62230 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 209 / Monday, October 31, 2005 / Rules and Regulations 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service 

7 CFR Part 301 

[Docket No. 05–067–1] 

Emerald Ash Borer; Quarantined Areas 

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Interim rule and request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: We are amending the emerald 

ash borer regulations by adding areas in 

Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio to the list 

of areas quarantined because of emerald 

ash borer. As a result of this action, the 

interstate movement of regulated 

articles from those areas is restricted. 

This action is necessary to prevent the 

artificial spread of the emerald ash borer 

from infested areas in the States of 

Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio into 

noninfested areas of the United States. 

DATES: This interim rule was effective 

October 25, 2005. We will consider all 

comments that we receive on or before 

December 30, 2005. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by either of the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov and, in the 

‘‘Search for Open Regulations’’ box, 

select ‘‘Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service’’ from the agency 

drop-down menu, then click on 

‘‘Submit.’’ In the Docket ID column, 

select APHIS–2005–0099 to submit or 

view public comments and to view 

supporting and related materials 

available electronically. After the close 

of the comment period, the docket can 

be viewed using the ‘‘Advanced Search’’

function in Regulations.gov. 

• Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: 

Please send four copies of your 

comment (an original and three copies) 

to Docket No. 05–067–1, Regulatory 

Analysis and Development, PPD, 

APHIS, Station 3C71, 4700 River Road 

Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737–1238. 

Please state that your comment refers to 

Docket No. 05–067–1. 

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. 

Other Information: Additional 

information about APHIS and its 

programs is available on the Internet at 

http://www.aphis.usda.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. 

Deborah McPartlan, Operations Officer, 

Pest Detection and Management 

Programs, PPQ, APHIS, 4700 River Road 

Unit 134, Riverdale, MD 20737–1236; 

(301) 734–4387. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background 

The emerald ash borer (EAB) (Agrilus 

planipennis) is a destructive woodboring insect that attacks ash trees 

(Fraxinus spp., including green ash, 

white ash, black ash, and several 

horticultural varieties of ash). The 

insect, which is indigenous to Asia and 

known to occur in China, Korea, Japan, 

Mongolia, the Russian Far East, Taiwan, 

and Canada, eventually kills healthy ash 

trees after it bores beneath their bark 

and disrupts their vascular tissues. 

Quarantined Areas 

The EAB regulations in 7 CFR 301.53–

1 through 301.53–9 (referred to below as 

the regulations) restrict the interstate 

movement of regulated articles from 

quarantined areas to prevent the 

artificial spread of EAB to noninfested 

areas of the United States. Portions of 

the States of Indiana, Michigan, and 

Ohio are already designated as 

quarantined areas. 

Recent surveys conducted by 

inspectors of State, county, and city 

agencies and by inspectors of the 

Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service (APHIS) have revealed that 

infestations of EAB have occurred 

outside the quarantined areas in 

Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio. 

Specifically, infestations of EAB have 

been detected in Grand Traverse and 

Montcalm Counties, MI; Lima and 

Newbury Townships in LaGrange 

County, IN; and Auglaize, Fulton, 

Hancock, Henry, Lucas, Ottawa, 

Sandusky, and Wood Counties, OH. 

Officials of the U.S. Department of 

Agriculture and officials of State, 

county, and city agencies in Indiana, 

Michigan, and Ohio are conducting 

intensive survey and eradication 

programs in the infested areas. Indiana, 

Michigan, and Ohio have quarantined 

the infested areas and have restricted 

the intrastate movement of regulated 

articles from the quarantined areas to 

prevent the spread of EAB within each 

State. However, Federal regulations are 

necessary to restrict the interstate 

movement of regulated articles from the 

quarantined areas to prevent the spread 

of EAB to other States. 

The regulations in § 301.53–3(a) 

provide that the Administrator of APHIS 

will list as a quarantined area each 

State, or each portion of a State, where 

EAB has been found by an inspector, 

where the Administrator has reason to 

believe that EAB is present, or where 

the Administrator considers regulation 

necessary because of its inseparability 

for quarantine enforcement purposes 

from localities where EAB has been 

found. 

Less than an entire State will be 

designated as a quarantined area only 

under certain conditions. Such a 

designation may be made if the 

Administrator determines that: (1) The 

State has adopted and is enforcing 

restrictions on the intrastate movement 

of regulated articles that are equivalent 

to those imposed by the regulations on 

the interstate movement of regulated 

articles; and (2) the designation of less 

than an entire State as a quarantined 

area will be adequate to prevent the 

artificial spread of the EAB. 

In accordance with these criteria and 

the recent EAB findings described 

above, we are amending § 301.53–3(c) to 

add portions of Grand Traverse and 

Montcalm Counties, MI; Lima and 

Newbury Townships in LaGrange 

County, IN; and Auglaize, Fulton, 

Hancock, Henry, Lucas, Ottawa, 

Sandusky, and Wood Counties, OH, to 

the list of quarantined areas. An exact 

description of the quarantined areas can 

be found in the rule portion of this 

document. 

Emergency Action 

This rulemaking is necessary on an 

emergency basis to help prevent the 

spread of EAB to noninfested areas of 

the United States. Under these 

circumstances, the Administrator has 

determined that prior notice and 

opportunity for public comment are 

contrary to the public interest and that 

there is good cause under 5 U.S.C. 553 

for making this rule effective less than 

30 days after publication in the Federal 

Register. 

We will consider comments we 

receive during the comment period for 

this interim rule (see DATES above). 

After the comment period closes, we 

will publish another document in the 

Federal Register. The document will 

include a discussion of any comments 

we receive and any amendments we are 

making to the rule. 

Executive Order 12866 and Regulatory 

Flexibility Act 

This rule has been reviewed under 

Executive Order 12866. For this action, 

the Office of Management and Budget 

Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 209 / Monday, October 31, 2005 / Rules and Regulations 62231 

1The overwhelming majority of entities are 

considered small by SBA standards. 

has waived its review under Executive 

Order 12866. 

We are amending the EAB regulations 

by adding areas in Indiana, Michigan, 

and Ohio to the list of quarantined 

areas. As a result of this action, the 

interstate movement of regulated 

articles from those areas is restricted. 

This action is necessary to prevent the 

artificial spread of this plant pest into 

noninfested areas of the United States. 

The following analysis addresses the 

economic effects of the interim rule on 

small entities, as required by the 

Regulatory Flexibility Act. The 

businesses potentially affected by this 

interim rule are nurseries, arborists, tree 

removal services, firewood dealers, 

garden centers, landscapers, recyclers of 

waste material, and lumber and building 

material outlets. We do not currently 

have information as to the actual 

number of such businesses in the 

quarantined areas added by the interim 

rule, nor do we have information that 

would indicate the percentage of those 

businesses that engage in the interstate 

movement of regulated articles and 

would thus be directly affected by this 

interim rule. It is reasonable to assume 

that most of the potentially affected 

businesses in the newly quarantined 

areas can be classified as small entities 

based on the Small Business 

Administration’s size standards.1

Under the regulations, regulated 

articles may be moved interstate from a 

quarantined area into or through an area 

that is not quarantined if they are 

accompanied by a certificate or limited 

permit. An inspector or a person 

operating under a compliance 

agreement will issue a certificate for 

interstate movement of a regulated 

article if certain conditions are met, 

including that the regulated article is 

determined to be apparently free of 

EAB. 

Businesses could be affected by the 

regulations in two ways. First, if a 

business wishes to move regulated 

articles interstate from a quarantined 

area, that business must either: (1) Enter 

into a compliance agreement with 

APHIS for the inspection and 

certification of regulated articles to be 

moved interstate from the quarantined 

area; or (2) present its regulated articles 

for inspection by an inspector and 

obtain a certificate or a limited permit, 

issued by the inspector, for the 

interstate movement of regulated 

articles. The inspections may be 

inconvenient, but they should not be 

costly in most cases, even for businesses 

operating under a compliance 

agreement who would perform the 

inspections themselves. For those 

businesses that elect not to enter into a 

compliance agreement, APHIS would 

provide the services of the inspector 

without cost. There is also no cost for 

the compliance agreement, certificate, or 

limited permit for the interstate 

movement of regulated articles. 

Second, there is a possibility that, 

upon inspection, a regulated article 

could be determined by the inspector to 

be potentially infested with EAB, and, 

as a result, the article would be 

ineligible for interstate movement under 

a certificate. In such a case, the entity’s 

ability to move regulated articles 

interstate would be restricted. However, 

the affected entity could conceivably 

obtain a limited permit under the 

conditions of § 301.53–5(b). 

Our experience with administering 

the EAB regulations and the regulations 

for other pests, such as the Asian 

longhorned beetle, that impose 

essentially the same conditions on the 

interstate movement of regulated 

articles lead us to believe that any 

economic effects on affected small 

entities will be small and are 

outweighed by the benefits associated 

with preventing the spread of EAB into 

noninfested areas of the United States. 

Under these circumstances, the 

Administrator of the Animal and Plant 

Health Inspection Service has 

determined that this action will not 

have a significant economic impact on 

a substantial number of small entities. 

Executive Order 12372 

This program/activity is listed in the 

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance 

under No. 10.025 and is subject to 

Executive Order 12372, which requires 

intergovernmental consultation with 

State and local officials. (See 7 CFR part 

3015, subpart V.) 

Executive Order 12988 

This rule has been reviewed under 

Executive Order 12988, Civil Justice 

Reform. This rule: (1) Preempts all State 

and local laws and regulations that are 

inconsistent with this rule; (2) has no 

retroactive effect; and (3) does not 

require administrative proceedings 

before parties may file suit in court 

challenging this rule. 

Paperwork Reduction Act 

This interim rule contains no new 

information collection or recordkeeping 

requirements under the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 

et seq.). 

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 301 

Agricultural commodities, Plant 

diseases and pests, Quarantine, 

Reporting and recordkeeping 

requirements, Transportation. 

■ Accordingly, we are amending 7 CFR 

part 301 as follows: 

PART 301—DOMESTIC QUARANTINE 

NOTICES 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 301 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 7701–7772 and 7781–

7786; 7 CFR 2.22, 2.80, and 371.3. Section 

301.75–15 also issued under Sec. 204, Title 

II, Pub. L. 106–113, 113 Stat. 1501A–293; 

sections 301.75–15 and 301.75–16 also 

issued under Sec. 203, Title II, Pub. L. 106–

224, 114 Stat. 400 (7 U.S.C. 1421 note). 

■ 2. In § 301.53–3, paragraph (c) is 

amended as follows: 

■ a. Under the heading Indiana, by 

revising the entry for LaGrange County 

to read as set forth below. 

■ b. Under the heading Michigan, by 

adding, in alphabetical order, entries for 

Grand Traverse County and Montcalm 

County to read as set forth below. 

■ c. Under the heading Ohio, by 

revising the entries for Fulton County, 

Henry County, and Lucas County, and 

by adding, in alphabetical order, entries 

for Auglaize County, Hancock County, 

Ottawa County, Sandusky County, and 

Wood County to read as set forth below. 

§ 301.53–3 Quarantined areas. 

* * * * * 

(c) * * * 

Indiana 

LaGrange County. Clay Township, 

Lima Township, Newbury Township, 

Van Buren Township. 

* * * * * 

Michigan 

* * * * * 

Grand Traverse County. Peninsula 

Township. 

* * * * * 

Montcalm County. Crystal Lake area: 

That portion of the county bounded by 

a line drawn as follows: Beginning at 

the intersection of East Klees Road and 

North Vickeryville Road; then south on 

North Vickeryville Road to East Stanton 

Road; then west on East Stanton Road 

to South Tow Road; then south on 

South Tow Road to East Sidney Road; 

then east on East Sidney Road to South 

Vickeryville Road; then south on South 

Vickeryville Road to East Holland Lake 

Road; then east on East Holland Lake 

Road to South Bollinger Road; then 

north on South Bollinger Road to East 

Sidney Road; then east on East Sidney 

62232 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 209 / Monday, October 31, 2005 / Rules and Regulations 

Road to South Mount Hope Road; then 

north on South Mount Hope Road to 

East Pakes Road; then west on East 

Pakes Road to North Blakmer Road; then 

north on North Blakmer Road to East 

Kimball Road; then west on East 

Kimball Road to North Crystal Road; 

then north on North Crystal Road to East 

Willard Road; then west on East Willard 

Road to North Waldron Road; then 

south on North Waldron Road to East 

Klees Road; then west on East Klees 

Road to the point of beginning. 

* * * * * 

Ohio 

Auglaize County. Duchouquet 

Township. 

* * * * * 

Fulton County. That portion of the 

county east of State Route 108. 

Hancock County. Allen Township. 

Henry County. That portion of the 

county east of State Route 108 and north 

of the Maumee River. 

Lucas County. The entire county. 

Ottawa County. That portion of the 

county north of State Route 163 and 

State Route 105. 

Sandusky County. That portion of the 

county north of U.S. Highway 20. 

Wood County. (1) That portion of the 

county north of State Route 582. 

(2) Bloom Township. 

(3) Henry Township. 

Done in Washington, DC, this 25th day of 

October 2005. 

Elizabeth E. Gaston, 

Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant 

Health Inspection Service. 

[FR Doc. 05–21608 Filed 10–28–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–34–P 

FARM CREDIT ADMINISTRATION 

12 CFR Part 615 

RIN 3052–AC22 

Funding and Fiscal Affairs, Loan 

Policies and Operations, and Funding 

Operations; Investments, Liquidity, 

and Divestiture; Effective Date 

AGENCY: Farm Credit Administration. 

ACTION: Notice of effective date. 

SUMMARY: The Farm Credit 

Administration (FCA) published a final 

rule under part 615 on August 31, 2005 

(70 FR 51586). This final rule amends 

our liquidity reserve requirements for 

the banks of the Farm Credit System to 

ensure the banks have adequate 

liquidity. The final rule increases the 

minimum liquidity reserve requirement 

to 90 days, increases the eligible 

investment limit to 35 percent of total 

outstanding loans and requires Farm 

Credit banks to develop and maintain 

liquidity contingency plans. These 

amended requirements will improve the 

ability of Farm Credit banks to supply 

agricultural credit in all economic 

situations. In accordance with 12 U.S.C. 

2252, the effective date of the final rule 

is 30 days from the date of publication 

in the Federal Register during which 

either or both Houses of Congress are in 

session. Based on the records of the 

sessions of Congress, the effective date 

of the regulation is October 24, 2005. 

EFFECTIVE DATE: The regulation 

amending 12 CFR part 615 published on 

August 31, 2005 (70 FR 51586) is 

effective October 24, 2005. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Wade Wynn, Financial Analyst, Office 

of Regulatory Policy, Farm Credit 

Administration, McLean, VA 22102–

5090, (703) 883–4498, TTY (703) 883–

4434; or 

Laura McFarland, Senior Attorney, 

Office of General Counsel, Farm 

Credit Administration, McLean, VA 

22102–5090, (703) 883–4020, TTY 

(703) 883–4020. 

Authority: 12 U.S.C. 2252(a)(9) and (10) 

Dated: October 26, 2005. 

Jeanette C. Brinkley, 

Secretary, Farm Credit Administration Board. 

[FR Doc. 05–21629 Filed 10–28–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6705–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

14 CFR Part 39 

[Docket No. 2002–NM–298–AD; Amendment 

39–14354; AD 2005–22–10] 

RIN 2120–AA64 

Airworthiness Directives; Airbus Model 

A320–111 Airplanes, and Model A320–

200 Series Airplanes 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration, DOT. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: This amendment adopts a 

new airworthiness directive (AD), 

applicable to certain Airbus Model 

A320–111 airplanes, and Model A320–

200 series airplanes, that requires a 

detailed inspection of the tail cone 

triangle to determine its position, and 

corrective actions if necessary. This 

action is necessary to prevent excessive 

vibrations of the elevators, which could 

result in reduced structural integrity 

and reduced controllability of the 

airplane. This action is intended to 

address the identified unsafe condition. 

DATES: Effective December 5, 2005. 

The incorporation by reference of a 

certain publication listed in the 

regulations is approved by the Director 

of the Federal Register as of December 

5, 2005. 

ADDRESSES: The service information 

referenced in this AD may be obtained 

from Airbus, 1 Rond Point Maurice 

Bellonte, 31707 Blagnac Cedex, France. 

This information may be examined at 

the Federal Aviation Administration 

(FAA), Transport Airplane Directorate, 

Rules Docket, 1601 Lind Avenue, SW., 

Renton, Washington. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tim 

Dulin, Aerospace Engineer, 

International Branch, ANM–116, FAA, 

Transport Airplane Directorate, 1601 

Lind Avenue, SW., Renton, Washington 

98055–4056; telephone (425) 227–2141; 

fax (425) 227–1149. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A 

proposal to amend part 39 of the Federal 

Aviation Regulations (14 CFR part 39) to 

include an airworthiness directive (AD) 

that is applicable to certain Airbus 

Model A320 series airplanes was 

published in the Federal Register on 

June 18, 2004 (69 FR 34094). That action 

proposed to require a detailed 

inspection of the tail cone triangle to 

determine its position, and corrective 

actions if necessary. 

Comments 

Interested persons have been afforded 

an opportunity to participate in the 

making of this amendment. Due 

consideration has been given to the 

comments received. 

Support for the AD 

Three commenters support the 

proposed AD. 

Request To Reference Airplane 

Maintenance Manual (AMM) Task 

One commenter requests that we refer 

to AMM Task 27–34–00–820–003 as the 

appropriate source of service 

information for rigging the elevators. 

The commenter explains that this task, 

and its associated tool, rigs the elevator 

neutral setting to 0.5 degree nose-up in 

accordance with AD 2001–16–09, 

amendment 39–12377 (66 FR 43471, 

August 20, 2001). The commenter does 

not promote the use of the tail cone 

triangles because they are considered for 

reference only. The commenter believes 

that mandating the position of the tail 

cone reference triangle will have little 

effect in ensuring the proper rigging of 

the elevator. The commenter further 

stresses that if it is absolutely necessary