Part 1. TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Chapter 20. COTTON PEST CONTROL
Subchapter B. QUARANTINE REQUIREMENTS
The Texas Department of Agriculture (the department) proposes amendments to §20.12 and §20.16, concerning a suppressed area under the department's cotton pest control program. Amendments are proposed to add the St. Lawrence Boll Weevil Eradication Zone (the St. Lawrence Zone) to the list of suppressed areas in §20.12 and exempt transportation of regulated articles through Sterling County from certain quarantine requirements in §20.16.
The boll weevil eradication program in Texas was initiated in 1994 in an effort to rid the state of the boll weevil. Once a zone has achieved suppressed status, the zone can become re-infested with boll weevil from outside areas. Elimination of boll weevil re-infestations can be expensive. In areas of the southeastern United States, the control to stop re-infestations ranged from $20,000 to over one million dollars, with an average cost of $125,000 per outbreak. The designation of a zone as suppressed invokes quarantine restrictions on the movement of regulated articles from a quarantined area into a restricted area; this helps protect the zone from boll weevil re-infestation.
In accordance with §20.12, the Texas Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation (the foundation) recommended that the department declare the St. Lawrence Zone as suppressed. The foundation provided scientific documentation acceptable to the department, which indicates that movement of regulated articles into this zone presents a threat to the success of boll weevil eradication. The data provided indicates that boll weevil numbers for the 2006 cotton crop year were below the requirement of an average of 0.025 boll weevils per trap per week. Consequently, the Commissioner of Agriculture declared the St. Lawrence Zone to be suppressed on May 8, 2007.
Amendments to §20.16 are proposed to exempt regulated articles being transported through Sterling County from restrictions in §20.16. This exemption is not expected to pose a risk to boll weevil eradication because no cotton is grown in Sterling County and when the proposed amendments become effective all surrounding counties will have attained either suppressed or functionally eradicated status. Enactment of this exemption will avoid imposing an unnecessary regulatory burden and expenses on persons transporting regulated articles through Sterling County.
Dr. Robert Crocker, Coordinator for Pest Management and Citrus Programs, has determined that for the first five-year period the proposed amendments are in effect, there will be no anticipated fiscal impact for state and local governments as a result of administering or enforcing the rule, as proposed since all cotton or other regulated items entering the St. Lawrence Zone from quarantined areas, other than Sterling County (which has no cotton), either have originated in or have passed through one or more suppressed or functionally eradicated zones.
Dr. Crocker also has determined that for each year of the first five years the proposed amendments are in effect, the amendments will benefit the public by reinforcing efforts to eradicate boll weevils, thereby protecting the investment that cotton producers and the State of Texas have made to eradicate the pest. Once the boll weevil is reduced to low levels or eradicated from cotton producing areas of the state, fewer insecticide applications should be necessary to produce high quality cotton. In other eradicated areas of the United States, it is estimated that growers are saving an average of $36 per acre in reduced pesticide applications and earning an additional $42 per acre from increased cotton yield. Preventing re-infestation by boll weevils in restricted areas may enable Texas cotton producers to achieve similar results. There is no cost anticipated to micro-businesses, small businesses or individuals required to comply with the amendments.
Comments on the proposal may be submitted in writing to Dr. Robert Crocker, Coordinator for Pest Management and Citrus Programs, Texas Department of Agriculture, P.O. Box 12847, Austin, Texas 78711. Comments must be received no later than 30 days from the date of the publication of the proposal in the Texas Register.
The amendments to §20.12 and §20.16 are proposed in accordance with the Texas Agriculture Code (the Code), §74.006, which provides the department with the authority to adopt rules as necessary for the effective enforcement and administration of Chapter 74, Subchapter A; §74.004 which provides the department with the authority to establish regulated areas, dates and appropriate methods of destruction of stalks, other cotton parts and products of host plants for cotton pests; and §74.122, which provides the department with the authority to adopt rules relating to quarantining areas of Texas that are infested with the boll weevil, including rules addressing the storage and movement of regulated articles into and out of a quarantined area.
The code that is affected by the proposal is Texas Agriculture Code, Chapter 74, Subchapters A and D.
§20.12.Suppressed Areas.
(a) (No change.)
(b) The Northwest Plains (NWP), Northern High Plains (NHP),
Northern Rolling Plains (NRP), Southern High Plains/Caprock (SHP/C), Western
High Plains (WHP), Permian Basin (PB), El Paso/Trans Pecos (EP/TP), [
and the
] Panhandle
, and St. Lawrence
Boll Weevil Eradication
Zones, as defined in the Texas Agriculture Code, §74.1021 and Texas Administrative
Code §§3.110, 3.111, 3.112, 3.115 and 3.118 have been declared as
suppressed by the commissioner.
(c) - (d) (No change.)
§20.16.Restrictions.
(a) - (b) (No change.)
(c) Exceptions. The following are exceptions to the restrictions in subsection (a) of this section:
(1) - (3) (No change.)
(4) Movement of regulated articles through Sterling County is exempted from the requirements of this subchapter.
This agency hereby certifies that the proposal has been reviewed by legal counsel and found to be within the agency's legal authority to adopt.
Filed with the Office of the Secretary of State on May 14, 2007.
TRD-200701856
Dolores Alvarado Hibbs
General Counsel
Texas Department of Agriculture
Earliest possible date of adoption: June 24, 2007
For further information, please call: (512) 463-4075