[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 149 (Friday, August 2, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63214-63215]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-17004]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-R8-ES-2024-0089; FXES11140800000-245-FF08EVEN00]
Receipt of Incidental Take Permit Application for Participation
in the General Conservation Plan for Oil and Gas Activities;
Categorical Exclusion; Santa Barbara County, CA
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce
receipt of an application from the Southern California Gas Company
(SoCalGas) for an incidental take permit (ITP), pursuant to the
Endangered Species Act, under the approved General Conservation Plan
for Oil and Gas Activities (GCP). If granted, the ITP would authorize
take of the California red-legged frog (Rana draytonii), incidental to
activities within unincorporated Santa Barbara County, California. We
request public comment on the application, and on 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 low-effect screening form. The application
and the screening form are available for public review. We invite
comment from the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies.
DATES: We must receive your written comments on or before September 3,
2024.
ADDRESSES:
Obtaining Documents: The document this notice announces (draft
screening form), as well as any comments and other materials that we
receive, will be available for public inspection online in Docket No.
FWS-R8-ES-2024-0089 at https://www.regulations.gov. The approved GCP
and the associated final environmental assessment/finding of no
significant impact are also available on that site. However, we are no
longer taking comments on those finalized, approved documents.
Submitting Comments: If you wish to submit comments, 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-R8-ES-2024-0089.
U.S. mail: Public Comments Processing, Attn: Docket No.
FWS-R8-ES-2024-0089; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, MS: PRB/3W; 5275
Leesburg Pike; Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Daniel Cisneros, Fish and Wildlife
Biologist, by email at [email protected], by telephone at 805-677-
1766, or by U.S. mail at the Ventura Fish and Wildlife Office, 2493
Portola Road, Suite B, Ventura, CA 93003. 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.
[[Page 63215]]
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(Service), announce receipt of an application from the Southern
California Gas company for an incidental take permit (ITP), pursuant to
the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et
seq.), under the approved General Conservation Plan for Oil and Gas
Activities (GCP). A GCP is a mechanism that meets the definition of a
conservation plan in section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA and enables the
construct of a programmatic permitting and conservation process to
address a defined suite of proposed activities over a defined planning
area. The application for an incidental take permit was made pursuant
to section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA. The ITP, if granted, would authorize
take of the federally threatened California red-legged frog (Rana
draytonii) incidental to activities associated with temporary
excavations and pipeline replacement of the existing natural gas
transmission Line 247, west of the city of Goleta at 100 El Capitan
Terrace Lane within unincorporated Santa Barbara County, California.
The permit would be issued to the applicant under the GCP for Oil and
Gas Activities, which was approved on June 27, 2022. Prior to approval,
a notice of availability of the draft programmatic environmental
assessment (EA) and GCP published on March 6, 2020 (85 FR 13181). The
approved GCP and the associated final programmatic environmental
assessment/finding of no significant impact are available on the
Ventura Fish and Wildlife Office web page at https://www.fws.gov/media/habitat-conservation-plans-and-general-conservation-plans. We have also
uploaded them to https://www.regulations.gov. However, we are no longer
taking comments on these finalized, approved documents.
Documents for Public Comment
We invite public comment on the application for an ITP, the draft
screening form we prepared in accordance with the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), and on
our preliminary determination that this proposed ITP may qualify for a
categorical exclusion pursuant to the Council on Environmental
Quality's National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations (40 CFR
1501.4), the Department of the Interior's (DOI) NEPA regulations (43
CFR 46), and the DOI's Departmental Manual (516 DM 8.5(C)(2)).
Background
The Service listed the California red-legged frog as threatened on
May 23, 1996 (61 FR 25813). Section 9 of the ESA prohibits ``take'' of
fish and wildlife species listed as threatened or endangered (16 U.S.C.
1538), where take is defined to include the following activities: ``to
harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or
collect, or to attempt to engage in any such conduct'' (16 U.S.C.
1532). Under section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA (16 U.S.C. 1539(a)(1)(B)),
we may issue permits to authorize take of listed fish and wildlife
species 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 are in the Code of
Federal Regulations (CFR) at 50 CFR 17.22 and 17.32, respectively.
Issuance of an ITP also must not jeopardize the existence of federally
listed fish, wildlife, or plant species. The permittee would receive
assurances under our ``No Surprises'' regulations (50 CFR 17.22(b)(5)
and 17.32(b)(5)).
Applicant's Proposed Activities
The applicant has applied for a permit for incidental take of
California red-legged frog. The take would occur in association with
activities necessary to provide safety upgrades and replacement of the
existing natural gas transmission Line 247, west of the city of Goleta
at 100 El Capitan Terrace Lane within an unincorporated area of Santa
Barbara County, California. Project activities would include the
removal of an existing 1,200-foot-long bypass line to the west of El
Capitan Creek. Removal of the bypass line will require an approximately
3-foot (ft)-wide by 1,200-ft-long trench in a 15-ft-wide workspace.
Removal of the bypass line is anticipated to take approximately 6
weeks. Segment 2 of project activities will require a jack and bore
method of drilling of approximately 175 linear ft to install a
replacement 16-inch (in) steel pipeline by excavation of an open
trench. The existing pipeline under El Capitan Creek will be abandoned
in place to limit disturbance to riparian habitat. A temporary 8-in-
diameter and 56-ft-long bypass line will be tied in on the eastern end
to provide service during construction. Segment 2 of project activities
is anticipated to take approximately 16 weeks to complete. The
applicant will backfill trenches with a layer of sand slurry at the
bottom and then recompact with native soil following the installation
of the replacement pipeline. Additionally, the applicant will a return
all excavated areas to their original grades and revegetate them with
native seed mix. Project activities will not occur in El Capitan Creek
or its riparian habitat; thus, no California red-legged frog breeding
habitat will be disturbed. However, transient adult California red-
legged frogs may be encountered in upland habitat during project
activities. The nearest known location of California red-legged frogs
is within 1 mile south of the project site. The proposed pipeline
repair would temporarily impact dispersal habitat through ground
disturbance by excavation and vegetation removal for workspace
development, as well as the potential for direct injury or mortality
from crushing.
The project includes minimization measures for the California red-
legged frog and mitigation for unavoidable impacts to the species and
its habitat. The applicant has proposed a one-time fixed payment of
$21,350 to the California red-legged frog mitigation account managed by
the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to compensate for unavoidable
impacts to the California red-legged frog.
Public Availability of Comments
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
ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying
information from public view, we cannot guarantee that we will be able
to do so.
Authority
The Service provides this notice under section 10(c) of the
Endangered Species Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) and its implementing
regulations (50 CFR 17.32) and the National Environmental Policy Act
(42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and its implementing regulations (40 CFR 1500-
1508 and 43 CFR 46).
Stephen P. Henry,
Field Supervisor, Ventura Fish and Wildlife Office, Ventura,
California.
[FR Doc. 2024-17004 Filed 8-1-24; 8:45 am]
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