[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 69 (Tuesday, April 9, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24851-24852]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-07482]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[FWS-R5-ES-2024-0021; FXES11140500000-245-FF05E00000]


Proposed Safe Harbor Agreement and Candidate Conservation 
Agreement With Assurances for the Greene County Pennsylvania, Wharton 
Run Bat Hibernaculum; Draft Categorical Exclusion

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), have 
received an application from CNX Gas Company LLC for an enhancement of 
survival permit under the Endangered Species Act. The applicant also 
submitted a proposed safe harbor agreement and candidate conservation 
agreement with assurances (SHA/CCAA) in support of the application. We 
request public comment on the application, which includes the 
applicant's proposed SHA/CCAA, and 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 will accept comments received or postmarked on or before May 
9, 2024. Comments submitted online at https://www.regulations.gov (see 
ADDRESSES) must be received by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on May 9, 2024.

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-R5-ES-2024-0021 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-R5-ES-2024-0021.
     U.S. mail: Public Comments Processing; Attn: Docket No. 
FWS-R5-ES-2024-0021; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters, MS: 
PRB/3W; 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Pamela R. Shellenberger, by telephone 
at 814-234-4090, extension 7459, or by 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 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 
(Service), have received an application from CNX Gas Company LLC 
(applicant, CNX) for an enhancement of survival permit under the 
Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et 
seq.). The applicant also submitted a proposed safe harbor agreement 
and candidate conservation agreement with assurances (SHA/CCAA) in 
support of the application. The applicant intends to implement the 
agreement within the boundaries of the State of Pennsylvania, to 
actively manage the covered species to benefit the recovery of 
federally listed species and to prevent the need to list candidate or 
otherwise sensitive species. The Service has made a preliminary 
determination that the proposed agreement qualifies as low effect, 
categorically excluded, under the National Environmental Policy Act of 
1969 (NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). To make this determination, we 
used our

[[Page 24852]]

environmental action statement and low-effect screening form, both of 
which are also available for public review. We provide this notice to 
seek comments from the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal 
agencies.

Background

    Section 9 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA; 
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 for endangered and threatened species, respectively, are found 
in the Code of Federal Regulations at 50 CFR 17.22 and 50 CFR 17.32.

Safe Harbor Agreements and Candidate Conservation Agreements With 
Assurances

    A SHA is an agreement between the Service, partners, and 
landowners, for voluntary management of non-Federal lands to contribute 
towards recovery of an ESA-listed species in a manner that is 
consistent with the Service's policy on SHAs (64 FR 32717, June 17, 
1999) and applicable regulations. A CCAA is an agreement between the 
Service, partners, and landowners for voluntary management of non-
Federal lands to remove or reduce key threats to species that may 
become listed under the ESA, in a manner that is consistent with the 
Service's policy on CCAAs (81 FR 95164, December 27, 2016) and 
applicable regulations. In return for implementing conservation 
measures in a SHA/CCAA, the Service gives participants assurances that 
the Service will not impose land, water, or resource use restrictions 
or conservation requirements on ESA-listed species, or those that may 
become listed, beyond those agreed to in the SHA/CCAA.

Applicant's Proposed Safe Harbor Agreement/Candidate Conservation 
Agreement With Assurances

    The purpose of this SHA/CCAA is to support collaborative efforts 
between the Service and CNX Gas Company LLC, in cooperation with 
regional agencies and universities, to implement conservation measures 
that result in net conservation benefits for six covered bat species. 
These measures include the installation of a human-made bat 
hibernaculum and other artificial roosting structures to provide a 
refuge to bat species that exist within the enrolled property.

Covered Species

    The proposed SHA/CCAA covers the following bat species.

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             Common name                   Scientific name       Federal listing status    State listing status
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Indiana bat..........................  Myotis sodalis.........  Endangered.............  Pennsylvania--endangere
                                                                                          d.
Northern long-eared bat..............  Myotis septentrionalis.  Endangered.............  Pennsylvania--endangere
                                                                                          d.
Tricolored bat.......................  Perimyotis subflavus...  Proposed endangered....  Pennsylvania--endangere
                                                                                          d.
Little brown bat.....................  Myotis lucifugus.......  No.....................  Pennsylvania--endangere
                                                                                          d.
Big brown bat........................  Eptesicus fuscus.......  No.....................  No.
Eastern small-footed bat.............  Myotis leibii..........  No.....................  Pennsylvania--threatene
                                                                                          d.
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National Environmental Policy Act Compliance

    Issuance of the permit would be a Federal action that would trigger 
the need for compliance with NEPA. The Service has made a preliminary 
determination that the proposed permit issuance is eligible for 
categorical exclusion under NEPA, based on the following criteria: (1) 
Implementation of the SHA and CCAA would result in minor or negligible 
adverse effects on federally listed, proposed, and candidate species 
and their habitats; (2) implementation of the SHA and CCAA would result 
in minor or negligible adverse effects on other environmental values or 
resources; and (3) impacts of the SHA and CCAA, considered together 
with the impacts of other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable 
similarly situated projects, would not result, over time, in cumulative 
adverse effects to environmental values or resources which would be 
considered significant. To make this determination, we used our EAS and 
low-effect screening form, which are also available for public review.

Public Availability of Comments

    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.

Next Steps

    The Service will evaluate the application and the comments received 
to determine whether to issue the requested permit. We also will 
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 issuance criteria 
of section 10(a)(1)(A) of the ESA have been met. If met, the Service 
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 ESA (16 U.S.C. 
1531 et seq.) and its implementing regulations (50 CFR 17.22 and 17.32) 
and NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and its implementing regulations (40 
CFR 1500-1508 and 43 CFR 46).

Sharon Marino,
Assistant Regional Director, Ecological Services Northeast Region.
[FR Doc. 2024-07482 Filed 4-8-24; 8:45 am]
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