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

53673 

Vol. 74, No. 201 

Tuesday, October 20, 2009 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

Service 

7 CFR Part 330 

[Docket No. APHIS-2008-0076] 

Environmental Impact Statement; 

Movement of Plant Pests, Biological 

Control Organisms, and Associated 

Articles 

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an 

environmental impact statement. 

SUMMARY: We are advising the public 

that the Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service intends to prepare an 

environmental impact statement relative 

to proposed regulatory requirements 

that are being developed for the 

movement of plant pests, biological 

control organisms, and associated 

articles. This notice identifies potential 

issues and alternatives that will be 

studied in the environmental impact 

statement and requests public comment 

to further delineate the scope of those 

issues and alternatives. 

DATES: We will consider all comments 

that we receive on or before November 

19, 2009. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by either of the following methods: 

∑ Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

(http://www.regulations.gov/ 

fdmspublic/component/ 

main?main=DocketDetail&d=APHIS2008-0076) to submit or view 

comments. 

∑ Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: 

Please send two copies of your comment 

to Docket No. APHIS-2008-0076, 

Regulatory Analysis and Development, 

PPD, APHIS, Station 3A-03.8, 4700 

River Road, Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 

20737-1238. Please state that your 

comment refers to Docket No. APHIS2008-0076. 

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: Dr. 

David A. Bergsten, APHIS Interagency 

NEPA Contact, Environmental Services, 

PPD, APHIS, 4700 River Road, Unit 149, 

Riverdale, MD 20737-1238; (301) 734- 

6103. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

The purpose of the regulations in 

‘‘Subpart —Movement of Plant Pests’’ (7 

CFR 330.200 through 330.212, referred 

to below as the regulations) is to prevent 

the dissemination of plant pests within 

the United States by regulating their 

importation and interstate movement. 

The Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service (APHIS) is planning 

to revise its regulations regarding the 

movement of plant pests. APHIS intends 

to prepare an environmental impact 

statement (EIS) analyzing the potential 

environmental impacts associated with 

proposed regulatory requirements for 

movement not only of plant pests, but 

also of biological control organisms, and 

associated articles. 

Under the Plant Protection Act (7 

U.S.C. 7701 et seq., referred to below as 

the Act) the Secretary of Agriculture has 

broad authority to carry out operations 

or measures to detect, control, eradicate, 

suppress, prevent, or retard the spread 

of plant pests. Section 411(a) of the Act 

provides that ‘‘no person shall import, 

enter, export, or move in interstate 

commerce any plant pest, unless the 

importation, entry, exportation, or 

movement is authorized under general 

or specific permit and is in accordance 

with such regulations as the Secretary 

may issue to prevent the introduction of 

plant pests into the United States.’’ 

Moreover, section 412(a) of the Act 

provides that the Secretary may prohibit 

or restrict the importation, entry, 

exportation, or movement in interstate 

commerce of, among other things, any 

biological control organism, if the 

Secretary determines that the 

prohibition or restriction is necessary to 

prevent the introduction into or the 

dissemination within the United States 

of a plant pest or noxious weed. 

Accordingly, APHIS has the authority 

to regulate not only plant pests, but also 

biological control organisms, noxious 

weeds, and associated articles. APHIS is 

therefore considering revising the 

regulations to establish provisions for 

the movement and environmental 

release of biological control organisms 

and associated articles. APHIS is also 

considering revising the regulations for 

the movement of soil, and establishing 

regulations governing the 

biocontainment facilities in which plant 

pests, biological control organisms, and 

associated articles are held. The impacts 

associated with these changes to the 

regulations will also be analyzed in a 

programmatic EIS. 

In addition to establishing a 

regulatory framework for the movement 

of new organisms and articles in a 

manner that protects U.S. agriculture, 

these proposed regulations would help 

clarify the existing requirements for the 

importation and domestic movement of 

plant pests. APHIS may also consider 

including within the proposed 

regulations other mitigating measures 

with the potential to equally reduce pest 

risk. We are requesting public comment 

to help us identify or confirm potential 

alternatives and environmental issues 

that should be examined in the EIS. We 

have identified three broad alternatives 

that we plan to consider in the EIS, as 

follows: 

∑ Take no action. This would be 

characterized as no change in the 

existing regulations that apply to the 

movement of plant pests (while not 

contributing to the further mitigation of 

pest risk, the analysis of the no action 

alternative provides a baseline and is 

required by the National Environmental 

Policy Act and its implementing 

regulations). 

∑ Revise requirements for movement 

of plant pests consistent with the scope 

of the Plant Protection Act (preferred 

alternative). This would be 

characterized by amendment or revision 

of the plant pest regulations to also 

cover biological control organisms and 

associated articles. It would also include 

revisions to the regulations for the 

movement of soil and the establishment 


cprice-sewell on DSKGBLS3C1PROD with PROPOSALS
53674 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 201 / Tuesday, October 20, 2009 / Proposed Rules 

1Pub. L. 107–155, 116 Stat. 81 (2002). 

2 ‘‘Federal funds’’ are funds subject to the 

limitations, prohibitions, and reporting 

requirements of the Act. See 11 CFR 300.2(g). 

3 ‘‘Levin funds’’ are funds raised and disbursed by 

State, district, or local party committees pursuant 

to certain restrictions. See 2 U.S.C. 441i(b); see also 

11 CFR 300.2(i). 

4 In addition to GOTV activity, Type II Federal 

election activity also includes ‘‘voter identification’’ 

and ‘‘generic campaign activity.’’ See 2 U.S.C. 

431(20)(A)(ii); 11 CFR 100.24; 100.25. Types III and 

IV Federal election activity are outside the scope of 

this rulemaking and are not discussed. They pertain 

to public communications that refer to a clearly 

identified Federal candidate and promote, support, 

attack or oppose a candidate for Federal office 

(Type III), and services provided by an employee of 

a State, district, or local committee of a political 

party who spends more than 25 percent of his or 

her compensated time on activities in connection 

with a Federal election (Type IV). Types I and II 

Federal election activity may be funded with a 

combination of Federal and Levin funds; Types III 

and IV Federal election activity must be funded 

entirely with Federal funds. 

of regulations for biocontainment 

facilities. 

∑ Implement a comprehensive risk 

reduction program (more expansive 

regulations to address specific risk 

categories). This would be characterized 

as a broad risk mitigation strategy that 

could involve various options such as 

increased inspection, regulations 

specific to a certain organism or group 

of related organisms, or extensive 

biocontainment requirements. While not 

the preferred alternative at this time, the 

risk mitigation strategy considered 

within this alternative could provide the 

basis at some point for future Agency 

regulatory actions, either to establish a 

new and more appropriate regulatory 

framework for the movement of plant 

pests, biological control organisms, and 

associated articles, or to augment the 

existing regulations with more effective 

mitigation measures to address the risk 

of such movement. 

We will examine the potential effects 

on the human environment of each 

alternative. We are also interested in 

comments that identify other issues that 

should be examined in the EIS. 

Potential issues include other new 

mitigation measures, logistical 

considerations, environmental 

regulations and constraints, and 

harmonization of regulatory efforts. 

The EIS will be prepared in 

accordance with: (1) The National 

Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as 

amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), (2) 

regulations of the Council on 

Environmental Quality for 

implementing the procedural provisions 

of NEPA (40 CFR parts 1500-1508), (3) 

USDA regulations implementing NEPA 

(7 CFR part 1b), and (4) APHIS’ NEPA 

Implementing Procedures (7 CFR part 

372). 

Comments regarding the proposed 

scope of the EIS are welcome and will 

be considered fully. When APHIS has 

completed a draft EIS, a notice 

announcing its availability and an 

invitation to comment on it will be 

published in the Federal Register. 

Done in Washington, DC, this 14th day 

of October, 2009. 

Kevin Shea 

Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant 

Health Inspection Service. 

[FR Doc. E9–25184 Filed 10–19–09: 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE: 3410–34–S 

FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION 

11 CFR Part 100 

[Notice 2009–22] 

Definition of Federal Election Activity 

AGENCY: Federal Election Commission. 

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking. 

SUMMARY: The Federal Election 

Commission seeks comments on 

proposed changes to its rules regarding 

the definitions of ‘‘voter registration 

activity’’ and ‘‘get-out-the-vote activity’’ 

under the Federal Election Campaign 

Act of 1971, as amended. These 

proposed changes are in response to the 

decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for 

the District of Columbia Circuit in Shays 

v. FEC. The Commission has made no 

final decision on the issues presented in 

this rulemaking. Further information is 

provided in the supplementary 

information that follows. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before November 20, 2009. The 

Commission will hold a hearing on 

these proposed rules on Wednesday, 

December 16, 2009 at 9:30 a.m. and, if 

necessary, Thursday, December 17, 2009 

at 9:30 a.m. Anyone wishing to testify 

at the hearing must file written 

comments by the due date and must 

include a request to testify in the 

written comments. 

ADDRESSES: All comments must be in 

writing, addressed to Ms. Amy L. 

Rothstein, Assistant General Counsel, 

and submitted in either electronic, 

facsimile or hard copy form. 

Commenters are strongly encouraged to 

submit comments electronically to 

ensure timely receipt and consideration. 

Electronic comments should be sent to 

FEAShays3@fec.gov. If the electronic 

comments include an attachment, the 

attachment must be in Adobe Acrobat 

(.pdf) or Microsoft Word (.doc) format. 

Faxed comments should be sent to (202) 

219–3923, with hard copy follow-up. 

Hard copy comments and hard copy 

follow-up of faxed comments should be 

sent to the Federal Election 

Commission, 999 E Street, NW., 

Washington, DC 20463. All comments 

must include the full name and postal 

service address of the commenter or 

they will not be considered. The 

Commission will post comments on its 

web site after the comment period ends. 

The hearing will be held in the 

Commission’s ninth floor meeting room, 

999 E Street, NW., Washington, DC. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. 

Amy L. Rothstein, Assistant General 

Counsel, or Attorneys Mr. David C. 

Adkins or Mr. Neven F. Stipanovic, 999 

E Street, NW., Washington, DC 20463, 

(202) 694–1650 or (800) 424–9530. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 

2002 1 (‘‘BCRA’’) contained extensive 

and detailed amendments to the Federal 

Election Campaign Act of 1971, as 

amended, 2 U.S.C. 431 et seq. (‘‘the 

Act’’). The Commission promulgated a 

number of rules to implement BCRA, 

including rules defining the terms 

‘‘voter registration activity’’ and ‘‘getout-the-vote activity’’ (‘‘GOTV activity’’) 

at 11 CFR 100.24(a). The Court of 

Appeals for the District of Columbia 

Circuit found aspects of these rules 

invalid in Shays v. FEC, 528 F.3d 914 

(D.C. Cir. 2008) (‘‘Shays III Appeal’’). 

The Commission seeks comment on 

proposed changes to the rules at 11 CFR 

100.24 to implement the Shays III 

Appeal decision. 

I. Background 

A. BCRA 

The Act, as amended by BCRA, and 

Commission regulations provide that a 

State, district, or local committee of a 

political party must pay for certain 

‘‘Federal election activities’’ with either 

entirely Federal funds 2 or, in other 

instances, a mix of Federal funds and 

‘‘Levin funds.’’ 3 See 2 U.S.C. 441i(b); 11 

CFR 300.32. The Act identifies four 

types of activity that are subject to these 

funding restrictions, including ‘‘voter 

registration activity’’—Type I Federal 

election activity—and GOTV activity— 

Type II Federal election activity. See 2 

U.S.C. 431(20)(A)(i) and (ii); 441i(b); 11 

CFR 100.24(a)(2) and (3).4

Application of BCRA’s Federal 

election activity funding restrictions for 

Types I and II Federal election activity 

is conditioned upon the timing of the 

activity. Voter registration activity (Type 


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