[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 136 (Tuesday, July 16, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57937-57939]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-15594]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2024-0070; FXES11140300000-245-FF03E00000]
Draft Environmental Assessment and Proposed Habitat Conservation
Plan; Receipt of an Application for an Incidental Take Permit; Alliant
Energy, Iowa and Minnesota
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comment and information.
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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), have
received an application from Alliant Energy's Interstate Power and
Light Company and Wisconsin Power and Light Company (Alliant;
applicant), for an incidental take permit (ITP) under the Endangered
Species Act, for wind facilities in Iowa and Minnesota (project). The
applicant requests the ITP for the take of four bat species incidental
to the otherwise lawful activities associated with the project. The
applicant proposes a conservation program to minimize and mitigate for
the unavoidable incidental take as described in their habitat
conservation plan (HCP). The Service requests public comment on the
application, which includes the applicant's proposed HCP, and the
Service's draft environmental assessment, prepared pursuant to the
National Environmental Policy Act. The Service provides this notice to
seek comments from the public and Federal, Tribal, State, and local
governments.
DATES: We will accept comments received or postmarked on or before
August 15, 2024.
ADDRESSES:
Obtaining Documents: Electronic copies of the documents this notice
announces, along with public comments received, will be available
online in Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2024-0070 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-2024-0070.
U.S. mail: Public Comments Processing, Attn: Docket No.
FWS-R3-ES-2024-0070; 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 202; 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 Alliant Energy's
Interstate Power and Light Company and Wisconsin Power and Light
Company (Alliant; applicant), for an incidental take permit (ITP) under
the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et
seq.), for its eight wind facilities in Iowa and one facility in
Minnesota (project). The applicant requests the ITP, which would be for
a 30-year period, for the take of the four covered bat species in table
1, incidental to the otherwise lawful activities associated with the
project.
[[Page 57938]]
Table 1--Covered Species
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Federal listing
Common name Scientific name status
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Indiana bat................... Myotis sodalis........ Endangered.
Northern long-eared bat....... Myotis septentrionalis Endangered.
Tricolored bat................ Perimyotis subflavus.. Proposed
endangered.
Little brown bat.............. Myotis lucifugus...... Under review for
listing.
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The applicant proposes a conservation program to minimize and
mitigate for the unavoidable incidental take as described in their
habitat conservation plan (HCP). The Service requests public comment on
the application, which includes the applicant's proposed HCP, and the
Service's draft environmental assessment, prepared pursuant to the
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). The
Service provides this notice to seek comments from the public and
Federal, Tribal, State, and local governments.
Background
Section 9 of the ESA 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. 1532(19)). 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 at 50 CFR 17.22 and 50 CFR 17.32.
Applicant's Proposed Project
The applicant requests a 30-year ITP for take of the four covered
species in table 1. The applicant determined that the covered
activities (operation, refurbishment, and repowering) of the wind
projects are reasonably certain to result in incidental take of these
covered species. The authorized level of take from the covered
activities over the 30-year project duration is expected to be 123
Indiana bats; 246 northern long-eared bats; 2,520 tricolored bats; and
3,536 little brown bats.
The proposed conservation strategy in the applicant's proposed HCP
is designed to avoid, minimize, and mitigate the impacts of the covered
activities on the covered species. The biological goals and objectives
are to minimize potential take of the covered species through on-site
minimization measures and to provide habitat conservation measures for
the covered species to offset the impact of the taking. On-site
minimization measures have been designed based on the apparent risk
level of each project, and include feathering turbines when wind is
below manufacturer's cut-in speed, below 4.0 meters per second (m/s),
and below 5.0 m/s during periods of highest bat risk, as described in
table 5.1 in the HCP. Minimization measures will be implemented nightly
from sunset to sunrise. To offset the impacts of the taking, the
applicant proposes to protect and restore known maternity colony
habitat for the covered species. The Service requests public comments
on the permit application, which includes a proposed HCP, and an EA
prepared in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.).
The applicant's HCP describes the activities that will be
undertaken to implement the project, as well as the mitigation and
minimization measures proposed to address the impacts to the covered
species. Pursuant to NEPA, the EA analyzes the impacts the ITP issuance
would have on the covered species and the environment.
National Environmental Policy Act
The issuance of an ITP is a Federal action that triggers the need
for compliance with NEPA. We prepared a draft EA that analyzes the
environmental impacts on the human environment resulting from three
alternatives: A no-action alternative, the applicant's proposed action,
and a more restrictive alternative consisting of feathering at a rate
of wind speed that results in less impacts to bats.
Next Steps
The Service will evaluate the permit application and the comments
received to determine whether the application meets the requirements of
section 10(a) of the ESA. 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 above findings, we will
determine whether the permit issuance criteria of section 10(a)(l)(B)
of the ESA have been met. If met, the Service will issue the requested
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:
The direct, indirect, or cumulative effects that
implementation of any alternative could have on the human environment.
Whether or not the significance of the impact on various
aspects of the human environment has been adequately analyzed.
Any other information pertinent to evaluating the effects
of the proposed action 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://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. 4371 et seq.) and its implementing
[[Page 57939]]
regulations (40 CFR 1506.6; 43 CFR part 46).
Lori Nordstrom,
Assistant Regional Director, Ecological Services.
[FR Doc. 2024-15594 Filed 7-15-24; 8:45 am]
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