[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 27 (Friday, February 8, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2900-2902]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-01600]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[Docket No. FWS-R6-ES-2014-0048; FF06E220000-178-FXES11140600000]


Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Incidental Take 
Permit and Habitat Conservation Plan for the R-Project Transmission 
Line; Final Environmental Impact Statement

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the 
availability of the final environmental impact statement (EIS), final 
habitat conservation plan (HCP), and associated documents for the R-
Project transmission line in north-central Nebraska. The Nebraska 
Public Power District (NPPD) applied for an incidental take permit for 
take of the American burying beetle (Nicrophorus americanus), which is 
listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA), as 
amended. The permit would authorize take likely to result from the 
construction, operation, and maintenance of the transmission line. The 
HCP describes the applicant's actions and required measures to 
minimize, mitigate, and monitor incidental take. The final EIS analyzes 
the effects of authorizing the take and implementation of the HCP on 
the natural and human environment in accordance with the National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

DATES: Our decision whether to issue the permit will occur no sooner 
than 30 days after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency publishes 
its notice of the final EIS in the Federal Register. We will document 
our decision in a record of decision (ROD).

ADDRESSES: You may obtain copies of the documents by any of the 
following methods:
    Internet: Federal eRulemaking Portal (http://www.regulations.gov) 
under Docket No. FWS-R6-ES-2014-0048.
    Upon Request: You may call 308-382-6468 (extension 204) to request 
alternative formats of the documents or make an appointment to inspect 
the documents during normal business hours at U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service, Nebraska Field Office, 9325 South Alda Road, Wood River, NE 
68883.
    In Person:
     North Platte Public Library, 120 West 4th Street, North 
Platte, Nebraska.
     Logan County Library, 317 Main Street, Stapleton, 
Nebraska.
     Hooker County Library, 102 North Cleveland Avenue, Mullen, 
Nebraska.
     Garfield County Library, 217 G Street, Burwell, Nebraska.
     Ewing Township Library, 202 East Nebraska, Ewing, 
Nebraska.
     Ainsworth Public Library, 455 North Main Street, 
Ainsworth, Nebraska.
     Valentine Public Library, 324 North Main Street, 
Valentine, Nebraska.
     Thomas County Library, 501 Main Street, Thedford, 
Nebraska.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Drue DeBerry, 303-236-4774 or 
[email protected] (email). If you use a telecommunications device 
for the deaf, hard-of-hearing, or speech disabled, please call the 
Federal Relay Service at 800-877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice announces that the final EIS, 
HCP, and associated documents for the

[[Page 2901]]

R-Project transmission line in Nebraska is available for the public to 
read. NPPD applied for a permit to authorize incidental take of the 
federally endangered American burying beetle resulting from the 
construction, operation, and maintenance of the proposed R-Project 
transmission line and substations. As part of its application, NPPD 
prepared an HCP that describes actions to avoid, minimize, mitigate, 
and monitor impacts of incidental take of the American burying beetle. 
According to NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and its implementing 
regulations (40 CFR 1500 et seq.), we analyze in the final EIS the 
effects of our preferred alternative to authorize incidental take of 
the beetle and NPPD's implementation of the HCP required by the permit. 
The final EIS also analyzes potential effects from two alternatives and 
identifies alternatives that we considered but eliminated from further 
analysis.

Background

    Section 9 of the ESA prohibits take of fish and wildlife species 
listed as endangered (16 U.S.C. 1538). Under section 3 of the ESA, the 
term ``take'' means to ``harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, 
kill, trap, capture, or collect, or attempt to engage in any such 
conduct'' (16 U.S.C. 1532(19)).
    Under section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA (16 U.S.C. 1539(a)(1)(B)), the 
Service 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. The Service shall issue an incidental take 
permit to non-Federal entities, provided the following criteria are 
met:
     The taking will be incidental.
     The applicant will minimize and mitigate, to the maximum 
extent practicable, the impact of such taking.
     The applicant will develop an HCP and ensure that adequate 
funding for the plan will be provided.
     The taking will not appreciably reduce the likelihood of 
the survival and recovery of the species in the wild.
     The applicant will carry out any other measures that the 
Secretary of the Interior may require as being necessary or appropriate 
for the purposes of the HCP.
    Regulations governing permits for endangered species are set forth 
in title 50 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) at part 17, 
section 17.22 (50 CFR 17.22).
    NEPA requires that Federal agencies analyze their proposed actions 
to determine whether the actions may significantly affect the human 
environment. Under NEPA and its implementing regulations, Federal 
agencies must also compare effects of a reasonable range of 
alternatives to the proposed action. In these analyses, the Federal 
agency will identify potentially significant direct, indirect, and 
cumulative effects, as well as possible mitigation for any significant 
effects, on biological resources, land use, air quality, water 
resources, socioeconomics, environmental justice, cultural resources, 
and other environmental resources that could occur with the 
implementation of the proposed action and alternatives.
    In accordance with NEPA, we announced public scoping to prepare an 
EIS in the Federal Register on October 30, 2014 (79 FR 64619). We 
published a notice of availability of the draft EIS and draft HCP, and 
requested public comments on those draft documents, in the Federal 
Register on May 12, 2017 (82 FR 22153). The May 12, 2017, notice also 
announced three public meetings on the draft EIS and draft HCP, which 
we held in June 2017, in three Nebraska cities. We reopened the comment 
period for the draft EIS and draft HCP in the Federal Register on 
September 8, 2017 (82 FR 42561). The final EIS addresses public 
comments on the draft EIS.

Proposed Action

    We propose to issue a 50-year permit for incidental take of the 
American burying beetle if NPPD's HCP meets all the ESA's section 
10(a)(1)(B) permit issuance criteria. The permit would authorize take 
of the American burying beetle incidental to the proposed construction, 
operation, and maintenance, including emergency repairs, of the R-
Project. The permit would require NPPD to implement the final HCP, 
which includes measures to avoid, minimize, mitigate, and monitor the 
impacts of the authorized take. NPPD would avoid the incidental take of 
other federally listed species by implementing avoidance measures 
identified in the final HCP.
    The 345-kilovolt R-Project transmission line would be approximately 
225 miles long in north-central Nebraska. The permit would authorize 
take within 1 mile on each side of the R-Project centerline from 
Stapleton, Nebraska, north to the Thedford Substation and 4 miles on 
each side of the centerline from the Thedford Substation east to a new 
Holt County Substation.
    Construction of the R-Project would permanently remove 33 acres and 
temporarily disturb 1,250 acres of American burying beetle habitat over 
the term of the permit. To fully offset these impacts to the beetle, 
the HCP commits NPPD to work with the Service to protect at least 500 
acres of occupied American burying beetle habitat in Nebraska in 
perpetuity. The HCP's commitments for NPPD to restore beetle habitat 
would also minimize and mitigate impacts.

Public Review

    We are not requesting public comments on the final EIS and HCP, but 
any written comments we receive will 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 may 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.

Next Steps

    We will evaluate the permit application, final HCP, and public 
comments to determine whether the application meets the requirements of 
section 10(a) of the ESA. This determination includes our compliance 
with section 7 of the ESA through an intra-Service consultation. We 
will rely on the results of this consultation, our ROD under NEPA, and 
the above findings on permit issuance criteria to decide whether to 
issue the permit with appropriate terms and conditions. If all 
requirements are met, we will sign the ROD and issue the permit to 
NPPD. We will post the signed ROD and related documents on our website 
at https://www.fws.gov/nebraskaes/R-Project.php.

Authority

    We provide this notice under section 10(c) of the ESA (16 U.S.C. 
1531 et seq.) and its implementing regulations for incidental take 
permits (50 CFR 17.22) and NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and

[[Page 2902]]

its implementing regulations (40 CFR 1506.6; 43 CFR part 46).

Michael Thabault,
Assistant Regional Director--Ecological Services, Mountain-Prairie 
Region, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Lakewood, Colorado.
[FR Doc. 2019-01600 Filed 2-7-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4333-15-P