The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS) Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) is making available to the public two draft environmental assessments (EAs) for biological control of invasive weeds in the State of Hawaii. The first EA is titled “Field Release of the Golden Sombermark Butterfly (Euselasia chrysippe (Lepidoptera: Riodinidae)) for the Biological Control of Miconia, Miconia calvescens, (Melastomataceae), in Hawaii”. The second EA is titled “Field Release of Syphraea uberabensis (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) for the Biological Control of Cane Tibouchina, Tibouchina herbacea, (Melastomataceae), in Hawaii”. Anyone wishing to obtain a copy of these documents should contact Cheryl Young (USDA-APHIS PPQ), 300 Ala Moana Boulevard, Room 8-120, Box 50002, Honolulu, HI 96850 (cheryl.l.young@usda.gov), or view the documents at www.regulations.gov, searching by EA title. Anyone wishing to comment on the draft environmental assessments should send comments to www.regulations.gov or to the addresses shown above by February 24, 2023. Any comments received will be considered and may result in changes to the proposed release. For general questions concerning the proposed release of these biological control agents, please contact Bob Pfannenstiel (bob.pfannenstiel@usda.gov).
(SA1400829 1/23, 1/24/23)