Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 22 / Friday, February 1, 2008 / Notices 6111 

left 20 to 25 feet apart. The slash created 

will be hand piled and burned, 

converted to chips, processed with a 

masticator if accessible from an existing 

road, or removed from the site as 

firewood or other forest products. In 

areas where fuels objectives cannot be 

met because there is an excess amount 

of dead material on the ground, some of 

this material may also be burned or 

removed from the site. In addition, 

incidental larger hazard trees would be 

felled, if deemed hazards to the crews 

working on the project. The hazard trees 

would be felled and left in place, or 

removed to disposal sites on or adjacent 

to roads. 

The proposed treatments will reduce 

ladder and ground fuels, providing for 

reduced fire intensity, rate of spread, 

and flame lengths in the event of a 

wildland fire. After the project is 

completed, the roads will be passable 

for emergency vehicles during a 

wildland fire. Treatments are also 

designed so that the roads could be used 

as effective fire lines under moderate 

wildland fire conditions. Fire 

suppression activities will be safer and 

more successful in areas that receive 

this treatment. 

The project areas that are adjacent to 

roads are in a particularly hazardous 

condition because the road openings 

allow growing space and additional 

sunlight to the vegetation, and the bare 

mineral soil on the road banks makes an 

excellent bed for thick regeneration. 

These conditions stimulate the growth 

of a tree and brush thicket along roads, 

and larger vegetation often can maintain 

limbs near ground level with out being 

shaded out. 

Understory Thinning Around Private 

Land Boundaries is proposed where 

landowners are willing to perform noncommercial fuels reduction (thinning, 

brushing and hand piling) on a strip of 

Forest land 500 feet wide adjacent to 

their property. Approximately 6,000 

acres of private land boundary 

understory treatments are proposed. The 

proposed treatment is intended to 

reduce existing ladder and ground fuels 

to provide for low intensity fire 

behavior. These zones create corridors 

in which the fire hazard is reduced to 

allow firefighters relatively safe access 

for wildland fire suppression activities 

and to allow for increased options 

during wildland fire suppression 

activities to reduce fire severity. 

Lead and Cooperating Agencies 

The Forest Services is the lead 

agency. Representatives from the Fish 

and Wildlife Service and NOAA 

Fisheries are core members of the 

Interdisciplinary Team. 

Responsible Official 

The Responsible Official for this 

project is the Forest Supervisor for the 

Klamath National Forest, 1312 Fairlane 

Road, Yreka, California 96097. 

Scoping Process 

This notice of intent initiates the 

scoping process, which guides the 

development of the environmental 

impact statement. The public is 

encouraged to take part in the process 

and visit with Forest Service and Fish 

and Wildlife officials at any time during 

the analysis and prior to the decision. 

The Forest Service will be seeking 

information, comments and assistance 

from Federal, State, and local agencies 

and other individuals or organizations 

that may be interested in, or affected by, 

the proposed thinning and 

underburning project. Three public 

scoping meetings have been scheduled 

for February 11, 12 and 13, 2008 in 

Happy Camp, Seiad Valley and 

Hamburg respectively. Please contact 

District Ranger Donald Hall (see 

previous contact info) for details about 

the meeting. 

Early Notice of Importance of Public 

Participation in Subsequent 

Environmental Review 

A draft environmental impact 

statement will be prepared for comment. 

The comment period on the draft 

environmental impact statement will be 

45 days from the date the 

Environmental Protection Agency 

publishes the notice of availability in 

the Federal Register. The Forest Service 

believes, at this early stage, it is 

important to give reviewers notice of 

several court rulings related to public 

participation in the environmental 

review process. First, reviewers of draft 

environmental impact statements must 

structure their participation in the 

environmental review of the proposal so 

that it is meaningful and alerts an 

agency to the reviewer’s position and 

contentions. Vermont Yankee Nuclear 

Power Corp. v. NRDC, 435 U.S. 519, 533 

(1978). Also, environmental objections 

that could be raised at the draft 

environmental impact statement stage 

but that are not raised until after 

completion of the final environmental 

impact statement may be waived or 

dismissed by the courts. City of Angoon 

v. Hodel, 803 F.2d 1016, 1022 (9th Cir. 

1986) and Wisconsin Heritages, Inc. v. 

Harris, 490 F. Supp. 1334, 1338 (E.D. 

Wis 1980). Because of these court 

rulings, it is very important that those 

interested in this proposed action 

participate by the close of the 45-day 

comment period so that substantive 

comments and objections are made 

available to the Forest Service at a time 

when it can meaningfully consider them 

and respond to them in the final 

environmental impact statement. 

To assist the Forest Service in 

identifying and considering issues and 

concerns on the proposed action, 

comments on the draft environmental 

impact statement should be as specific 

as possible. It is also helpful if 

comments refer to specific pages or 

chapters of the draft statement. 

Comments may also address the 

adequacy of the draft environmental 

impact or the merits of the alternatives 

formulated and discussed in the 

statement. Reviewers may wish to refer 

to the Council on Environmental 

Quality Regulations for implementing 

the procedural provisions of the 

National Environmental Policy Act at 40 

CFR 1503.3 in addressing these points. 

Comments received, including the 

names and addresses of those who 

comment, will be considered part of the 

public record on this proposal and will 

be available for public inspection. 

(Authority: 40 CFR 1501.7 and 1508.22; 

Forest Service Handbook 1909.15, Section 

21) 

Dated: January 24, 2008. 

Patricia A. Grantham, 

Acting Forest Supervisor, Klamath National 

Forest. 

[FR Doc. E8–1726 Filed 1–31–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–11–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Grain Inspection, Packers and 

Stockyards Administration 

United States Standards for Beans 

AGENCY: Grain Inspection, Packers and 

Stockyards Administration, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of reopening of comment 

period. 

SUMMARY: We published a notice in the 

Federal Register on April 17, 2007 (72 

FR 19169), inviting comments regarding 

the revision of the U.S. Standards for 

Beans. The proposed revisions would 

provide applicants for service with an 

optional grade designation for bean 

certification; and remove the 

requirements that the percentage of high 

moisture and, for Mixed beans, the 

percentage of each class in the mixture, 

be shown on the grade line. The notice 

provided an opportunity for interested 

parties to forward written comments to 

the Grain Inspection, Packers and 

Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) 

until May 17, 2007. Due to the 

continued high level of interest in this 

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6112 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 22 / Friday, February 1, 2008 / Notices 

notice, we are reopening the comment 

period to provide interested parties with 

additional time to comment. 

DATES: We will consider comments that 

we receive by April 1, 2008. 

ADDRESSES: We invite you to submit 

your comments on the notice. You may 

submit comments by any of the 

following methods: 

• E-mail: Send comments via 

electronic mail to 

comments.gipsa@usda.gov. 

• Mail: Send hardcopy written 

comments to Tess Butler, GIPSA, USDA, 

1400 Independence Avenue, SW., Room 

1633–S, Washington, DC 20250–3604. 

• Fax: Send comments by facsimile 

transmission to: (202) 690–2173. 

• Hand Delivery or Courier: Deliver 

comments to: Tess Butler, GIPSA, 

USDA, 1400 Independence Avenue, 

SW., Room 1643–S, Washington, DC 

20250–3604. 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

online instructions for submitting 

comments. 

• Instructions: All comments should 

make reference to the date and page 

number of this issue of the Federal 

Register. 

• Read Comments: All comments will 

be available for public inspection in the 

above office during regular business 

hours (7 CFR 1.27 (b)). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Beverly A. Whalen at USDA, GIPSA, 

FGIS, Market and Program Analysis 

Staff, Suite 180, STOP 1404, 6501 

Beacon Drive, Kansas City, Missouri, 

64133; Telephone (816) 823–4648; Fax 

Number (816) 823–4644; e-mail 

Beverly.A.Whalen@usda.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: GIPSA 

published a notice in the Federal 

Register on April 17, 2007 (72 FR 

19169), inviting comments from all 

interested persons on the proposed 

revisions to the U.S. Standards for 

Beans. The proposed revisions would 

provide applicants for service with an 

optional grade designation for bean 

certification and remove the 

requirements that the percentage of high 

moisture, and, for Mixed beans, the 

percentage of each class in the mixture, 

be shown on the grade line. For ease of 

reference, we have included in this 

notice a discussion of the revisions to 

the U.S. Standards for Beans that are 

under consideration. 

Optional Grade Designation and 

Certification Procedures 

Currently, inspectors certify beans 

offered for inspection as a specific 

quality (U.S. grade), such as U.S. No. 2 

Pinto Beans. Certifying a specific grade 

is commonly referred to as ‘‘Option 1’’

grade designation. This works well most 

of the time; however, there are 

exceptions. At times, sellers find when 

preparing to load beans for shipment 

that the supply of a particular grade of 

bean may be insufficient to meet the 

quality and quantity requirements 

specified in the sales contract. When 

this happens, the seller may find it 

necessary to ship beans of a better 

quality. However, current inspection 

procedures do not allow the flexibility 

to describe or certify superior quality 

beans as being of a lower quality. If the 

lot presented for inspection is not 

uniform in quality for the declared 

grade, the inspector certifies each 

portion separately according to quality. 

That is, if a consignment consists of 

both U.S. No. 1 and 2 Pinto Beans, 

current procedure requires that the 

quantity representing each of the 

different qualities receive separate 

certification. Such certification may not 

meet the terms of sale for the contract. 

An alternative approach is termed 

‘‘Option 2’’ grade designation. When a 

contract specifies an Option 2 grade 

designation, the applicant may 

specifically request Option 2 

certification. Under Option 2 

certification, there would be no 

limitation placed on the amount of 

better quality beans in the lot. When a 

lot meets or is of better quality than the 

declared grade, inspectors would 

include the term ‘‘or better’’

immediately following the numerical or 

sample grade designation. 

We would like to offer the Option 2 

grade designation and certification 

approach for beans. Under such an 

approach, the applicant for inspection 

can obtain the optional certification 

procedure by requesting it on the 

application for inspection. The 

applicant would file the request for the 

optional certification prior to the 

beginning of inspection so the inspector 

knows how to certify the lot. Beans that 

are a better quality than that specified 

by the contract would be certified as a 

specific grade ‘‘or better’’ (for example, 

U.S. No. 2, or better, Pinto Beans). We 

believe that Option 2 grade designation 

and certification will provide sellers 

with the flexibility to ship beans of 

better quality, and provide buyers with 

the desirable option of receiving better 

quality. 

High Moisture Beans 

The special grade designation ‘‘High 

moisture’’ is applicable to all classes of 

beans containing over 18.0 percent 

moisture and is required to be shown on 

the grade line of the certificate. We will 

continue to show the special grade 

designation ‘‘High moisture’’ on the 

grade line, when applicable, but 

propose to list the moisture percentage 

in the ‘‘Results’’ section of the 

certificate. This approach is intended to 

enhance the readability of the 

certificate. 

Mixed Dry Beans 

We also propose to eliminate the 

requirement that certain grade related 

information be shown on the grade line 

of the certificate for the class of Mixed 

beans. Currently, the U.S. Standards for 

Beans require a breakdown of the 

different classes, in order of 

predominance, be shown on the grade 

line of the certificate, in addition to the 

regular grade designation information, 

when the beans are classed as Mixed 

beans. Instead of showing this 

information on the grade line, we 

propose to enter such information in the 

‘‘Results’’ section of the certificate. This 

approach will not change the grade of 

the product and will enhance the 

readability of the certificate. 

Comments 

The comment period of 30 days from 

the date of publication (72 FR 19169) 

closed on May 17, 2007. Due to 

continued high level of interest in the 

April 17, 2007 notice, GIPSA is 

reopening the comment period to 

provide interested parties additional 

time to comment. As a result, the 

comment period is reopened for a 60 

day period. We welcome both 

comments from interested persons who 

did not comment during the initial 30 

day period, as well as those interested 

persons who have already commented. 

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 1621–1627. 

David R. Shipman, 

Acting Administrator, Grain Inspection, 

Packers and Stockyards Administration. 

[FR Doc. E8–1819 Filed 1–31–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–KD–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Grain Inspection, Packers and 

Stockyards Administration 

United States Standards for Whole Dry 

Peas, Split Peas, and Lentils 

AGENCY: Grain Inspection, Packers and 

Stockyards Administration, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of reopening of comment 

period. 

SUMMARY: We published a notice in the 

Federal Register on April 17, 2007 (72 

FR 19169), inviting comments regarding 

the revision of the U.S. Standards for 

Whole Dry Peas, Split Peas, and Lentils. 

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