Notice2025-10226
State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry; Availability of a Revised Petition, Draft Environmental Impact Statement, and Draft Plant Pest Risk Assessment for Determination of Nonregulated Status for Blight-Tolerant Darling 54 American Chestnut (Castanea dentata) Developed Using Genetic Engineering
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Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
June 6, 2025
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 revised draft environmental impact statement (EIS) and revised draft plant pest risk assessment (PPRA) evaluating the potential environmental impacts and plant pest risk that may result from the approval of a petition for nonregulated status for blight-tolerant American chestnut (Castanea dentata) from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. The trees have been developed using genetic engineering to express an oxalate oxidase enzyme from wheat as a defense against the fungal pathogen Cryphonectria parasitica, making American chestnut tolerant to chestnut blight. Based on a revised petition submitted by the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, we have revised the draft EIS and draft PPRA. We are making the revised petition, revised draft EIS, and revised draft PPRA available for public review and comment.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 108 (Friday, June 6, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 108 (Friday, June 6, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24090-24091]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-10226]
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Notices
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules
or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings
and investigations, committee meetings, agency decisions and rulings,
delegations of authority, filing of petitions and applications and agency
statements of organization and functions are examples of documents
appearing in this section.
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Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 108 / Friday, June 6, 2025 /
Notices
[[Page 24090]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
[Docket No. APHIS-2020-0030]
State University of New York College of Environmental Science and
Forestry; Availability of a Revised Petition, Draft Environmental
Impact Statement, and Draft Plant Pest Risk Assessment for
Determination of Nonregulated Status for Blight-Tolerant Darling 54
American Chestnut (Castanea dentata) Developed Using Genetic
Engineering
AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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DATES: We will consider all comments that we receive on or before July
21, 2025.
SUMMARY: We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service has prepared a revised draft environmental impact
statement (EIS) and revised draft plant pest risk assessment (PPRA)
evaluating the potential environmental impacts and plant pest risk that
may result from the approval of a petition for nonregulated status for
blight-tolerant American chestnut (Castanea dentata) from the State
University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry.
The trees have been developed using genetic engineering to express an
oxalate oxidase enzyme from wheat as a defense against the fungal
pathogen Cryphonectria parasitica, making American chestnut tolerant to
chestnut blight. Based on a revised petition submitted by the State
University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry,
we have revised the draft EIS and draft PPRA. We are making the revised
petition, revised draft EIS, and revised draft PPRA available for
public review and comment.
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-2020-0030 in the Search field and select the Documents tab.
<bullet> Our reading room, which is 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.
The petition, draft environmental impact statement, and draft plant
pest risk assessment, and any comments we receive on this docket may be
viewed at <a href="http://regulations.gov">regulations.gov</a> or in our reading room, which is 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.
The petition, draft environmental impact statement, and draft plant
pest risk assessment are also available on the APHIS website at:
<a href="https://www.aphis.usda.gov/biotechnology/legacy-petition-process/petitions">https://www.aphis.usda.gov/biotechnology/legacy-petition-process/petitions</a>. Search for APHIS petition 19-309-01p.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Alan Pearson, Biotechnology
Regulatory Services, APHIS, USDA, 4700 River Road, Unit 147, Riverdale,
MD 20737-1236; (301) 851-3944; email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#e2838e838ccc92878390918d8ca297918683cc858d94"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="72131e131c5c02171300011d1c32070116135c151d04">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Under the authority of the plant pest provisions of the Plant
Protection Act, as amended (7 U.S.C. 7701 et seq.), the regulations in
7 CFR part 340, ``Introduction of Organisms and Products Altered or
Produced Through Genetic Engineering Which Are Plant Pests or Which
There Is Reason to Believe Are Plant Pests,'' regulate, among other
things, the introduction (importation, interstate movement, or release
into the environment) of organisms altered or produced through genetic
engineering that are plant pests or that there is reason to believe are
plant pests.
The regulations in Sec. 340.6(a) provide that any person may
submit a petition to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
(APHIS) seeking a determination that an article should not be regulated
under 7 CFR part 340. Paragraphs (b) and (c) of Sec. 340.6 describe
the form that a petition for a determination of nonregulated status
must take and the information that must be included in the petition.
In 2020, APHIS received a petition from the State University of New
York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) (APHIS
Petition Number 19-309-01p) seeking a determination of nonregulated
status for blight-tolerant Darling 58 American chestnut (Castanea
dentata). The petition stated that Darling 58 American chestnut is
unlikely to pose a plant pest risk and, therefore, should not be
regulated under APHIS' regulations in 7 CFR part 340.
According to our process for soliciting public comment when
considering petitions for determination of nonregulated status of
regulated organisms, APHIS accepts written comments regarding a
petition once APHIS deems it complete. On August 19, 2020, we announced
in the Federal Register (85 FR 51008-51009, Docket No. APHIS-2020-0030)
the availability of the blight-tolerant chestnut petition for public
comment. We solicited comments on the petition for 60 days to help us
identify potential environmental and interrelated economic issues and
impacts that APHIS should consider in evaluation of the petition. We
received 4,320 comments on the petition from the academic sector,
farmers, non-governmental organizations, nonprofit organizations,
industry, Tribes, and unaffiliated individuals.
As part of our evaluation of the petition and consideration of
public comments, APHIS determined that the proposed determination of
nonregulated status has the potential to significantly affect the
quality of the human environment.\1\ In a notice \2\ published in the
Federal Register on August 6, 2021
[[Page 24091]]
(86 FR 43160-43162, Docket No. APHIS-2020-0030), we announced our
intention to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) to conduct
a detailed and rigorous environmental analysis to inform its decision
about the proposed determination of nonregulated status for Darling 58
American chestnut.
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\1\ Human environment means comprehensively the natural and
physical environment and the relationship of present and future
generations of Americans with that environment. Impacts/effects
include ecological (such as effects on natural resources, and on the
components, structures, and functioning of affected ecosystems),
aesthetic, historic, cultural, economic (such as the effects on
employment), social, or health effects (see 40 CFR 1508.1).
\2\ To view the notice and the comments we received, go to
<a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a> and enter APHIS-2020-0030 in the Search field.
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APHIS solicited public comment on the notice for a period of 30
days ending September 7, 2021, as part of its scoping process to
identify issues to address in the draft EIS. We received a total of
3,964 public comments.
On November 10, 2022, we published in the Federal Register (87 FR
67861-67862, Docket No. APHIS-2020-0030) a notice of availability \3\
of a draft EIS and draft plant pest risk assessment (PPRA) and made the
documents available for review and comment for 45 days. A notice of
availability of the draft EIS was also published by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the Federal Register on
November 10, 2022 (87 FR 67901, Docket No. FRL OP-OFA-043).
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\3\ To view the notice, supporting documents, and the comments
that we received, go to <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a> and enter APHIS-2020-
0030 in the Search field.
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Comments on the draft EIS and draft PPRA were required to be
received on or before December 27, 2022. We extended the comment period
for an additional 30 days, to January 26, 2023, to allow interested
persons additional time to prepare and submit comments.
Subsequently, in August 2024, ESF submitted a revised petition to
provide additional clarifications and corrections about the chestnut
event. In January 2020, ESF initially submitted a petition referring to
Darling 58 instead of Darling 54. These two lines were produced at the
same time, using the same transgenes in the same genetic background, so
they express the same protein products. Multiple analyses in 2023
revealed that essentially all the offspring from the initial crosses
were derived from Darling 54, due to a labeling error in 2016. Since
nearly all of the phenotypic information in the original petition was
generated from Darling 54 offspring, a revised petition was submitted
to correct the line name and provide updates on Darling 54 chestnuts
based on data collected since the initial submission. As a result of
the revised petition, APHIS evaluated the new information provided on
Darling 54 and revised the draft EIS and draft PPRA.
The issues discussed in the draft EIS were developed by considering
the public input from the Federal Register notice announcing the
intention to draft an EIS. APHIS evaluated these issues to analyze the
potential environmental impacts of a determination of nonregulated
status for Darling 54 American chestnut and included a discussion of
these issues in the draft EIS. In addition, although the comments on
the original draft EIS were for plants thought to be Darling 58
American chestnut instead of Darling 54, the issues raised would apply
to both lines. Therefore, APHIS used the comments on the notice of
intent and integrated the concerns raised into the revised draft EIS.
APHIS is making available the revised petition, the revised draft
EIS, and the draft PPRA, for a 45-day public review and comment period.
The revised petition, the draft EIS, and the draft PPRA are available
as indicated under ADDRESSES and FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT above.
The draft EIS was prepared in accordance with: (1) The National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et
seq.), (2) USDA regulations implementing NEPA (7 CFR part 1b), and (3)
APHIS' NEPA Implementing Procedures (7 CFR part 372).
The EPA will publish a separate notice in the Federal Register that
announces publication of the revised draft EIS for public review.
Authority: 7 U.S.C. 7701-7772 and 7781-7786; 31 U.S.C. 9701; 7 CFR
2.22, 2.80, and 371.3.
Done in Washington, DC, this 29th day of May 2025.
Michael Watson,
Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 2025-10226 Filed 6-5-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-34-P
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