[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 35 (Wednesday, February 22, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10929-10930]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-03646]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[FWS-R8-ES-2022-0170; FXES11140800000-234-FF08ECAR00]


Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Wind Energy Condor 
Action Team Projects, Kern County, CA; Incidental Take Permit 
Application and Draft Conservation Plan; Draft Environmental Assessment

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, have received an 
application from the Wind Energy Condor Action Team (WECAT) for an 
incidental take permit under the Endangered Species Act. The permit, if 
granted, would authorize take of the federally endangered California 
condor (Gymnogyps californianus), incidental to otherwise lawful 
activities associated with the operation of WECAT members' separate 
wind energy projects. Available for comment are the draft conservation 
plan that WECAT prepared in support of their application, and a draft 
environmental assessment, which we have prepared pursuant to the 
National Environmental Policy Act. We invite comments from the public 
and Federal, Tribal, State, and local governments. We will take 
comments into consideration before deciding whether to issue an 
incidental take permit.

DATES: Written comments should be received on or before March 24, 2023.

ADDRESSES: 
    Obtaining Documents: You may obtain copies of the documents online 
in Docket No. FWS-R8-ES-2022-0170 at https://www.regulations.gov, or 
you may request copies of the documents by phone or email (see FOR 
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT).
    Submitting Written Comments: Please submit your written comments 
using one of the following methods:
     Online: https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments on Docket No. FWS-R8-ES-2022-0170.
     U.S. mail: Public Comments Processing, Attn: Docket No. 
FWS-R8-ES-2022-0170; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, MS: PRB/3W, 5275 
Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.
    For more information, see Public Availability of Comments under 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Peter Sanzenbacher, Fish and Wildlife 
Biologist, by email at [email protected] or via phone at (442) 
222-0165. Individuals in the

[[Page 10930]]

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 
(Service), have received an application from the Wind Energy Condor 
Action Team (WECAT) for an incidental take permit under the Endangered 
Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). The 
application addresses the potential take of the federally endangered 
California condor (condor; Gymnogyps californianus), incidental to the 
otherwise lawful operation of wind energy projects owned by WECAT 
members, as described in the WECAT conservation plan.

Background

    The Service listed the California condor as endangered on February 
24, 1967 (67 FR 2758). Section 9 of the ESA (16 U.S.C. 1538) and 
Federal regulations prohibit the ``take'' of animal species listed as 
endangered or threatened without special exemption. Under the ESA, 
``take'' is defined to include the following activities: ``to harass, 
harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or 
to attempt to engage in any such conduct'' (16 U.S.C. 1532). Under 
section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA (16 U.S.C. 1539(a)(1)(B)), we 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. Regulations governing incidental take permits for endangered 
species are set forth in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) at 50 
CFR 17.22. Issuance of an incidental take permit also must not 
jeopardize the existence of federally listed fish, wildlife, or plant 
species, pursuant to section 7 of the ESA and 50 CFR 402.02. The 
permittee would receive assurances under our ``No Surprises'' 
regulations (50 CFR 17.22(b)(5)).

Permit Application and Associated Documents

    WECAT has submitted a draft conservation plan that describes the 
activities that would be covered by the incidental take permit, which 
include the operation of wind turbines and other wind energy facility 
infrastructure (i.e., above-ground power lines and poles, 
meteorological towers, and substations and switchyards) at WECAT member 
projects. To minimize the risk of incidental take of California 
condors, the WECAT members will maintain programs to detect condors 
approaching covered projects, and temporarily curtail operation of wind 
turbines when appropriate. The conservation plan also includes use of 
adaptive management to allow for maintaining the protection of condors 
as technologies, condor behavior, and other factors change over time. 
To mitigate the impact of incidental take, the applicants propose to 
work with an existing captive breeding facility to fund the production 
of additional condors for release into the wild. The Service and 
applicants used the results of population modeling and a population 
viability analysis conducted by a team of independent researchers to 
inform the mitigation strategy and ensure that the level of potential 
injury and mortality of condors permitted at covered projects would not 
impede the recovery of the species. A report documenting the methods 
and results of these analyses is appended to the draft conservation 
plan. A ``Frequently Asked Questions'' document for the analyses 
described above is attached to the draft environmental assessment (EA). 
The draft conservation plan and the draft EA also consider alternatives 
to the proposed action, including a no action alternative.

National Environmental Policy Act Compliance

    The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321 et 
seq.) requires Federal agencies to analyze their proposed actions to 
determine whether the actions may significantly affect the human 
environment. In the NEPA analysis, the Federal agency will identify the 
effects, as well as possible mitigation for effects on environmental 
resources, that could occur with the implementation of the proposed 
action and alternatives. The Federal action in this case is the 
Service's proposed issuance of an incidental take permit for the 
federally endangered California condor. The Service prepared a draft EA 
to analyze the impacts of issuing the incidental take permit as 
described in the conservation plan, and to inform the public of the 
proposed action, alternatives, and associated impacts.

Public Availability of Comments

    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 
ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying 
information from public view, we cannot guarantee that we will be able 
to do so.

Authority

    We provide this notice under section 10(c) of the Endangered 
Species Act of 1973 (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).

Scott Sobiech,
Field Supervisor, Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife Office, Carlsbad, 
California.
[FR Doc. 2023-03646 Filed 2-21-23; 8:45 am]
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