[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 225 (Friday, November 24, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 82393-82394]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-25943]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[Docket No. FWS-R4-ES-2023-0208; FXES11140400000-245-FF04EF4000]


Receipt of Incidental Take Permit Application and Proposed 
Habitat Conservation Plan for the Sand Skink; Orange County, FL; 
Categorical Exclusion

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce receipt 
of an application from the Orange County Public Library System (Horizon 
West Library; applicant) for an incidental take permit (ITP) under the 
Endangered Species Act. The applicant requests the ITP to take the 
federally listed sand skink (Neoseps reynoldsi) incidental to the 
construction and operation of a public library and related activities 
in Orange County, Florida. 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.

DATES: We must receive your written comments on or before December 26, 
2023.

ADDRESSES: 
    Obtaining Documents: The documents this notice announces, as well 
as any comments and other materials that we receive, will be available 
for public inspection online in Docket No. FWS-R4-ES-2023-0208 at 
https://www.regulations.gov.
    Submitting Comments: If you wish to submit comments on any of the 
documents, you may do so in writing by one of the following methods:
     Online: https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments on Docket No. FWS-R4-ES-2023-0208.
     U.S. Mail: Public Comments Processing, Attn: Docket No. 
FWS-R4-ES-2023-0208; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, MS: PRB/3W, 5275 
Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Erin Gawera, by U.S. mail (see 
ADDRESSES), by telephone at 904-731-3121, or via email at 
[email protected]. 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 Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), 
announce receipt of an application from the Orange County Public 
Library System (Horizon West Library; applicant) for an incidental take 
permit

[[Page 82394]]

(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 sand skink (Neoseps reynoldsi) (skink) incidental to 
the construction and operation of a public library, including a shared 
use area consisting of parking infrastructure, a YMCA facility, and 
ancillary improvements, and the associated clearing, infrastructure, 
and landscaping, in Orange County, Florida. 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.

Proposed Project

    The applicant requests a 5-year ITP to take skinks via the 
conversion of approximately 8.69 acres (ac) of occupied nesting, 
foraging, and sheltering skink habitat incidental to the construction 
and operation of a public library, including a shared use area 
consisting of parking infrastructure, a YMCA facility, and ancillary 
improvements, and the associated clearing, infrastructure, and 
landscaping on 12.45 ac on Parcels 16-23-27-0000-00-021, 16-23-27-0000-
00-009, and 16-23-27-0000-00-031 in Section 16, Township 23 South, 
Range 27 East, Orange County, Florida. The applicant proposes to 
mitigate for take of the skinks by purchasing credits equivalent to 
17.40 ac of skink-occupied habitat within the Lake Wales Conservation 
Bank or another Service-approved conservation bank. The Service would 
require the applicant to purchase the credits prior to engaging in any 
construction phase of the project.

Our Preliminary Determination

    The Service has made a preliminary determination that the 
applicant's proposed project, including the construction of the 
buildings and associated infrastructure (e.g., electric, water, and 
sewer lines), would individually and cumulatively have a minor or 
negligible effect on the sand skink and the 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 sand skink 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 ITP 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 
reasonably foreseeable actions, would not result in significant 
cumulative effects to the human environment.

Next Steps

    The Service will evaluate the application and the comments to 
determine whether to issue the requested permit. 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 
preceding and other matters, we will determine whether the permit 
issuance criteria of section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA have been met. If 
met, the Service will issue ITP number PER3397936 to Orange County 
Public Library System (Horizon West Library).

Public Availability of Comments

    Before including your address, phone number, email address, or 
other personal identifying information in your comment, be aware that 
your entire comment, including your personal identifying information, 
may be made available to the public. While you may request that we 
withhold your personal identifying information, we cannot guarantee 
that we will be able to do so.

Authority

    The Service provides 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 1500-
1508 and 43 CFR 46).

Robert L. Carey,
Manager, Division of Environmental Review, Florida Ecological Services 
Field Office.
[FR Doc. 2023-25943 Filed 11-22-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333-15-P