[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 245 (Tuesday, December 22, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Page 79609]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-32103]



[[Page 79609]]

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[FWS-R2-ES-2015-N227; FXES11120200000-167-FF02ENEH00]


Receipt of an Incidental Take Permit Application for 
Participation in the Oil and Gas Industry Conservation Plan for the 
American Burying Beetle in Oklahoma

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability; request for public comments.

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SUMMARY: Under the Endangered Species Act, as amended (Act), we, the 
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, invite the public to comment on an 
incidental take permit application for take of the federally listed 
American burying beetle resulting from activities associated with the 
geophysical exploration (seismic) and construction, maintenance, 
operation, repair, and decommissioning of oil and gas well field 
infrastructure within Oklahoma. If approved, the permit would be issued 
under the approved Oil and Gas Industry Conservation Plan Associated 
with Issuance of Endangered Species Act Section 10(a)(1)(B) Permits for 
the American Burying Beetle in Oklahoma (ICP).

DATES: To ensure consideration, written comments must be received on or 
before January 21, 2016.

ADDRESSES: You may obtain copies of all documents and submit comments 
on the applicant's ITP application by one of the following methods. 
Please refer to the permit number when requesting documents or 
submitting comments.
    [cir] U.S. Mail: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Division of 
Endangered Species--HCP Permits, P.O. Box 1306, Room 6034, Albuquerque, 
NM 87103.
    [cir] Electronically: [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Marty Tuegel, Branch Chief, by U.S. 
mail at Environmental Review, P.O. Box 1306, Room 6034, Albuquerque, NM 
87103; or by telephone at 505-248-6651.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Introduction

    Under the Endangered Species Act, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et 
seq.; Act), we, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, invite the public 
to comment on an incidental take permit (ITP) application for take of 
the federally listed American burying beetle (Nicrophorus americanus) 
resulting from activities associated with geophysical exploration 
(seismic) and construction, maintenance, operation, repair, and 
decommissioning of oil and gas well field infrastructure within 
Oklahoma. If approved, the permit would be issued to the applicant 
under the Oil and Gas Industry Conservation Plan Associated with 
Issuance of Endangered Species Act Section 10(a)(1)(B) Permits for the 
American Burying Beetle in Oklahoma (ICP). The ICP was made available 
for comment on April 16, 2014 (79 FR 21480), and approved on May 21, 
2014 (publication of the FONSI notice was on July 25, 2014; 79 FR 
43504). The ICP and the associated environmental assessment/finding of 
no significant impact are available on the Web site at http://www.fws.gov/southwest/es/oklahoma/ABBICP. However, we are no longer 
taking comments on these documents.

Applications Available for Review and Comment

    We invite local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies, and the 
public to comment on the following application under the ICP, for 
incidental take of the federally listed ABB. Please refer to the 
appropriate permit number (TE80998B) when requesting application 
documents and when submitting comments. Documents and other information 
the applicants have submitted with this application are available for 
review, subject to the requirements of the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a) 
and Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552).

Permit TE80998B

Applicant: Explorer Pipeline, Tulsa, OK.

    Applicant requests a new permit for gas upstream and midstream 
production, including geophysical exploration (seismic) and 
construction, maintenance, operation, repair, and decommissioning of 
gas well field infrastructure, as well as construction, maintenance, 
operation, repair, decommissioning, and reclamation of gas gathering, 
transmission, and distribution pipeline infrastructure within Oklahoma.

Public Availability of Comments

    Written comments we receive become part of the public 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. We will not consider anonymous 
comments. 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 Act (16 U.S.C. 
1531 et seq.) and its implementing regulations (50 CFR 17.22) and the 
National Environmental Policy Act (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and its 
implementing regulations (40 CFR 1506.6).

Joy E. Nicholopoulos,
Acting Regional Director, Southwest Region U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service.
[FR Doc. 2015-32103 Filed 12-21-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4333-15-P