NOTICES
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Revocation of Pine Shoot Beetle Interior Quarantine
[35 Pa.B. 6663] Recitals
1. The Plant Pest Act (act) (3 P. S. §§ 258.1--258.27), empowers the Department of Agriculture (Department) to take various measures to detect, contain and eradicate plant pests in this Commonwealth.
2. The powers granted the Department under section 21 of the act (3 P. S. § 258.21) include the power to establish quarantines to prevent the dissemination of plant pests within this Commonwealth.
3. Pine Shoot Beetle (PSB) is a serious nonnative plant pest that injures and damages pine trees, posing a potential serious threat to the economic well-being of the Christmas tree and tree nursery industry within this Commonwealth. Furthermore, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) requires that affected states maintain current, parallel state quarantines in order for USDA to be able to enforce the Federal Pine Shoot Beetle quarantine with respect to affected areas of the State, rather than against the entire State.
4. The Department has exercised its authority under the act and issued an Order of Quarantine affecting Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Bedford, Blair, Bradford, Butler, Cambria, Cameron, Clarion, Clearfield, Crawford, Elk, Erie, Fayette, Forest, Greene, Huntingdon, Indiana, Jefferson, Lawrence, McKean, Mercer, Potter, Somerset, Tioga, Venango, Warren, Washington and Westmoreland Counties to prevent the spread of PSB.
5. Since recent official surveys have also detected PSB in Berks, Chester, Centre, Cumberland, Fulton, Juniata, Lycoming, Monroe, Northumberland, Perry, Snyder, Susquehanna, Sullivan, Union, Wayne and Wyoming Counties and it is apparent that the quarantine has not contained PSB, the Department is satisfied it is appropriate to rescind the Order of Quarantine applicable to Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Bedford, Blair, Bradford, Butler, Cambria, Cameron, Clarion, Clearfield, Crawford, Elk, Erie, Fayette, Forest, Greene, Huntingdon, Indiana, Jefferson, Lawrence, McKean, Mercer, Potter, Somerset, Tioga, Venango, Warren, Washington and Westmoreland Counties.
Order
Under authority of section 21 of the act, the Department hereby enters the following order:
The Order of Quarantine dated July 6, 2001, and published at 31 Pa.B. 3558 (July 7, 2001) that pertains to Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Bedford, Blair, Bradford, Butler, Cambria, Cameron, Clarion, Clearfield, Crawford, Elk, Erie, Fayette, Forest, Greene, Huntingdon, Indiana, Jefferson, Lawrence, McKean, Mercer, Potter, Somerset, Tioga, Venango, Warren, Washington and Westmoreland Counties is hereby rescinded. This Order had imposed a quarantine on the PSB in any living stage of development and the following pine (Pinus spp.) products: bark nuggets (including bark chips), Christmas trees, logs or lumber with bark attached, nursery stock, any cut, fresh, untreated, unassembled pine materials that have not been manufactured into wreaths or garlands, stumps and any article, product or means of conveyance that presents a risk of spread of the pine shoot beetle and with respect to which an inspector has notified the person in possession that the article is subject to quarantine. The quarantine required that regulated articles not be moved from or through the quarantine area unless either accompanied by a valid certificate or limited permit issued in accordance with this order or an applicable provision of this order exempts that article from the certificate or limited permit requirement.
USDA will continue to enforce the provisions of the Federal Pine Shoot Beetle quarantine against the entire Commonwealth.
DENNIS C WOLFF,
Secretary
[Pa.B. Doc. No. 05-2272. Filed for public inspection December 9, 2005, 9:00 a.m.]
No part of the information on this site may be reproduced for profit or sold for profit.This material has been drawn directly from the official Pennsylvania Bulletin full text database. Due to the limitations of HTML or differences in display capabilities of different browsers, this version may differ slightly from the official printed version.
