[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 93 (Tuesday, May 16, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22500-22502]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-09895]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

RIN 0648-XF361


Endangered Species; File No. 21318

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Notice; receipt of application.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that NMFS has received an application 
from Mr. Mark F. Strickland, Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. 
(PSEG) for an incidental take permit (permit), pursuant to the 
Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973, as amended, for activities 
associated with the operation and decommissioning of Mercer Generating 
Station in Trenton, NJ. As required by the ESA, PSEG's application 
includes a conservation plan designed to minimize and mitigate the 
impacts of any take of endangered or threatened species. The permit 
application is for the incidental take of ESA-listed Atlantic sturgeon 
(Acipenser oxyrinchus) and shortnose sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum) 
associated with the withdrawal of cooling water from the Delaware River 
Estuary, the discharge of heat and other pollutants to the River 
associated with the operations of the facility, the transport of goods 
and materials to the station via barge or dredging necessary to support 
the Station's coal/natural gas fired units' operations, and the 
decommissioning of the coal/natural gas fired units.
    NMFS is furnishing this notice in order to allow other agencies and 
the public an opportunity to review and comment on this document. All 
comments received will become part of the public record and will be 
available for review.

DATES: Written comments must be received at the appropriate address or 
fax number (see ADDRESSES) on or before June 15, 2017.

ADDRESSES: The application is available for download and review at 
http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/permits/esa_review.htm under the section 
heading ESA Section 10(a)(1)(B) Permits and Applications. The 
application is also available upon written request or by appointment in 
the following office: Endangered Species Conservation

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Division, Office of Protected Resources, NMFS, 1315 East-West Highway, 
Room 13752, Silver Spring, MD 20910; phone (301) 427-8403; fax (301) 
713-4060.
    You may submit comments, identified by NOAA-NMFS-2017-0036 by any 
of the following methods:
     Electronic Submissions: Submit all electronic public 
comments via the Federal eRulemaking Portal. Go to www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=NOAA-NMFS-2017-0036 click the ``Comment Now'' icon, 
complete the required fields, and enter or attach your comments.
     Fax: (301) 713-4060; Attn: Ron Dean or Lisa Manning.
     Mail: Submit written comments to Endangered Species 
Conservation Division, Office of Protected Resources, NMFS, 1315 East-
West Highway, Room 13535, Silver Spring, MD 20910; Attn: Ron Dean or 
Lisa Manning.
    Instructions: You must submit comments by one of the above methods 
to ensure that we receive, document, and consider them. Comments sent 
by any other method, to any other address or individual, or received 
after the end of the comment period may not be considered. All comments 
received are a part of the public record and will generally be posted 
for public viewing on http://www.regulations.gov without change. All 
personal identifying information (e.g., name, address, etc.) 
confidential business information, or otherwise sensitive information 
submitted voluntarily by the sender will be publicly accessible. We 
will accept anonymous comments (enter ``N/A'' in the required fields if 
you wish to remain anonymous).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ron Dean or Lisa Manning, (301) 427-
8403.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 9 of the ESA and Federal regulations 
prohibit the `taking' of a species listed as endangered or threatened. 
The ESA defines ``take'' to mean harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, 
wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any 
such conduct. NMFS may issue permits, under limited circumstances to 
take listed species incidental to, and not the purpose of, otherwise 
lawful activities. Section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA provides for 
authorizing incidental take of listed species. NMFS regulations 
governing permits for threatened and endangered species are promulgated 
at 50 CFR 222.307.

Background

    Pursuant to the ESA, NMFS reviewed in PSEG's September 2016 draft 
Application, including the analytical methods for estimating potential 
takes. After PSEG announced its plans to retire two existing coal/
natural gas fired units, they provided estimates of potential takes due 
to entrainment associated with the operation of service water pumps 
during the decommissioning period, and an analysis of the potential 
effects of vessel traffic associated with the removal of coal presently 
on-site at the plant. PSEG submitted an updated application on March 7, 
2017.
    PSEG is requesting that this permit cover operations through the 
decommissioning of the coal/natural gas-fired units. The total duration 
of decommissioning is undetermined; however, PSEG expects to complete 
the decommissioning of the coal/natural gas fired units no later than 
March 1, 2022. The duration of the proposed permit is therefore 5 
years.
    PSEG's application addresses the Delaware River Estuary in the 
immediate vicinity of Mercer's cooling water intake structure, 
including the circulating water pumps and the service water pumps, the 
areas potentially occupied by the station's thermal discharge plume, 
other effluent waste streams, and vessel traffic associated with the 
removal of coal from the station during the pre-retirement and 
decommissioning Periods. The permit application is for the incidental 
take of ESA-listed Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus) and 
shortnose sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum).
    For entrainment, during the pre-retirement period, ending on June 
1, 2017, PSEG proposes a take limit based on statistical models and 
historical data of 60 age-1 equivalent (i.e. pre-migratory) shortnose 
sturgeon and 13 age-1 Atlantic sturgeon. The expected annual number of 
shortnose sturgeon entrained during the decommissioning period would be 
0.8 and 0.9 age-1 equivalents, and 2 shortnose sturgeon age-1 
equivalents per year. Due to the fragile nature of fish in the yolk-sac 
larval life stage, it is anticipated that any entrained yolk-sac larvae 
are likely to die.
    For impingement, based on statistical models and historical data, 
PSEG proposes a pre-retirement period take limit of 13 Atlantic 
sturgeon and 13 shortnose sturgeon. For the decommissioning period, no 
Atlantic or shortnose sturgeon are expected to be impinged because 
circulating water pumps will not be operating and no more than two 
service water pumps will operate. The velocity through the traveling 
water screens will therefore be well below 0.5 fps which is the 
generally accepted threshold velocity for impingement. No incidental 
take is expected from any of the other activities covered in the 
application.

Conservation Plan

    Section 10 of the ESA specifies that no permit may be issued unless 
an applicant submits an adequate habitat conservation plan. The 
conservation plan prepared by PSEG describes measures designed to 
minimize and mitigate the impacts of any incidental takes of ESA-listed 
Atlantic and shortnose sturgeon.
    To avoid and minimize take of sturgeon during the pre-retirement 
period, PSEG proposes to only run Mercer's circulating water pumps when 
the station is generating electricity, when cooling water is needed for 
other essential station operations, for incidental maintenance, or as 
required by a governmental agency or other entity. PSEG also proposes 
to run the minimum number of service water pumps required to support 
essential operations when possible. These measures are intended to 
avoid and minimize the incidental take of sturgeon due to entrainment 
or impingement by eliminating or reducing water withdrawals.
    PSEG also has modified traveling screens and a fish return. 
Sturgeon that encounter the traveling screens and become impinged will 
be transferred to the fish return sluice and transported in flowing 
water back to the Delaware River. During the pre-retirement period, 
PSEG proposes to operate each of the modified traveling screens 
continuously whenever they operate the associated circulating water 
pump. PSEG also proposes to implement an operating and maintenance plan 
for the modified traveling screens and fish return system to ensure 
that the system is operating properly to return sturgeon the River.
    During the decommissioning period, Mercer will not operate 
circulating water pumps, and will therefore avoid any take of sturgeon 
due to impingement and entrainment. Mercer plans to operate up to two 
service water pumps for equipment cooling and fire safety requirements 
during the decommissioning period, but the through-screen velocity of 
the traveling water screen is less than 0.1 fps, which is below the 
velocity generally accepted to not pose a risk of impingement.
    Funding required to support the implementation of this permit and 
its habitat conservation plan would be included as part of PSEG's 
standard budgeting process for regulatory compliance.
    PSEG evaluated three alternatives: (1) Retrofitting the Station to 
operate with a closed cycle recirculating system

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utilizing mechanical draft cooling towers; (2) installation of fine 
mesh screens and a fish return system; and (3) a ``no action'' 
alternative. The technologies considered have been previously evaluated 
by PSEG and have been shown to be impractical to implement at the 
station or disproportionately costly compared to any benefits realized, 
and were therefore rejected. PSEG's plan to discontinue operation of 
the existing coal/natural gas-fired generating units is consistent with 
the No Action Alternative in that no take would occur after the units 
are decommissioned.

National Environmental Policy Act

    This notice is provided pursuant to section 10(c) of the ESA and 
the National Environmental Policy Act regulations (40 CFR 1506.6). NMFS 
will evaluate the application, associated documents, and submitted 
comments to determine whether the application meets the requirements of 
the ESA section 10(a)(1)(B) permitting process. If it is determined 
that the requirements are met, a permit will be issued for incidental 
takes of ESA-listed Atlantic and shortnose sturgeon.
    The final permit determinations will not be completed until after 
the end of the 30-day comment period and will fully consider all public 
comments received during the comment period. NMFS will publish a record 
of its final action in the Federal Register.

    Dated: May 11, 2017.
Angela Somma,
Acting Deputy Director, Office of Protected Resources, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2017-09895 Filed 5-15-17; 8:45 am]
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