[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 107 (Monday, June 3, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47589-47590]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-12123]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2024-0023; FXES11140300000-245-FF03E00000]
Receipt of an Application for an Amended Incidental Take Permit
Amendment for the Great Pathfinder Habitat Conservation Plan, Hamilton
and Boone Counties, IA; Categorical Exclusion
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments and information.
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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, have received an
application from Great Pathfinder Wind LLC (applicant), to amend an
existing incidental take permit under the Endangered Species Act, for
its Great Pathfinder Wind Project. We request public comment on the
application, which includes the applicant's proposed amended habitat
conservation plan, and the Service's preliminary determination that the
proposed permitting action may be eligible for a categorical exclusion
pursuant to the Council on Environmental Quality's National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations, the Department of the
Interior's (DOI) NEPA regulations, and the DOI Departmental Manual. To
make this preliminary determination, we prepared a draft environmental
action statement and low-effect screening form, both of which are also
available for public review. We invite comment from the public and
local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies.
DATES: We will accept comments received or postmarked on or before July
3, 2024.
ADDRESSES:
Obtaining Documents: The documents this notice announces, as well
as any comments and other materials that we receive, will be available
for public inspection online in Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2024-0023 at
https://www.regulations.gov.
Submitting Comments: If you wish to submit comments on any of the
documents, you may do so in writing by one of the following methods:
Online: https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments on Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2024-0023.
U.S. mail: Submit comments by U.S. mail to Public Comments
Processing, Attn: Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2024-0023; U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service; 5275 Leesburg Pike, MS: PRB/3W; Falls Church, VA
22041-3803.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kraig McPeek, Field Supervisor,
Illinois-Iowa Ecological Services Field Office, by email at
[email protected], or by telephone at 309-757-5800, extension 214;
or Andrew Horton, Regional HCP Coordinator, by email at
[email protected], or by telephone at 612-713-5337. Individuals in
the United States who are deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing, or have a
speech disability may dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to access
telecommunications relay services. Individuals outside the United
States should use the relay services offered within their country to
make international calls to the point-of-contact in the United States.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(Service), have received an application from Great Pathfinder Wind LLC
(applicant), to amend an existing incidental take permit (ITP) under
the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et
seq.), for its Great Pathfinder Wind Project (project). If approved,
the amended ITP would add authorization of incidental take of a
proposed endangered species, the tricolored bat (Perimyotis subflavus),
to the currently existing authorizations to incidentally take the
Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) and northern long-eared bat (Myotis
septentrionalis), both of which are federally listed as endangered. The
applicant has prepared a proposed habitat conservation plan (HCP)
amendment that describes the actions and measures that the applicant
would implement to avoid, minimize, and mitigate incidental take of the
tricolored bat. We also announce the availability of a draft
environmental action statement and low-effect screening form, which
[[Page 47590]]
has been prepared in response to the permit application in accordance
with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA;
42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). We request public comment on the application
and associated documents.
Background
Section 9 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA;
16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), and its implementing regulations prohibit the
``take'' of animal species listed as endangered or threatened. ``Take''
is defined under the ESA as to ``harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot,
wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect [listed animal species], or to
attempt to engage in such conduct'' (16 U.S.C. 1538). However, under
section 10(a) of the ESA, we may issue permits to authorize incidental
take of listed species. ``Incidental take'' is defined by the ESA as
take that is incidental to, and not the purpose of, carrying out an
otherwise lawful activity. Regulations governing incidental take
permits for endangered and threatened species, respectively, are found
in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) at 50 CFR 17.22 and 50 CFR
17.32.
Applicant's Proposed Project
The applicant requests to amend their current 6-year ITP
(ESPER0627303). The proposed HCP amendment, if approved, would add
authorization to incidentally take the proposed endangered tricolored
bat (Perimyotis subflavus) to the remaining 5 years of the current ITP.
The applicant determined that take is reasonably certain to occur
incidental to operation of the 66 wind turbines at the project. The
proposed conservation strategy in the applicant's proposed HCP
amendment is designed to avoid, minimize, and mitigate the impacts of
the covered activity on the covered species. The biological goals and
objectives are to minimize potential take of Indiana bats, northern
long-eared bats, and tricolored bats through on-site minimization
measures and to provide habitat conservation measures for all covered
to offset any impacts from operations of the project. The HCP amendment
provides on-site avoidance and minimization measures, which include
turbine operational adjustments. The estimated level of take from the
project amendment is 15 tricolored bats. To offset the impacts of the
taking tricolored bats, the applicant proposes to protect known
maternity colony habitat or contribute to a white-nose treatment
research mitigation fund, if available.
National Environmental Policy Act
The issuance of an ITP is a Federal action that triggers the need
for compliance with NEPA. The Service has made a preliminary
determination that the applicant's proposed amended project, and the
proposed mitigation measures, would individually and cumulatively have
a minor effect on the covered species and the human environment.
Therefore, we have preliminarily determined that the proposed ESA
section 10(a)(1)(B) permit would be a low-effect ITP that individually
or cumulatively would have a minor effect on the species and may
qualify for application of a categorical exclusion pursuant to the
Council on Environmental Quality's NEPA regulations, DOI's NEPA
regulations, and the DOI Departmental Manual. A low-effect ITP is one
that would result in (1) minor or nonsignificant effects on species
covered in the HCP; (2) nonsignificant effects on the human
environment; and (3) impacts that, when added together with the impacts
of other past, present, and reasonable foreseeable actions, would not
result in significant cumulative effects to the human environment.
Next Steps
The Service will evaluate the application and the comments received
to determine whether to issue the requested ITP. We will also conduct
an intra-Service consultation pursuant to section 7 of the ESA to
evaluate the effects of the proposed take. After considering the
preceding and other matters, we will determine whether the permit
issuance criteria of section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA have been met. If
met, the Service will issue the requested amended ITP to the applicant.
Request for Public Comments
The Service invites comments and suggestions from all interested
parties during a 30-day public comment period (see DATES). In
particular, information and comments regarding the following topics are
requested:
1. The effects that implementation of any alternative under this
proposed amendment could have on the human environment;
2. Whether or not the significance of the impact on various aspects
of the human environment has been adequately analyzed in this proposed
amendment;
3. Any threats to the tricolored bat that may influence their
populations over the life of the ITP that are not addressed in the
proposed HCP amendment or screening form; and
4. Any other information pertinent to evaluating the effects of the
proposed amendment on the human environment.
Availability of Public Comments
You may submit comments by one of the methods shown under
ADDRESSES. We will post on https://www.regulations.gov all public
comments and information received electronically or via hardcopy. All
comments received, including names and addresses, will become part of
the administrative record associated with this action. Before including
your address, phone number, email address, or other personal
identifying information in your comment, you should be aware that your
entire comment--including your personal identifying information--may be
made publicly available at any time. While you can request in your
comment that we withhold your personal identifying information from
public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so. All
submissions from organizations or businesses, and from individuals
identifying themselves as representatives or officials of organizations
or businesses, will be made available for public disclosure in their
entirety.
Authority
We provide this notice under section 10(c) of the ESA (16 U.S.C.
1531 et seq.) and its implementing regulations (50 CFR 17.22) and NEPA
(42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and its implementing regulations (40 CFR 1500-
1508; 43 CFR part 46).
Lori Nordstrom,
Assistant Regional Director, Ecological Services.
[FR Doc. 2024-12123 Filed 5-31-24; 8:45 am]
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