Veterinary Services Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

[Docket No. 92-110-4]

Veterinary Services Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact

Statement

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health

Inspection Service has prepared a draft programmatic environmental

impact statement for the Veterinary Services Program, which is

responsible for the protection of the Nation's livestock and

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poultry. As part of this mission, Veterinary Services conducts ongoing

programs designed to detect, prevent, control, and eradicate endemic

and foreign animal diseases and pests that threaten these resources.

The draft programmatic environmental impact statement addresses

environmental impacts associated with these ongoing programs. We are

requesting public comments on the draft programmatic environmental

impact statement.

DATES: Consideration will be given only to comments received on or

before May 28, 1996.

ADDRESSES: Please send an original and three copies of your comments to

Docket No. 92-110-4, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS,

Suite 3C03, 4700 River Road Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-1238. Please

state that your comments refer to Docket No. 92-110-4. Comments

received may be inspected at USDA, room 1141, South Building, 14th

Street and Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC, Between 8 a.m. and

4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except holidays. Persons wishing to

inspect comments are requested to call ahead on (202) 690-2817 to

facilitate entry into the comment reading room.

Interested persons may obtain a copy of the draft environmental

impact statement by writing to the addresses listed below under FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Nancy Sweeney, Project Leader,

Environmental Analysis and Documentation, BBEP, APHIS, Suite 5B05, 4700

River Road Unit 149, Riverdale, MD 20737-1237, (301) 734-8565; or Dr.

William E. Ketter, Assistant to Director, Operational Support, VS,

APHIS, Suite 3B08, 4700 River Road Unit 33, Riverdale, MD 20737-1231,

(301) 734-4357.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has prepared

a draft programmatic environmental impact statement (EIS) for our

Veterinary Services Program, which is responsible for the protection of

the Nation's livestock and poultry. As part of this mission, (VS)

conducts ongoing programs designed to detect, prevent, control, and

eradicate endemic and foreign animal diseases and pests that threaten

these resources. The draft programmatic EIS addresses environmental

impacts associated with these ongoing programs.

We published a notice of intent to prepare a programmatic EIS in

the Federal Register on July 23, 1992 (57 FR 32771-32772, Docket No.

92-110-1). This notice advised the public that we intended to use in-

house resources to study the disease prevention, surveillance, control,

and eradication activities of the VS Program to identify any potential

environmental effects. We published a notice of the proposed scope of

study for the programmatic EIS in the Federal Register on October 9,

1992 (57 FR 46532-46534, Docket No. 92-110-2). This notice identified

potential issues to be analyzed in the programmatic EIS, and requested

public comment on these and other issues. Comments were to be received

on or before November 23, 1992. We published a notice of the final

scope of study for the programmatic EIS in the Federal Register on

March 29, 1993 (58 FR 16520-16521, Docket No. 92-110-3).

Major Issues

The comments received from the public helped us to determine the

principal focus of the draft programmatic EIS. The draft programmatic

EIS identifies the following VS programs and activities as having the

potential to affect the quality of the human environment: (1) Methods

of animal carcass disposal; (2) disease eradication efforts of an

emergency nature; (3) the use of disinfectants and pesticides; (4) the

import-export program; (5) the vaccination program; (6) the

construction, use, and expansion of facilities; and (7) methods of

animal identification. The document analyzes these VS programs and

activities and examines the potential impacts of the programs as

currently implemented along with the alternative of taking no Federal

action.

The draft programmatic EIS is now available for review and comment.

We are seeking comments from the public; industry; environmental

groups; and Federal, State, and local agencies, including Federal and

State agencies that have either jurisdiction by law or special

expertise regarding any program issue or environmental impact that is

discussed in the draft programmatic EIS.

We will consider all comments received by the close of the comment

period in the development of the final programmatic EIS. The

availability of the final programmatic EIS will be announced in a

subsequent Federal Register notice.

This notice is issued in accordance with: (1) The National

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4231 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).

Done in Washington, DC, this 22nd day of March 1996.

Terry L. Medley,

Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

[FR Doc. 96-7652 Filed 3-28-96; 8:45 am]

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