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PA Bulletin, Doc. No. 09-2099

NOTICES

Revision of Quarantine and Program Orders; Relating to Plum Pox Virus

[39 Pa.B. 6552]
[Saturday, November 14, 2009]

Recitals

 A. 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.

 B. The powers granted to 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.

 C. Plum Pox Virus (PPV) is a serious plant pest, indigenous to Europe. It injures and damages stone fruits such as peaches, nectarines, plums and apricots by drastically reducing the fruit yields from these stone fruit trees and by disfiguring the fruit to the point that it is unmarketable.

 D. PPV has the potential to cause serious damage to the stone fruit production industry within this Commonwealth. It is transmitted from infected trees by aphids and by budding or grafting and can be spread into new areas by movement of infected nursery stock. The movement of PPV-infected fruit trees poses a danger to stone fruit trees in noninfected areas. There is no known control for PPV other than destruction of infected trees.

 E. As a result of the presence of PPV in several townships and boroughs, the Department has—since 1999—issued a series of orders establishing quarantines and programs relating to the detection, containment and eradication of PPV.

 F. The Department believes progress has been made in the screening, detection, isolation and elimination of PPV. The Department's extensive surveillance and testing efforts have not confirmed the continued presence of PPV among stone fruit trees in and around the areas that are currently subject to the various quarantine orders and program orders issued by the Department to address PPV.

 G. The Department believes it is reasonable to: (1) rescind the current quarantines affecting portions of several townships in Adams County and portions of a single township in Cumberland County; (2) revise the PPV Nursery Quarantine restrictions established in previous orders; (3) rescind the Orders relating to the Plum Pox Virus Voluntary Commercial Fruit Tree Indemnity Program; and (4) provide a single reference to the various programs that remain in effect to help address PPV.

Order

 Under authority of section 21 of the act, and with the foregoing recitals incorporated herein, the Department hereby orders the following:

Rescinding Current PPV Area Quarantines.

 1. The Department hereby rescinds the PPV Quarantine Orders establishing quarantine areas in portions of Menallen Township (Adams County), Franklin Township (Adams County), Butler Township (Adams County) and South Middleton Township (Cumberland County). The specific quarantine orders that are rescinded in their entirety are as follows:

 The Order of November 9, 2005, published at 35 Pa.B. 6543 (December 3, 2005), establishing a PPV Quarantine with respect to a portion of Menallen Township, Adams County;

 The Order of September 21, 2006, published at 36 Pa.B. 6108 (October 7, 2006), establishing a PPV Quarantine with respect to a portion of Franklin Township, Adams County;

 The Order of September 26, 2003, published at 33 Pa.B. 5087 (October 11, 2003), establishing a PPV Quarantine with respect to a portion of Butler Township, Adams County; and

 The Order of October 22, 2007, published at 37 Pa.B. 5902 (November 3, 2007), establishing a PPV Quarantine with respect to a portion of South Middleton Township, Cumberland County.

Revising the PPV Nursery Area Quarantines.

 2. The following areas are hereby released from the PPV Nursery Quarantine Area established by Order of January 5, 2005, published at 35 Pa.B. 552 (January 22, 2005):

In Adams County

 • Huntington Township.

 • Latimore Township.

 • That portion of Butler Township that had previously been included in the PPV nursery Quarantine Area.

 • That portion of Tyrone Township that had previously been included in the PPV Nursery Quarantine Area.

 • The Borough of York Springs.

In Cumberland County

 • Dickinson Township.

 • The Borough of Mt. Holly Springs.

In York County

 • Franklin Township

 3. The following areas remain within the PPV Nursery Quarantine Area:

In Adams County

 • That portion of Menallen Township described in the Order of November 9, 2005, published at 35 Pa.B. 6543 (December 3, 2005), establishing the PPV Nursery Quarantine Area.

 • That portion of Franklin Township described in the Order of September 21, 2006, published at 36 Pa.B. 6108 (October 7, 2006), adding that land to the PPV Nursery Quarantine Area.

In Cumberland County

 • That portion of South Middleton Township, located to the north of State Highway 174, as described in the Order of October 22, 2007, published at 37 Pa.B. 5902 (November 3, 2007), adding that land to the PPV Nursery Quarantine Area.

In York County

 • Monaghan Township

Rescinding the Plum Pox Virus Voluntary Commercial Orchard Fruit Tree Indemnity Program.

 4. The Department hereby terminates the Plum Pox Virus Voluntary Commercial Orchard Fruit Tree Indemnity Program. The specific quarantine orders that are rescinded in their entirety are as follows:

 The Order of April 16, 2004, published at 34 Pa.B. 2470 (May 8, 2004), establishing the Plum Pox Virus Voluntary Commercial Orchard Fruit Tree Indemnity Program; and

 The Order of February 20, 2007, published at 37 Pa.B. 1049 (March 3, 2007), revising the Plum Pox Virus Voluntary Commercial Orchard Fruit Tree Indemnity Program.

Summary of other Current PPV-Related Quarantine Orders and Programs.

 5. The Department provides notice that the following PPV-related programs remain in effect:

 The Commercial Orchard and Fruit Tree Nursery Indemnity Program, as established by Order of January 1, 2000, published at 30 Pa.B. 48 (January 1, 2000);

 The Plum Pox Virus Commercial Orchard Fruit Tree Indemnity Program, as established by Order of August 5, 2000, published at 30 Pa.B. 4014 (August 5, 2000), as amended by subsequent Orders;

 The Plum Pox Virus Commercial Nursery Fruit Tree Indemnity Program, as established by Order of September 9, 2000, published at 30 Pa.B. 4737 (September 9, 2000), as amended by subsequent Orders;

 The Plum Pox Virus Noncommercial Prunus Tree and Landscape Nursery Prunus Tree Indemnity Program, as established by Order of June 9, 2001, published at 31 Pa.B. 2936 (June 9, 2001); and

 The Plum Pox Virus Untended Stone Fruit Orchard Indemnity Program, as established by Order of January 4, 2003, published at 33 Pa.B. 41 (January 4, 2003), as amended by subsequent orders.

 6. This quarantine is effective as of October 29, 2009, and shall remain in effect until terminated by subsequent order.

RUSSELL C. REDDING, 
Acting Secretary

[Pa.B. Doc. No. 09-2099. Filed for public inspection November 13, 2009, 9:00 a.m.]



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