[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 24 (Monday, February 6, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7753-7755]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-02417]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2022-0171; FXES11140300000-234]
Receipt of Incidental Take Permit Application and Proposed
Habitat Conservation Plan for the Great Pathfinder Wind Project,
Hamilton and Boone Counties, Iowa; Categorical Exclusion
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability of documents; request for comment and
information.
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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, have received an
application from Great Pathfinder Wind LLC (applicant), for an
incidental take permit (ITP) under the Endangered Species Act. If
approved, the ITP would be for a 6-year period and would authorize the
incidental take of two endangered species, the Indiana bat and the
northern long-eared bat. The applicant has prepared a habitat
conservation plan (HCP) in support of their application. We have made a
preliminary determination that the HCP and permit application are
eligible for categorical exclusion under the National Environmental
Policy Act. We invite comments from the public and Federal, Tribal,
State, and local governments.
DATES: We will accept comments received or postmarked on or before
March 8, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Document availability:
Electronic copies of the documents this notice announces, along
with public comments received, will be available online in Docket No.
FWS-R3-ES-2022-0171 at https://www.regulations.gov.
Comment submission: Please specify whether your comment addresses
the proposed habitat conservation plan, draft environmental action
statement, any combination of the aforementioned documents, or other
documents. You may submit written comments by one of the following
methods:
Online: https://www.regulations.gov. Search for and
[[Page 7754]]
submit comments on Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2022-0171.
By hard copy: Submit comments by U.S. mail to Public
Comments Processing, Attn: Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2022-0171; U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service; 5275 Leesburg Pike, MS: PRB/3W; Falls Church, VA
22041-3803.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kraig McPeek, Field Supervisor,
Illinois-Iowa Ecological Services Field Office, by email at
[email protected], or telephone at 309-757-5800, extension 202; or
Andrew Horton, Regional HCP Coordinator, Midwest Region, by email at
[email protected], or telephone at 612-713-5337. Individuals in the
United States who are deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing, or have a
speech disability may dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to access
telecommunications relay services. Individuals outside the United
States should use the relay services offered within their country to
make international calls to the point-of-contact in the United States.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, have
received an application from Great Pathfinder Wind 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.). The applicant requests
the ITP to take the federally listed Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) and
northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis) incidental to the
operation of 66 wind turbines with a total generating capacity of 225
megawatts (MW) at the Great Pathfinder Wind Project in Hamilton and
Boone Counties, Iowa. While the ITP is for 6 years, the operational
life of most new wind energy facilities is 30 years, and intensive
monitoring conducted during this permit term will inform the need for
future avoidance or a future long-term ITP for the remaining life of
the project that will comply with a future National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) analysis and habitat
conservation plan (HCP). The applicant has prepared an 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 request public comment on the application, which includes the
applicant's proposed HCP, and on the Service's preliminary
determination that this HCP qualifies as ``low-effect,'' categorically
excluded under NEPA; to make this determination, we used our
environmental action statement and low-effect screening form, both of
which are also able for public review.
Background
Section 9 of the ESA, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), 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 such
conduct'' (16 U.S.C. 1538). 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.
Regulations governing incidental take permits (ITPs) for endangered and
threatened species, respectively, are found in the Code of Federal
Regulations (CFR) at 50 CFR 17.22 and 50 CFR 17.32.
Applicant's Proposed Project
The applicant requests a 6-year ITP to take the federally
endangered Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) and northern long-eared bat
(Myotis septentrionalis). The applicant determined that take is
reasonably certain to occur incidental to operation of 66 previously
constructed wind turbines in Hamilton and Boone Counties, Iowa,
covering approximately 19,690 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 the Indiana bat and northern long-eared bat
through on-site minimization measures, and to provide habitat
conservation measures for the two species to offset any impacts from
project operations. The HCP provides on-site avoidance and minimization
measures, which include turbine operational adjustments. The authorized
level of take from the project is 18 Indiana bat and 18 northern long-
eared bat over the 6-year permit duration. To offset the impacts of
taking Indiana bats and northern long-eared bats, the applicant will
implement one or more of the following mitigation options:
Purchase credits from an approved conservation bank;
Contribute to an in-lieu fee mitigation fund;
Implement permittee-responsible mitigation project; or
Contribute to a white-nose syndrome treatment fund, if
available and approved by the Service.
Our Preliminary Determination
We are requesting comments on our preliminary determination that
the applicant's proposal will have a minor or negligible effect on the
Indiana bat and northern long-eared bat and that the plan qualifies as
a low-effect HCP as defined by our Habitat Conservation Planning
Handbook (December 2016). We base our determinations on three criteria:
(1) Implementation of the proposed project as described in the HCP
would result in minor or negligible effects on federally listed,
proposed, and/or candidate species and their habitats; (2)
implementation of the HCP would result in minor or negligible effects
on other environmental values or resources; and (3) HCP impacts,
considered together with those of other past, present, and reasonably
foreseeable future projects, would not result in cumulatively
significant effects. In our analysis of these criteria, we have made a
preliminary determination that the approval of the HCP and issuance of
an ITP qualify for categorical exclusion under the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), as provided
by the Department of the Interior implementing regulations in part 46
of title 43 of the Code of Federal Regulations (43 CFR 46.205, and
46.215). However, based upon our review of public comments that we
receive in response to this notice, this preliminary determination may
be revised.
National Environmental Policy Act
Issuance of an ITP is a Federal action that triggers the need for
compliance with NEPA. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) has
made a preliminary determination that the applicant's project and the
proposed mitigation measures would individually and cumulatively have a
minor or negligible effect on the covered species and the environment.
Therefore, we have preliminarily concluded that the ITP for this
project would qualify for categorical exclusion, and the HCP would be
low effect under our NEPA regulations at 43 CFR 46.205.
Next Steps
The Service will evaluate the application and the comments received
to determine whether the permit 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
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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 habitat conservation plan (HCP) and screening
form during a 30-day public comment period (see DATES). Information and
comments regarding the following topics are requested:
1. Whether the adaptive management, monitoring, and mitigation
provisions in the proposed HCP are sufficient;
2. The requested 6-year ITP term;
3. Any threats to the Indiana bat and the northern long-eared bat
that may influence their populations over the life of the ITP that are
not addressed in the proposed HCP or screening form;
4. Any new information on white-nose syndrome effects on the
Indiana bat and the northern long-eared bat;
5. Whether or not the significance of the impact on various aspects
of the human environment has been adequately analyzed; and
6. Any other information pertinent to evaluating the effects of the
proposed action on the human environment, including those on the
Indiana bat and the northern long-eared bat.
Availability of Public Comments
You may submit comments by one of the methods shown under
ADDRESSES. We will post on https://www.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 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 Endangered
Species 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.
4371 et seq.) and its implementing regulations (40 CFR 1500-1508; 43
CFR part 46).
Lori Nordstrom,
Assistant Regional Director, Ecological Services.
[FR Doc. 2023-02417 Filed 2-3-23; 8:45 am]
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