[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 231 (Tuesday, December 1, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77234-77236]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-26520]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[FWS-R3-ES-2020-0136; FXES11140300000-201]


Draft Environmental Assessment and Proposed Habitat Conservation 
Plan; Receipt of an Application for an Incidental Take Permit, High 
Prairie Wind Energy Facility, Schuyler and Adair Counties, Missouri

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comment and information.

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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), have 
received an application from TG High Prairie, LLC (applicant) for an 
incidental take permit (ITP) under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), 
for its High Prairie Wind Energy Facility. If approved, the ITP would 
be for a 6-year period and would authorize the incidental take of 
covered species, including the endangered Indiana bat, threatened 
northern long-eared bat, and the little brown bat, currently under 
discretionary review. While the ITP is for 6 years, the wind energy 
project is scheduled to be operational for thirty years and intensive 
monitoring conducted during this permit term will inform the need for 
future avoidance or a new long-term ITP that will comply with a new 
NEPA analysis and habitat conservation plan (HCP). The applicant has 
prepared a HCP that describes the actions and measures that the 
applicant would implement to avoid, minimize, and mitigate incidental 
take of the covered species for the first 6 years. We also announce the 
availability of a draft environmental assessment, which has been 
prepared in response to the permit application in accordance with the 
requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). We 
request public comment on the application, which includes the 
applicant's proposed HCP, the Service's draft environmental assessment, 
prepared pursuant to NEPA and associated documents. We provide this 
notice to seek review and comment from the public and Federal, Tribal, 
State and local governments.

DATES: We will accept comments received or postmarked on or before 
December 31, 2020.

ADDRESSES: 
    Document availability: Electronic copies of the documents this 
notice announces, as well as public comments we receive, will be 
available online in Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2020-0136 at http://www.regulations.gov.
    Comment submission: In your comment, please specify whether your 
comment addresses the proposed HCP, draft EA, or any combination of the 
aforementioned documents, or other supporting documents. You may submit 
written comments by one of the following methods:
     Online: http://www.regulations.gov. Search for and submit 
comments on Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2020-0136.
     By hard copy: Submit comments by U.S. mail to Public 
Comments Processing, Attn: Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2020-0136; U.S. Fish 
and Wildlife Service; 5275 Leesburg Pike, MS: PRB/3W; Falls Church, VA 
22041-3803.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Karen Herrington, Field Supervisor, 
Columbia Missouri Ecological Services Field Office, U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service, 101 Park DeVille Drive, Suite A, Columbia, MO 65203; 
telephone: 573-234-2132.
    Individuals who are hearing impaired or speech impaired may call 
the Federal Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339 for TTY assistance.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 
(Service), have received an application from TG High Prairie LLC 
(applicant) for an incidental take permit (ITP) under the Endangered 
Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), for its 
High Prairie Wind Energy facility (facility). The facility is located 
in

[[Page 77235]]

Schuyler and Adair Counties, Missouri, and consists of 163 2.2-megawatt 
(MW) turbines and 12 3.45-MW turbines. If approved, the ITP would be 
for a 6-year period and would authorize the incidental take of covered 
species, including the federally endangered Indiana bat, federally 
threatened northern long-eared bat, and the little brown bat (LBB), 
currently under discretionary review. The little brown bat is not 
federally protected, but is currently being evaluated for protection 
under the ESA. The applicant has chosen to include the LBB as a covered 
species, and as such, it will be treated as if it were currently listed 
under the ESA. The ITP, if issued, would authorize incidental take of 
the covered species that may occur as a result of the operation of 175 
wind turbines over a six-year period. The applicant has prepared a 
habitat conservation plan (HCP) that describes the actions and measures 
that the applicant would implement to avoid, minimize, and mitigate 
incidental take of the covered species. We also announce the 
availability of a draft environmental assessment (DEA), which has been 
prepared in response to the permit application in accordance with the 
requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 
4321 et seq.). We request public comment on the application and 
associated documents.

Background

    Section 9 of the ESA and its implementing regulations prohibit the 
``take'' of animal species listed as endangered or threatened. Take is 
defined under the ESA as to ``harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, 
kill, trap, capture, or collect [listed animal species,] or to attempt 
to engage in any such conduct'' (16 U.S.C. 1532). However, under 
section 10(a) of the ESA, we may issue permits to authorize incidental 
take of listed species. ``Incidental take'' is defined by the ESA as 
take that is incidental to, and not the purpose of, carrying out an 
otherwise lawful activity (16 U.S.C. 1539). Regulations governing 
incidental take permits for endangered and threatened species, 
respectively, are found in the Code of Federal Regulations at 50 CFR 
17.22 and 50 CFR 17.32.

Applicant's Proposed Project

    The applicant requests a 6-year ITP for turbine operations that 
will result in take of the federally endangered Indiana bat, federally 
threatened northern long-eared bat, and the little brown bat (covered 
species). The applicant determined that take is reasonably certain to 
occur incidental to operation of 175 previously constructed wind 
turbines in Schuyler and Adair Counties, Missouri, consisting of 
approximately 113,873 acres of private land. The proposed conservation 
strategy in the applicant's proposed HCP is designed to avoid, 
minimize, and mitigate the impacts of the covered activity on the 
covered species. The biological goals and objectives are to minimize 
potential take of covered species through onsite minimization measures 
and to provide habitat conservation measures to offset any impacts from 
operations of the project. The High Prairie Wind site includes multiple 
confirmed summer maternity roosts or colonies for the covered species 
and is more than 65 miles from the Sodalis Nature Preserve (largest 
known Indiana bat hibernaculum). The HCP provides onsite avoidance and 
minimization measures, which include turbine operational adjustments. 
The estimated level of take from the project is 72 Indiana bats, 96 
little brown bats, and 18 northern long-eared bats over the 6-year 
permit term. To offset the impacts of the taking of covered species, 
the applicant proposes to protect 211.1 acres of known maternity colony 
habitat, in perpetuity, through the Service-approved Chariton Hills 
Conservation Bank located in Adair and Schuyler Counties.

National Environmental Policy Act

    The issuance of an ITP is a Federal action that triggers the need 
for compliance with NEPA. We prepared a draft EA that analyzes the 
environmental impacts on the human environment resulting from three 
alternatives: A no-action alternative, the applicant's proposed action, 
and a more restrictive alternative consisting of feathering turbines at 
a rate of wind speed that results in less impacts to bats.

Next Steps

    The Service will evaluate the permit application and the comments 
received to determine whether the application meets the requirements of 
section 10(a) of the ESA. We will also conduct an intra-Service 
consultation pursuant to section 7 of the ESA to evaluate the effects 
of the proposed take. After considering the above findings, we will 
determine whether the permit issuance criteria of section 10(a)(l)(B) 
of the ESA have been met. If met, the Service will issue the requested 
ITP to the applicant.

Request for Public Comments

    The Service invites comments and suggestions from all interested 
parties on the proposed HCP, draft EA and supporting documents during a 
30-day public comment period (see DATES). In particular, information 
and comments regarding the following topics are requested:
    1. Whether adaptive management, monitoring and mitigation 
provisions in the Proposed Action alternative are sufficient;
    2. Any threats to the Indiana bat, the northern long-eared bat and 
the little brown bat that may influence their populations over the life 
of the ITP that are not addressed in the proposed HCP or draft EA;
    3. Any new information on white-nose syndrome effects on the 
Indiana bat, the northern long-eared bat and the little brown bat;
    4. Any information that could help inform future operating 
parameters to avoid impacts to listed bats (beyond ceasing operations 
at night). A specific data set that would be useful would be one 
correlating all bat activity to temperature and weather parameters;
    5. Any new information about colony grouping and the timing in 
which bats leave their summer areas (to further refine maternity colony 
adaptive management strategy dates);
    6. Any specific parameters or suggestions to further refine 
population models (in the EA);
    7. Whether or not the significance of the impact on various aspects 
of the human environment has been adequately analyzed; and
    8. Any other information pertinent to evaluating the effects of the 
proposed action on the human environment, including those on the 
Indiana bat, the northern long-eared bat and the little brown bat.
    Because this permit application was sufficiently complete prior to 
the effective date of the new NEPA regulations, we are exercising our 
discretion to conduct our NEPA analysis under the regulations in effect 
prior to September 14, 2020.

Availability of Public Comments

    You may submit comments by one of the methods shown under 
ADDRESSES. We will post on http://regulations.gov all public comments 
and information received electronically or via hardcopy. All comments 
received, including names and addresses, will become part of the 
administrative 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

[[Page 77236]]

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. 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 ESA (16 U.S.C. 
1531 et seq.) and its implementing regulations (50 CFR 17.22) and the 
NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and its implementing regulations (40 CFR 
1506.6 (2019); 43 CFR part 46).

Lori Nordstrom,
Assistant Regional Director, Ecological Services.
[FR Doc. 2020-26520 Filed 11-30-20; 8:45 am]
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