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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 196 / Thursday, October 14, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with RULES1

Process in the table. Note that the table is now Table 8 after the table renumbering.
Comment 12: Two commenters noted that Table 10 in the revised specification has a new Note M which concerns a second inner assay zone for Douglas Fir transmission poles. There is no footnote M referenced in the body of the table. The assay zone specified in Note M would be the zone 1.0 to 1.5
inches from the surface which disagrees with the requirements found in AWPA
T1 which the RUS specification references. All Douglas Fir transmission poles are required by the RUS
specification to be deep incised or radial drilled to 212 inches in depth and AWPA would specify the inner assay zone as the zone 2.0 to 2.5 inches from the surface. The requirement in the note to Table 10 is far less stringent than the AWPA requirements which may indicate an error has been made in Note M. A superscript M should be added to the Douglas Fir line in the Table.
Agency Response: In this final rule, the Agency incorporated the corrections of Note M to the Table and an inner assay zone 2.02.5 is used as in the AWPA. A superscript M is added to the Douglas Fir line in the Table.
Comment 13: Two commenters requested that the Poles Framing Guide in Figure 2 should be modified to include the additional holes that are very frequently being requested by RUS Borrowers. RUS should survey the RUS Borrowers to identify the size and placement of these additional holes and add them to the drawing as allowed optional holes. The lack of framing uniformity by the RUS Borrowers makes it impossible to maintain a single reserve treated stock that could be shipped to all RUS Borrowers. Addition of these additional holes to the framing drawing as acceptable optional holes would allow a supplier, at his own expense, to provide the additional holes
on all poles and have them be accepted by all RUS Borrowers.
Agency Response: Most RUS
borrowers continue to use standard M20 framing. At the current time, RUS
will not make changes to the M20
framing pattern nor adding a note, as it would take a codified revision of another bulletin to do so. In the future, should the majority of cooperative borrowers across the country begin requesting special framing, RUS will consider making such a change during the next regulation revision cycle.
Comment 14: One commenter noted that additional language on an alternate referee method on ring count is not necessary.
Agency Response: Agency disagrees.
As an additional volume of lower density timber moves into the pole market, accurate determination of ring count becomes very important. The Agency has added the following ANSI
O5.1 language in the rule per the commenter: For poles that exhibit a non-uniform growth rate around the circumference, the average growth rate shall be determined at the midpoint of the shortest arc between the point showing the fewest growth rings in the required zone and the point showing the most growth rings in the required zone.
Comments and Responses Relevant to 7
CFR 1728.201, Bulletin 1728F701, Specification for Wood Crossarms Solid and Laminated, Transmission Timbers and Pole Keys Comment 1: Three commenters noted that the word round should be changed back to the original word sound in the appropriate places.
Agency Response: The typo is corrected, and the word sound replaced the word round to correct the typo.
Comment 2: Three commenters requested that die-stamping must be returned as an allowable means to mark crossarms as the largest crossarm
Preservative
Analytical method
Pentachlorophenol
Creosote
Waterborne
Copper Naphthenate
DCOI

XRF, Lime Ignition, Copper Pyridine
Toluene Extraction
XRF
XRF
XRF, HPLC

manufacturer no longer burn brands the arms due to fire safety issues in the plant.
Agency Response: The Agency agrees and in this final rule added back in two places Die-stamping, however, Dyestamping is not allowed as it will not last long <18 months.
Comment 3: Four commenters asked to allow RUS Borrowers to choose from any of the preservatives approved in the AWPA Standards for the commodities being purchased.
Agency Response: RUS maintains an approved List of Materials. For borrowers desiring to use materials that are not on the List, there is a process where approval to use such materials can be requested from RUS on a caseby-case basis. The same process would apply to any AWPA approved preservative that is not listed in this RUS specification. RUS reviewed DCOI
application package focusing on Treatability and field pole stub/post-test and determined to include AWPA
approved DCOI in RUS bulletins as a new preservative to address the discontinuation of Pentachlorophenol penta.
Comments and Responses Relevant Only 7 CFR 1728.202, Bulletin 1728H
702, Specification for Quality Control and Inspection of Timber Products Comment 1: Two commenters noted that the referee methods shown in Table 1 to Paragraph b10 do not agree in all cases with the referee methods shown in AWPA Standard A1519.
Agency Response: The listing of X-ray spectroscopy as the referee method for water-borne preservatives instead of the previous wet ash chemistry method was due to the complexity of the method itself and the fact that few companies currently have the necessary experience or facilities required to run a wet ash.
The Agency in this final rule revised the table as follows, which includes the methods for DCOI:
Referee method Lime Ignition, Copper Pyridine.
Toluene Extraction.
XRF.
ICP, GC.
HPLC.

XRFX-ray fluorescence.
HPLCHigh Performance Liquid Chromatography.
ICPInductively coupled plasma.
GCGas Chromatography.

Comment 2: Two commenters requested to allow the use of a set of graduated treated wood samples for calibration of an XRF used for penta
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analysis. Table 1 to Paragraph b10
should be amended to show XRF also as an allowable method for penta and the text should be amended to add AWPA

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A9 to the present reference to AWPA
A83.
Agency Response: A change is made to allow the use of a set of graduated
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