[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 36 (Thursday, February 23, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11469-11470]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-03678]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[Docket No. FWS-R8-ES-2023-0025; FF08ESMF00-FXES11140800000-189]


Byron Sand Mine Evo East Quarry Expansion, Contra Costa County, 
California; Draft Categorical Exclusion and Draft Habitat Conservation 
Plan

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 (Service), announce the 
receipt of an application from G3 enterprises (applicant) for an 
incidental take permit (ITP) under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).The 
applicant requests an ITP to take the San Joaquin kit fox, the Central 
Valley distinct population segment of the California tiger salamander, 
the California red-legged frog, and the vernal pool fairy shrimp, 
incidental to the construction of the Byron Sand Mine Evo East Quarry 
Expansion Project in Contra Costa County, California. We request public 
comment on the application, which includes the applicant's proposed 
habitat conservation plan (HCP), and on the Service's preliminary 
determination that the proposed permitting action may be eligible for a 
categorical exclusion pursuant to the Council on Environmental 
Quality's National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations, the 
Department of the Interior's (DOI) NEPA regulations, and the DOI 
Departmental Manual. To make this preliminary determination, we 
prepared a draft environmental action statement and low-effect 
screening form, both of which are also available for public review. We 
invite comment from the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal 
agencies. Before issuing the requested permit, we will take into 
consideration any information that we receive during the public comment 
period.

DATES: We must receive your written comments on or before March 27, 
2023.

ADDRESSES: 
    Obtaining Documents: You may obtain copies of the documents online 
in Docket No. in Docket No. FWS-R8-ES-2023-0025 at https://www.regulations.gov.
    Submitting Comments: To submit comments, please use one of the 
following methods, and note which document(s) your information requests 
or comments pertain to.
     Internet: Submit comments at https://www.regulations.gov 
under Docket No. FWS-R8-ES-2023-0025.
     U.S. Mail: Public Comments Processing, Attn: Docket No. 
FWS-R8-ES-2023-0025; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters, MS: 
PRB/3W; 5275 Leesburg Pike; Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.
    For more information, see Public Comments and Public Availability 
of Comments, under SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jason Hanni, Fish and Wildlife 
Biologist ([email protected]), or Ryan Olah, Chief, Coast Bay 
Division ([email protected]), Fish and Wildlife Service, Sacramento 
Fish and Wildlife Office, by phone at 916-414-6600. 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 
(Service), announce the receipt of an application from G3 enterprises 
(applicant) for a 20-year 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 as 
endangered San Joaquin kit fox (Vulpes macrotis mutica; kit fox), the 
threatened Central Valley distinct population segment (DPS) of the 
California tiger salamander (Ambystoma californiense), the threatened 
California red-legged frog (Rana draytonii), and the threatened vernal 
pool fairy shrimp (Branchinecta lynchi), incidental to the construction 
of the Byron Sand Mine Evo East Quarry Expansion Project in Contra 
Costa County, California.
    We request public comment on the application, which includes the 
applicant's habitat conservation plan (HCP), and on the Service's 
preliminary determination that this proposed ITP qualifies as ``low 
effect,'' and may qualify for a categorical exclusion pursuant to the 
Council on Environmental Quality's National Environmental Policy Act 
(NEPA) regulations (40 CFR 1501.4), the Department of the Interior's 
(DOI) NEPA regulations (43 CFR 46), and the DOI's Departmental Manual 
(516 DM 8.5(C)(2)). To make this preliminary determination, we prepared 
a draft environmental action statement and low-effect screening form, 
both of which are also available for public review.

Background

    Section 9 of the ESA (16 U.S.C. 1531-1544 et seq.) and Federal 
regulations (50 CFR part 17) prohibit the taking of fish and wildlife 
species listed as endangered or threatened under section 4 of the ESA. 
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 permits for endangered 
and threatened species are at 50 CFR 17.22 and 17.32. For more about 
the Federal habitat conservation plan (HCP) program, go to https://www.fws.gov/service/habitat-conservation-plans.

Proposed Project

    For the proposed project, the Service would issue an ITP to the 
applicant for a period of 20 years for certain covered activities 
(described below). The applicant has requested an ITP for four covered 
species.

Habitat Conservation Plan Area

    The geographic scope of the draft HCP encompasses an 80-acre (ac) 
parcel, which encompasses both a 20-ac mine expansion area and a 60-ac 
mitigation area and is adjacent to the project site. The Evo East 
Expansion Project consists of a total disturbed area of 20 ac, which 
includes an estimated 15-ac mine expansion area and an estimated 5-ac 
overburden storage area where topsoil from the quarry will be stored 
for later use in reclamation. The proposed expansion and overburden 
areas are directly adjacent to the existing Evo East Quarry. The 
project would expand the approved Evo East footprint to the

[[Page 11470]]

southeast, creating a single contiguous quarry that encompasses 
approximately 50 ac total. The Evo East Expansion Area would be mined 
in a sequential manner, with rejected material placed on depleted 
mining areas to avoid the need for separate reject material storage. 
The existing mine infrastructure would be used to complete mining 
operations. The remaining 60 ac within the plan area would not be 
disturbed and would be set aside as mitigation for the project. The 
proposed project is located at the southwest corner of Vasco Road and 
Camino Diablo Road in Byron, Contra Costa County, California.

Covered Activities

    The proposed ESA section 10 ITP would allow take of four covered 
species from covered activities in the proposed HCP area. The applicant 
is requesting incidental take authorization for covered activities, 
including mining the approximately 15-ac site as well as utilizing an 
approximate 5-ac overburden pile that would occur in the project area. 
The applicant is proposing to implement a number of project design 
features, including best management practices, as well as general and 
species-specific avoidance and minimization measures to minimize the 
impacts of the take from the covered activities.

Covered Species

    The federally listed as endangered San Joaquin kit fox, the 
threatened Central Valley DPS of the California tiger salamander, the 
threatened California red-legged frog, and the threatened vernal pool 
fairy shrimp are proposed to be included as covered species in the 
proposed HCP.

Our Preliminary Determination

    The Service has made a preliminary determination that the proposed 
applicant's project, including the construction of the quarry expansion 
project, would individually and cumulatively have a minor, 
nonsignificant effect on the proposed covered species and the human 
environment. Therefore, we have preliminarily determined that the 
proposed ESA section 10(a)(1)(B) permit would be a ``low-effect'' ITP 
that individually or cumulatively would have a minor effect on the 
proposed covered species and may qualify for application of a 
categorical exclusion pursuant to the Council on Environmental 
Quality's NEPA regulations, DOI's NEPA regulations, and the DOI 
Departmental Manual. A ``low-effect'' incidental take permit is one 
that would result in (1) minor or negligible effects on species covered 
in the HCP; (2) nonsignificant effects on the human environment; and 
(3) impacts that, when added together with the impacts of other past, 
present, and reasonable foreseeable actions, would not result in 
significant cumulative effects to the human environment.

Public Comments

    We request data, comments, new information, or suggestions from the 
public, other concerned governmental agencies, the scientific 
community, Tribes, industry, or any other interested party on this 
notice and the documents we are making available for comment. We 
particularly seek comments on the following:
    1. Biological information concerning the species;
    2. Relevant data concerning the species;
    3. Additional information concerning the ranges, distribution, 
population sizes, and population trends of the species;
    4. Current or planned activities in the area and their possible 
impacts on the species;
    5. The presence of archeological sites, buildings and structures, 
historic events, sacred and traditional areas, and other historic 
preservation concerns, which are required to be considered in project 
planning by the National Historic Preservation Act; and
    6. Any other environmental issues that should be considered with 
regard to the proposed development and permit action.

Public Availability of Comments

    Before including your address, phone number, or other personal 
identifying information in your comment, you should be aware that your 
entire comment--including your personal identifying information--might 
be made publicly available at any time. While you can ask us in your 
comment to withhold your personal identifying information from public 
review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.

Next Steps

    We will evaluate the application, associated documents, and any 
public comments we receive as part of our NEPA compliance process to 
determine whether the application meets the requirements of section 
10(a) of the ESA. If we determine that those requirements are met, we 
will conduct an intra-Service consultation under section 7 of the ESA 
for the Federal action of potentially issuing an ITP. If the intra-
Service consultation confirms that issuance of the ITP will not 
jeopardize the continued existence of any endangered or threatened 
species, or destroy or adversely modify critical habitat, we will issue 
a permit to the applicant for the incidental take of the covered 
species.

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 17.32) and the National Environmental Policy Act (42 U.S.C. 
4321 et seq.) and its implementing regulations (40 CFR parts 1500-1508 
and 43 CFR part 46).

Michael Fris,
Field Supervisor, Sacramento Fish and Wildlife Office, U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service, Sacramento, California.
[FR Doc. 2023-03678 Filed 2-22-23; 8:45 am]
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