supply chain? 

Are you a manufacturer, distributor, 

reseller, or other (comments are 

encouraged from any impacted parties 

including local municipalities and 

economically and/or disadvantaged 

communities)? 

2. Does your company have control 

over the methodology in which your 

product is packaged for shipment? 

3. What are the differences between a 

paper based, aluminum based, or 

compostable packaging and a single-use 

plastic based packaging? 

a. What are the performance 

differences? 

b. What are the cost differences? 

4. Does your company have 

experience using environmentally 

preferable packaging? 

a. If an environmentally preferable 

option was utilized, what benefits did 

your company experience from such a 

change? 

b. What is the relationship between 

your packaging and your product 

branding? 

c. Will packaging be considered as 

part of your company’s climate financial 

disclosure, if applicable? 

5. What is the best way for GSA to aid 

its contractors in moving to 

environmentally preferable packing and 

packaging? How quickly should it 

move? 

6. Are there any market, regulatory, 

statutory or cost barriers to selecting 

environmentally preferable packaging 

such as paper based or biodegradable 

packaging? 

If yes, please specify what the barrier 

is and what is creating the barrier (i.e., 

the product’s casing or the shipment 

packaging). 

7. What should be considered when 

developing a timeline to implement 

regulatory changes in reducing single 

use plastic as either the primary 

product, or as the packaging material? 

8. Which, if any, single use plastic 

items GSA should choose not to 

contract for through its federal supply 

schedules? Are there exceptions GSA 

should make to ensure no harm to 

customer agency missions? 

9. How could compliance with 

reduced or eliminated plastic content be 

verified? 

a. How can GSA and industry take 

advantage of innovative technologies or 

business practices to improve accuracy 

of verification while minimizing the 

administrative burden on companies? 

b. Are there private sector standards, 

ecolabels, and/or certifications your 

company is using to meet 

environmentally preferred packaging 

goals? 

IV. Request for Economic Data and 

Consumer Research 

Aside from the feedback questions 

listed above, GSA also seeks to better 

understand the economic impact 

regarding single-use plastic products, 

and single-use plastics in packaging and 

shipping, and what industry changes are 

feasible. GSA seeks economic data and 

consumer research to help increase its 

understanding of the market. In your 

response please consider the intent and 

details of the questions below. You do 

not have to answer all the questions in 

your response. 

To help GSA review comments 

efficiently, identify the question to 

which you are responding by its 

associated number and letter (e.g., 

‘‘IV.1’’) or whether you are commenting 

on a topic not listed below. 

1. What will the estimated cost be to 

change, reduce, or eliminate single-use 

plastic from your product lines? 

2. What will the estimated costs be to 

change, reduce, or eliminate single-use 

plastic packaging? 

3. Will a change from single-use 

plastic packaging result in a reduced 

cost in freight? 

4. What reporting or monitoring 

standards, if any, exist to track the use 

of more environmentally preferable 

packaging material? 

5. What is the liability risk of any of 

the purchased goods being damaged if 

packaging is reduced or changed? 

6. What other identifiable risks are 

posed to industry, the government, and 

overall economy if packaging is reduced 

or changed? 

Jeffrey A. Koses, 

Senior Procurement Executive, Office of 

Acquisition Policy, Office of Governmentwide 

Policy, General Services Administration. 

[FR Doc. 2022–14403 Filed 7–6–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6820–61–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

50 CFR Part 17 

[Docket No. FWS–R4–ES–2020–0109; 

FF09E22000 FXES11130900000 201] 

RIN 1018–BC98 

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife 

and Plants; 6-Month Extension of Final 

Determination on the Proposed 

Removal of the Ivory-Billed 

Woodpecker From the List of 

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Proposed rule; reopening of the 

comment period. 

SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service (Service), announce a 

6-month extension of the final 

determination on whether to remove the 

ivory-billed woodpecker (Campephilus 

principalis), a bird species historically 

found in the American southeast, from 

the List of Endangered and Threatened 

Wildlife (List). We are also reopening 

the comment period on the proposed 

rule to remove this species from the List 

for an additional 30 days. Comments 

previously submitted need not be 

resubmitted and will be fully 

considered in preparation of the final 

determination. We are taking this action 

to extend the final determination based 

on substantial disagreement regarding 

the status of the ivory-billed 

woodpecker. 

DATES: The comment period on the 

proposed rule that published September 

30, 2021 (86 FR 54298), is reopened. We 

will accept comments received or 

postmarked on or before August 8, 2022. 

If you comment using the Federal 

eRulemaking Portal (see ADDRESSES, 

below), you must submit your 

comments by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time 

on the closing date. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

on the proposed rule by one of the 

following methods: 

(1) Electronically: Go to the Federal 

eRulemaking Portal: https://

www.regulations.gov. In the Search box, 

enter FWS–R4–ES–2020–0109, which is 

the docket number for the rulemaking. 

Then, click on the Search button. On the 

resulting page, in the panel on the left 

side of the screen, under the Document 

Type heading, check the Proposed Rule 

box to locate this document. You may 

submit a comment by clicking on 

‘‘Comment.’’ 

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

to: Public Comments Processing, Attn: 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with PROPOSALS
40478 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 129 / Thursday, July 7, 2022 / Proposed Rules 

FWS–R4–ES–2020–0109; U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service, MS: PRB/3W, 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 https:// 

www.regulations.gov. This generally 

means that we will post any personal 

information you provide us (see 

Information Requested, below, for more 

information). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Brigette Firmin, Acting Field 

Supervisor, Louisiana Field Office, 200 

Dulles Dr., Lafayette, LA 70506; on the 

internet at https://www.fws.gov/office/ 

louisiana-ecological-services; by 

telephone at 337–291–3108. Individuals 

in the United States who are deaf, 

deafblind, hard of hearing, or have a 

speech disability may dial 711 (TTY, 

TDD, or TeleBraille) to access 

telecommunications relay services. 

Individuals outside the United States 

should use the relay services offered 

within their country to make 

international calls to the point-ofcontact in the United States. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Previous Federal Actions 

On September 30, 2021, we published 

a proposed rule (86 FR 54298) to remove 

23 species, including the ivory-billed 

woodpecker, from the List of 

Endangered and Threatened Wildlife 

(List) due to extinction. The proposed 

rule had a 60-day comment period, 

ending November 29, 2021. On January 

11, 2022, we reopened the comment 

period for 30 days (87 FR 1390) in order 

to hold a public hearing on the 

proposed rule to remove the ivory-billed 

woodpecker from the List (i.e., to 

‘‘delist’’ the species) and to allow all 

interested parties additional time to 

comment on the proposed rule to delist 

the ivory-billed woodpecker. We held 

the public hearing on January 26, 2022. 

For a description of other previous 

Federal actions concerning the ivorybilled woodpecker, please refer to the 

September 30, 2021, proposed rule (86 

FR 54298). 

This Action 

Section 4(b)(6) of the Endangered 

Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act; 

16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), and its 

implementing regulations at 50 CFR 

424.17(a) require that we take one of 

three actions within 1 year of 

publication of a proposed rule to 

determine whether a species is an 

endangered or threatened species: (1) 

Finalize the proposed rule; (2) make a 

finding that such revision should not be 

made and withdraw the proposed rule; 

or (3) extend the final determination by 

not more than 6 months, if there is 

substantial disagreement among 

scientists knowledgeable about the 

species regarding the sufficiency or 

accuracy of the available data relevant 

to the determination. 

Since the publication of the proposed 

rule to delist the ivory-billed 

woodpecker, there has been substantial 

disagreement regarding the 

interpretation of the evidence that exists 

for the ivory-billed woodpecker. This 

situation has led to a significant 

disagreement regarding whether the 

species is extinct. Therefore, in 

consideration of the disagreements 

among experts surrounding the ivorybilled woodpecker’s status, we are 

extending the final determination on the 

proposal to delist the species for 6 

months in order to solicit additional 

information that will help to clarify 

these issues. 

Information Requested 

We will accept written comments and 

information during this reopened 

comment period on our proposed 

delisting rule for ivory-billed 

woodpecker (86 FR 54298; September 

30, 2021). We will consider information 

and recommendations from all 

interested parties. We intend that any 

final action resulting from the proposal 

be as accurate as possible and based on 

the best available scientific and 

commercial data. 

Due to the scientific disagreements 

described above, we are particularly 

interested in new information and 

evidence regarding the status of the 

ivory-billed woodpecker that has not 

previously been provided. We 

particularly seek clear video or 

photographic evidence of the presence 

of the ivory-billed woodpecker that can 

be repeatedly interpreted the same way 

by independent observers, such as 

definitive photographic evidence 

collected by a field observer (Ivorybilled Woodpecker Final Recovery Plan, 

Service 2010, pp. 99–110). 

If you previously submitted 

comments or information on the 

September 30, 2021, proposed rule (86 

FR 54298), please do not resubmit them. 

We have incorporated previously 

submitted comments into the public 

record, and we will fully consider them 

in the preparation of our final 

determination. Our final determination 

concerning the proposed delisting of the 

ivory-billed woodpecker will take into 

consideration all written comments and 

any additional information we receive. 

You may submit your comments and 

materials concerning the proposed rule 

by one of the methods listed in 

ADDRESSES. We request that you send 

comments only by the methods 

described in ADDRESSES. 

If you submit information via https:// 

www.regulations.gov, your entire 

submission—including any personal 

identifying information—will be posted 

on the website. If your submission is 

made via a hardcopy that includes 

personal identifying information, you 

may request at the top of your document 

that we withhold this information from 

public review. However, we cannot 

guarantee that we will be able to do so. 

We will post all hardcopy submissions 

on https://www.regulations.gov. 

Comments and materials we receive, 

as well as supporting documentation we 

used in preparing the proposed rule, 

will be available for public inspection 

on https://www.regulations.gov, or by 

appointment, during normal business 

hours, at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service, Louisiana Ecological Services 

Field Office (see FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT). You may obtain 

copies of the proposed rule on the 

internet at https://www.regulations.gov 

at Docket No. FWS–R4–ES–2020–0109, 

or by mail from the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service, Louisiana Ecological 

Services Field Office (see FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT). 

Authority 

The authority for this action is the 

Endangered Species Act of 1973, as 

amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). 

Martha Williams, 

Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 

[FR Doc. 2022–14336 Filed 7–6–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4333–15–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 622 

RIN 0648–BL19 

Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of 

Mexico, and South Atlantic; Coastal 

Migratory Pelagics Resources in the 

Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Region; 

Amendment 32 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of availability (NOA); 

request for comments. 

SUMMARY: The Gulf of Mexico Fishery 

Management Council (Gulf Council) and 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with PROPOSALS