[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 201 (Tuesday, October 19, 2004)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 61461-61463]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-23225]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

50 CFR Part 17

RIN 1018-AT45


Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Notice of the 
Availability of Draft Economic Analysis for the Proposed Designation of 
Critical Habitat for the Riverside Fairy Shrimp (Streptocephalus 
woottoni)

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Proposed rule; notice of availability of draft economic 
analysis and reopening of public comment period.

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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the 
availability of a draft economic analysis of the proposed designation 
of critical habitat for the Riverside fairy shrimp (Streptocephalus 
woottoni), and the reopening of the public comment period on the 
proposed rule to designate critical habitat for the Riverside fairy 
shrimp. Comments previously submitted for this proposed rule need not 
be resubmitted as they have already been incorporated into the public 
record and will be fully considered in any final decision.

DATES: We will accept comments and information until 5 p.m. on November 
18, 2004. Any comments received after the closing date may not be 
considered in the final decision on this action.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and materials may be submitted to us by any 
one of the following methods:
    1. You may submit written comments and information to the Jim 
Bartel, Field Supervisor, Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife Office, 6010 
Hidden Valley Road, Carlsbad, CA 92009;
    2. You may hand-deliver written comments and information to our 
Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife Office at the above address, or fax your 
comments to 760/431-9618; or
    3. You may send your comments by electronic mail (e-mail) to 
[email protected]. For directions on how to submit electronic filing 
of comments, by e-mail see the ``Public Comments Solicited'' section. 
In the event that our internet connection is not functional, please 
submit your comments by the alternate methods mentioned above.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jim Bartel, Field Supervisor, Carlsbad 
Fish and Wildlife Office, at the above address (telephone 760/431-9440; 
facsimile 760/431-9618).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Public Comments Solicited

    We will accept written comments and information during this 
reopened comment period. We solicit comments on the original proposed 
critical habitat designation and on our draft economic analysis of the 
proposed designation. We are particularly interested in comments 
concerning:
    (1) The reasons why any habitat should or should not be determined 
to be critical habitat as provided by section 4 of the Act, including 
whether the benefits of exclusion outweigh the benefits of specifying 
such area as part of the critical habitat;
    (2) Specific information on the amount and distribution of 
Riverside fairy shrimp and its habitat, and which habitat is essential 
to the conservation of this species and why;
    (3) Land use designations and current or planned activities in the 
subject areas and their possible impacts on proposed critical habitat;
    (4) Any foreseeable economic or other impacts resulting from the 
proposed designation of critical habitat, in particular, any impacts on 
small entities or families;
    (5) How our approach to critical habitat designation could be 
improved or modified to provide for greater public participation and 
understanding, or to assist us in accommodating public concern and 
comments;
    (6) We request information on how many of the State and local 
environmental protection measures referenced in the draft Economic 
Analysis were adopted largely as a result of the listing of the 
Riverside fairy shrimp, and how many were either already in place or 
enacted for other reasons;
    (7) Whether the economic analysis identifies all State and local 
costs attributable to the proposed critical habitat designation. If 
not, what other costs are overlooked;
    (8) Are the adjustments to local governments' economic data made by 
the draft Economic Analysis, as set out in its appendices, reasonable? 
If not, please provide alternative interpretations and the 
justification for the alternative and/or the reasons the interpretation 
in the draft Economic Analysis is incorrect;
    (9) Whether the economic analysis makes appropriate assumptions

[[Page 61462]]

regarding current practices and likely regulatory changes imposed as a 
result of the designation of critical habitat;
    (10) Whether the economic analysis appropriately identifies all 
costs that could result from the designation;
    (11) Whether the economic analysis correctly assesses the effect on 
regional costs associated with land use controls that derive from the 
designation;
    (12) Whether the designation will result in disproportionate 
economic impacts to specific areas that should be evaluated for 
possible exclusion from the final designation;
    (13) The economic analysis should identify all costs related to the 
designation of critical habitat for the Riverside fairy shrimp which 
was intended to take place at the time the species was listed. As a 
result, the assumption is the economic analysis should be consistent 
with our listing regulations. We request comment on whether our 
analysis achieves that consistency;
    (14) We request comment on whether it is appropriate that the 
analysis does not include the cost of project modification to projects 
that are the result of informal consultation;
    (15) We request comment on whether there is information on known or 
estimated impacts to development activities likely to occur on the 
lands proposed for designation at the former March Air Force Base;
    (16) Some of the lands we have identified as essential for the 
conservation of the Riverside fairy shrimp are not being proposed as 
critical habitat. These are: lands on Marine Corps Air Station Miramar; 
``mission-critical'' training areas on Marine Corps Base, Camp 
Pendleton; areas within San Diego Multiple Species Conservation Program 
and the Orange County Central-Coastal Natural Communities Conservation 
Program; and areas in the draft Western Riverside Multiple Species 
Habitat Conservation Plan. These areas have been excluded because we 
believe the benefit of excluding these areas outweighs the benefit of 
including them. We specifically solicit comment on the inclusion or 
exclusion of such areas, and: (a) Whether these areas are essential; 
(b) whether these areas warrant exclusion; and (c) the basis for not 
designating these areas as critical habitat (section 4(b)(2) of the 
Act); and
    (17) We request information from the Department of Defense to 
assist the Secretary of the Interior in evaluating critical habitat on 
lands administered by or under the control of the Department of 
Defense, specifically information regarding impacts to national 
security associated with proposed designation of critical habitat.
    All previous comments and information submitted during the initial 
comment period on the proposed rule need not be resubmitted. If you 
wish to comment, you may submit your comments and materials concerning 
the draft Economic Analysis and the proposed rule by any one of several 
methods (see ADDRESSES section). Our final designation of critical 
habitat for the Riverside fairy shrimp will take into consideration all 
comments and any additional information received.
    Our practice is to make comments, including names and home 
addresses of respondents, available for public review during regular 
business hours. Individual respondents may request that we withhold 
their home address, which we will honor to the extent allowable by law. 
There also may be circumstances in which we would withhold a 
respondent's identity, as allowable by law. If you wish us to withhold 
your name and/or address, you must state this prominently at the 
beginning of your comments. However, we will not consider anonymous 
comments. We will make all submissions from organizations or 
businesses, and from individuals identifying themselves as 
representatives or officials of organizations or businesses, available 
for public inspection in their entirety. Comments and materials 
received, as well as supporting documentation used in preparation of 
the proposal to designated critical habitat, will be available for 
public inspection, by appointment, during normal business hours at the 
above address.
    If you submit comments by e-mail, please submit them as an ASCII 
file and avoid the use of any special characters or any form of 
encryption. Also, please include ``Attn: RIN 1018-AT45'' and your name 
and return address in your e-mail message regarding the Riverside fairy 
shrimp proposed rule. If you do not receive a confirmation from the 
system that we have received your e-mail message, please submit your 
comments in writing using one of the alternate methods described above.
    Comments and materials received, as well as supporting 
documentation used in preparation of the proposal to designate critical 
habitat, will be available for inspection, by appointment, during 
normal business hours, in our Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife Office at the 
above address.
    Copies of the proposed critical habitat rule for the Riverside 
fairy shrimp and the draft economic analysis are available on the 
Internet at http://carlsbad.fws.gov or in hard copy by contacting the 
Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife Office as identified in the ADDRESSES 
section above. In the event that our internet connection is not 
functional, please obtain copies of documents directly from the 
Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife Office.

Background

    On April 27, 2004, we published a proposed rule in the Federal 
Register (69 FR 23024) to designate critical habitat for the Riverside 
fairy shrimp. We proposed to designate a total of approximately 5,795 
acres (2,345 hectares) of critical habitat in Los Angeles, Orange, 
Riverside, San Diego, and Ventura Counties, CA. The first comment 
period on the Riverside fairy shrimp proposed critical habitat rule 
closed on May 27, 2004.
    Critical habitat receives protection from destruction or adverse 
modification through required consultation under section 7 of the 
Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act) (16 U.S.C. 1531 et 
seq.), with regard to actions carried out, funded, or authorized by a 
Federal agency. Section 4(b)(2) of the Act requires that we designate 
or revise critical habitat on the basis of the best scientific and 
commercial data available, after taking into consideration the economic 
impact, impact to national security, and any other relevant impacts of 
specifying any particular area as critical habitat. We have prepared a 
draft Economic Analysis of the April 27, 2004 (69 FR 23024), proposed 
designation of critical habitat for the Riverside fairy shrimp.
    The draft Economic Analysis considers the potential economic 
effects of actions relating to the conservation of the Riverside fairy 
shrimp, including costs associated with sections 4, 7, and 10 of the 
Act, and including those attributable to designating critical habitat. 
It further considers the economic effects of protective measures taken 
as a result of other Federal, State, and local laws that aid habitat 
conservation for the Riverside fairy shrimp in essential habitat areas. 
The analysis considers both economic efficiency and distributional 
effects. In the case of habitat conservation, efficiency effects 
generally reflect the ``opportunity costs'' associated with the 
commitment of resources to comply with habitat protection measures 
(e.g., lost economic opportunities associated with restrictions on land 
use). This analysis also addresses how potential economic impacts are 
likely to be distributed, including an assessment of any local or 
regional impacts of habitat conservation and the potential effects of

[[Page 61463]]

conservation activities on small entities and the energy industry. This 
information can be used by decision-makers to assess whether the 
effects of the designation might unduly burden a particular group or 
economic sector. Finally, this analysis looks retrospectively at costs 
that have been incurred since the date the species was listed as an 
endangered species and considers those costs that may occur in the 20 
years following the designation of critical habitat.
    Riverside fairy shrimp-related conservation activities associated 
with sections 4, 7, and 10 of the Act, including those attributable to 
designating critical habitat are expected to range from approximately 
$470 million to $770 million. These totals include $400 million in 
impacts estimated to have occurred since the species was listed in 
1993, and $70 to $370 million in impacts that may occur in the 20 years 
following the proposed designation of critical habitat.

Author

    The primary authors of this notice are the staff of the Carlsbad 
Fish and Wildlife Office (see ADDRESSES section).

Authority

    The authority for this action is the Endangered Species Act of 1973 
(16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).

    Dated: October 8, 2004.
Paul Hoffman,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks.
[FR Doc. 04-23225 Filed 10-18-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-P