[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 107 (Monday, June 3, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47589-47590]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-12123]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2024-0023; FXES11140300000-245-FF03E00000]


Receipt of an Application for an Amended Incidental Take Permit 
Amendment for the Great Pathfinder Habitat Conservation Plan, Hamilton 
and Boone Counties, IA; Categorical Exclusion

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments and information.

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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, have received an 
application from Great Pathfinder Wind LLC (applicant), to amend an 
existing incidental take permit under the Endangered Species Act, for 
its Great Pathfinder Wind Project. We request public comment on the 
application, which includes the applicant's proposed amended habitat 
conservation plan, 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 July 
3, 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-R3-ES-2024-0023 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-R3-ES-2024-0023.
     U.S. mail: Submit comments by U.S. mail to Public Comments 
Processing, Attn: Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2024-0023; U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service; 5275 Leesburg Pike, MS: PRB/3W; Falls Church, VA 
22041-3803.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kraig McPeek, Field Supervisor, 
Illinois-Iowa Ecological Services Field Office, by email at 
[email protected], or by telephone at 309-757-5800, extension 214; 
or Andrew Horton, Regional HCP Coordinator, by email at 
[email protected], or by telephone at 612-713-5337. 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 Great Pathfinder Wind LLC 
(applicant), to amend an existing incidental take permit (ITP) under 
the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et 
seq.), for its Great Pathfinder Wind Project (project). If approved, 
the amended ITP would add authorization of incidental take of a 
proposed endangered species, the tricolored bat (Perimyotis subflavus), 
to the currently existing authorizations to incidentally take the 
Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) and northern long-eared bat (Myotis 
septentrionalis), both of which are federally listed as endangered. The 
applicant has prepared a proposed habitat conservation plan (HCP) 
amendment that describes the actions and measures that the applicant 
would implement to avoid, minimize, and mitigate incidental take of the 
tricolored bat. We also announce the availability of a draft 
environmental action statement and low-effect screening form, which

[[Page 47590]]

has been prepared in response to the permit application in accordance 
with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA; 
42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). We request public comment on the application 
and associated documents.

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 (CFR) at 50 CFR 17.22 and 50 CFR 
17.32.

Applicant's Proposed Project

    The applicant requests to amend their current 6-year ITP 
(ESPER0627303). The proposed HCP amendment, if approved, would add 
authorization to incidentally take the proposed endangered tricolored 
bat (Perimyotis subflavus) to the remaining 5 years of the current ITP. 
The applicant determined that take is reasonably certain to occur 
incidental to operation of the 66 wind turbines at the project. The 
proposed conservation strategy in the applicant's proposed HCP 
amendment is designed to avoid, minimize, and mitigate the impacts of 
the covered activity on the covered species. The biological goals and 
objectives are to minimize potential take of Indiana bats, northern 
long-eared bats, and tricolored bats through on-site minimization 
measures and to provide habitat conservation measures for all covered 
to offset any impacts from operations of the project. The HCP amendment 
provides on-site avoidance and minimization measures, which include 
turbine operational adjustments. The estimated level of take from the 
project amendment is 15 tricolored bats. To offset the impacts of the 
taking tricolored bats, the applicant proposes to protect known 
maternity colony habitat or contribute to a white-nose treatment 
research mitigation fund, if available.

National Environmental Policy Act

    The issuance of an ITP is a Federal action that triggers the need 
for compliance with NEPA. The Service has made a preliminary 
determination that the applicant's proposed amended project, and the 
proposed mitigation measures, would individually and cumulatively have 
a minor effect on the 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 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 ITP is one 
that would result in (1) minor or nonsignificant 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.

Next Steps

    The Service will evaluate the application and the comments received 
to determine whether to issue the requested ITP. 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 the requested amended ITP to the applicant.

Request for Public Comments

    The Service invites comments and suggestions from all interested 
parties during a 30-day public comment period (see DATES). In 
particular, information and comments regarding the following topics are 
requested:
    1. The effects that implementation of any alternative under this 
proposed amendment could have on the human environment;
    2. Whether or not the significance of the impact on various aspects 
of the human environment has been adequately analyzed in this proposed 
amendment;
    3. Any threats to the tricolored bat that may influence their 
populations over the life of the ITP that are not addressed in the 
proposed HCP amendment or screening form; and
    4. Any other information pertinent to evaluating the effects of the 
proposed amendment on the human environment.

Availability of Public Comments

    You may submit comments by one of the methods shown under 
ADDRESSES. We will post on https://www.regulations.gov all public 
comments and information received electronically or via hardcopy. 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.

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 NEPA 
(42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and its implementing regulations (40 CFR 1500-
1508; 43 CFR part 46).

Lori Nordstrom,
Assistant Regional Director, Ecological Services.
[FR Doc. 2024-12123 Filed 5-31-24; 8:45 am]
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