[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 225 (Friday, November 24, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 82324-82325]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-25984]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[RTID 0648-XD548]


Endangered Species; File No. 21516

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Issuance of permit modification.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that NMFS has issued a modification to 
Incidental Take Permit (ITP; No. 21516) to Virginia Electric and Power 
Company, d.b.a. Dominion Virginia Power (Dominion) pursuant to the 
Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA), as amended, for the incidental 
take of Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus) associated 
with the otherwise lawful operation of the Dominion Chesterfield Power 
Station (CPS) in Chesterfield, VA.

ADDRESSES: The modified incidental take permit and other related 
documents are available on the NMFS Office of Protected Resources 
website at https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/endangered-species-conservation/incidental-take-permits.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lynn Lankshear, (978) 282-8473, 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 9 of the ESA and Federal regulations 
prohibits the ``taking'' of a species listed as endangered or 
threatened. The ESA defines ``take'' to mean harass, harm, pursue, 
hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to 
engage in any such conduct. NMFS may issue permits, under limited 
circumstances to take listed species when the take is incidental to, 
and not the purpose of, otherwise lawful activities. Section 
10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA provides for authorizing incidental take of 
listed species. The regulations for modifying permits and issuing 
incidental take permits for threatened and endangered species are

[[Page 82325]]

promulgated at 50 CFR 222.306 and at 50 CFR 222.307.

Background

    NMFS issued Permit No. 21516 to Dominion on December 10, 2020 (86 
FR 1945). NMFS published notice in the Federal Register on August 2, 
2022 (87 FR 47190), that Dominion had requested modification of their 
ITP to allow for the incidental take of Atlantic sturgeon eggs from the 
Chesapeake Bay Distinct Population Segment through December 30, 2025, 
and to modify permit conditions based on anticipated operational 
changes at the CPS. However, new information regarding take of Atlantic 
sturgeon eggs at CPS was received after the close of the public comment 
period. Therefore, Dominion's request for modification of the ITP to 
allow for the incidental take of Atlantic sturgeon eggs remains in 
progress.
    In the interim, based on the information provided by Dominion and 
the public comment received, NMFS has modified Permit No. 21516 to: 
allow entrainment sampling for monitoring to occur at the furthest 
upriver cooling water intake structure that is operational at CPS at 
the time monitoring occurs; allow entrainment sampling for monitoring 
to be paused on the rare occasion that all CPS river circulating pumps 
are not operating provided that NMFS is notified within 24 hours of 
Dominion shutting down all water intake at the circulating water pumps, 
and provided the notification includes information describing the 
reason(s) for the shutdown and the expected duration of the shutdown; 
require visual inspections of the cooling water intake structure trash 
racks (and the immediate area upstream) from September 1 through 
October 31; require Dominion to annually inspect (i.e., by divers) the 
intake guards at CPS cooling water intake structures no earlier than 
March 1 and no later than August 15 to confirm that the guards are 
intact and capable of excluding any adult Atlantic sturgeon as 
designed, and make repairs to the guards, as needed, prior to September 
1; and require Dominion to clean the trash racks via a mechanical trash 
rake only as operationally necessary or, in the event a specific intake 
guard is found to be in jeopardy of not functioning as designed, the 
trash racks associated with that intact guard must be cleaned via a 
mechanical trash rake twice per day (once per 12-hour shift during 
daylight hours) during the fall sturgeon spawning window of September 1 
through October 31. Prior to September 1, trash raking must occur at a 
specific intake guard if it is found to be at risk of not functioning 
as designed and adult Atlantic sturgeon are present in the vicinity of 
CPS as indicated by the real-time telemetry system. Permit condition 
IV.C.4.g. has also been corrected to reflect the 8-week period from 
September through October for each year of the permit.

National Environmental Policy Act

    Issuing an ESA section 10(a)(1)(B) permit constitutes a Federal 
action requiring NMFS to comply with the National Environmental Policy 
Act (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) as implemented by 40 CFR parts 1500-1508 
and NOAA Administrative Order 216-6A, Compliance with the National 
Environmental Policy Act (2016). NMFS prepared a Supplemental 
Information Report explaining why the potential impacts to sturgeon and 
other resources fall within the scope of the 2020 Environmental 
Assessment (EA) and Finding of No Significant Impact developed in 
support of the original permit. We concluded that there would be little 
change in the impacts from this action, relative to those described in 
the original EA. Further, we concluded that there are no significant 
new circumstances or information that would result in changes to the 
impacts of the permit requirements as considered in the previous 
analyses.
    Authority: This notice is provided pursuant to section 10(c) of the 
ESA (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) and NEPA regulations (40 CFR 1506.6).

    Dated: November 20, 2023.
Angela Somma,
Chief, Endangered Species Division, Office of Protected Resources, 
National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2023-25984 Filed 11-22-23; 8:45 am]
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