Notice2021-14442
Oral Rabies Vaccine Program; Availability of a Supplemental Environmental Assessment
Primary source
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Published
July 7, 2021
Issuing agencies
Agriculture DepartmentAnimal and Plant Health Inspection Service
Abstract
We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has prepared a supplemental environmental assessment (EA) relative to a 2019 EA of an oral rabies vaccination (ORV) program in Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia. This supplement analyzes the proposed expanded use of ONRAB vaccine-baits throughout the ORV distribution zone in Pennsylvania in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service. We are making the supplemental EA available to the public for review and comment.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 86 Issue 127 (Wednesday, July 7, 2021)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 127 (Wednesday, July 7, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35729-35730]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2021-14442]
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Notices
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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 127 / Wednesday, July 7, 2021 /
Notices
[[Page 35729]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
[Docket No. APHIS-2019-0034]
Oral Rabies Vaccine Program; Availability of a Supplemental
Environmental Assessment
AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of availability and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service has prepared a supplemental environmental assessment
(EA) relative to a 2019 EA of an oral rabies vaccination (ORV) program
in Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont,
Virginia, and West Virginia. This supplement analyzes the proposed
expanded use of ONRAB vaccine-baits throughout the ORV distribution
zone in Pennsylvania in cooperation with the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's Forest Service. We are making the supplemental EA
available to the public for review and comment.
DATES: We will consider all comments that we receive on or before
August 6, 2021.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by either of the following methods:
<bullet> Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a>.
Enter APHIS-2019-0034 in the Search field. Select the Documents tab,
then select the Comment button in the list of documents.
<bullet> Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: Send your comment to
Docket No. APHIS-2019-0034, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD,
APHIS, Station 3A-03.8, 4700 River Road, Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-
1238.
The supplemental environmental assessment and any comments we
receive on this docket may be viewed at <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a> or in our
reading room, whichis located in Room 1620 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)
799-7039 before coming.
This notice and the supplemental environmental assessment are also
posted on the APHIS website at <a href="http://www.aphis.usda.gov/regulations/ws/ws_nepa_environmental_documents.shtml">http://www.aphis.usda.gov/regulations/ws/ws_nepa_environmental_documents.shtml</a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Richard Chipman, Rabies Program
Coordinator, Wildlife Services, APHIS, 59 Chenell Drive, Suite 2,
Concord, NH 03301; (603) 223-9623. To obtain copies of the supplemental
environmental assessment, contact Ms. Beth Kabert, Environmental
Coordinator, Wildlife Services, APHIS, 59 Chenell Drive, Suite 2,
Concord, NH 03301; (908) 442-6761; email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#c9abacbda1e7ace7a2a8abacbbbd89bcbaada8e7aea6bf"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="9efcfbeaf6b0fbb0f5fffcfbeceadeebedfaffb0f9f1e8">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The Wildlife Services (WS) program in the Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service (APHIS) cooperates with Federal agencies, State and
local governments, and private individuals to research and implement
the best methods of managing conflicts between wildlife and human
health and safety, agriculture, property, and natural resources.
Wildlife-borne diseases that can affect domestic animals and humans are
among the types of conflicts that WS addresses. Wildlife is the
dominant reservoir of rabies in the United States.
Since 2011, WS has been conducting field trials to study the
immunogenicity and safety of an oral rabies vaccine, a human adenovirus
type 5 rabies glycoprotein recombinant vaccine called ONRAB. Beginning
in 2012, WS expanded field trials into portions of New Hampshire, New
York, Ohio, Vermont, and new areas of West Virginia, including National
Forest System lands, in order to further assess the immunogenicity of
ONRAB in raccoons and skunks for raccoon rabies virus variant.
On July 9, 2019 we published in the Federal Register (84 FR 32700-
32701, Docket No. APHIS-2019-0034) \1\ a notice in which we announced
the availability, for public review and comment, of an environmental
assessment (EA) analyzing the environmental effects of continuing and
expanding the oral rabies vaccine (ORV) program using the ONRAB vaccine
in Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont,
Virginia, and West Virginia. After soliciting and reviewing comments on
the EA, we issued a finding of no significant impact (FONSI) reflecting
our determination that the expanded distribution of the ONRAB wildlife
rabies vaccine would not have a significant impact on the quality of
the human environment.
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\1\ The EA, Decision/FONSI, and comments we received may be
viewed at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>. Enter APHIS-2019-0034 in the
Search field.
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Based on the ORV program's safe and successful use of the ONRAB
rabies vaccine, WS is proposing to further expand ONRAB vaccine
distribution to protect human and animal health. ONRAB rabies vaccine
has been used experimentally in eastern Ohio as part of an ongoing
field evaluation and has successfully reduced the prevalence of the
raccoon rabies virus variant in the State. WS has defined a strategic
5-year programmatic goal to eliminate raccoon rabies in Ohio. In order
to achieve this goal, better managing the disease in western
Pennsylvania is critical. In the Pennsylvania ORV distribution zone,
the program currently uses the RABORAL V-RG[supreg] rabies wildlife
vaccine. However, despite historic and ongoing rabies management using
the V-RG[supreg] rabies vaccine in Pennsylvania, rabies cases have
persisted and contribute to a perpetual source of disease pressure into
Ohio.
Accordingly, APHIS has prepared a supplemental EA in which we
analyze the potential environmental impacts of expanding the ONRAB ORV
program to include the Pennsylvania ORV distribution zone in which the
V-RG[supreg] vaccine is currently used. The supplemental EA analyzes a
number of environmental issues or concerns with the ONRAB vaccine and
activities associated with the field trial, such as capture and
handling animals for monitoring and surveillance purposes with regard
to the proposed action.
[[Page 35730]]
We are making the supplemental EA available to the public for
review and comment. We will consider all comments that we receive on or
before the date listed under the heading DATES at the beginning of this
notice.
The supplemental EA may be viewed on the <a href="http://Regulations.gov">Regulations.gov</a> website or
in our reading room (see ADDRESSES above for instructions for accessing
<a href="http://Regulations.gov">Regulations.gov</a> and information on the location and hours of the
reading room). In addition, paper copies may be obtained by calling or
writing to the individual listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
The supplemental EA has been prepared in accordance with: (1) The
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), 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).
Done in Washington, DC, this 28th day of June 2021.
Michael Watson,
Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 2021-14442 Filed 7-6-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-34-P
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