Pink Bollworm Regulated Areas

We are adopting as a final rule, without change, an interim rule that amended the pink bollworm regulations by removing all or portions of previously regulated areas in Clay, Crittenden, and Mississippi Counties in Arkansas; Dunklin, New Madrid, and Pemiscot Counties in Missouri; and Dyer and Lauderdale Counties in Tennessee from the list of suppressive areas for pink bollworm. The interim rule also removed Missouri and Tennessee from the list of States quarantined because of pink bollworm. We took this action because trapping surveys show that the pink bollworm no longer exists in these areas. The action was necessary to relieve unnecessary restrictions on the interstate movement of regulated articles from the previously regulated areas. The interim rule also amended the regulations by adding a previously nonregulated portion of Poinsett County in Arkansas to the list of suppressive areas for pink bollworm. The action imposed restrictions on the interstate movement of regulated articles from the regulated area in Poinsett County in Arkansas, and was necessary to prevent the interstate movement of pink bollworm into noninfested areas.