[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 146 (Tuesday, July 30, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 61098-61099]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-16563]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[RTID: 0648-XE117]


Endangered Species; File No. 28282

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

ACTION: Notice of receipt; withdrawal of a notice of intent.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that NMFS received an application for a 
Federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) incidental take permit from United 
Water Conservation District (applicant) located in Oxnard, California 
and the permit application is hereby open for public comment. The 
permit application concerns the incidental take of endangered Southern 
California steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) associated with the 
applicant's otherwise lawful continued operation and maintenance of the 
existing Freeman Diversion on the lower Santa Clara River, Ventura 
County, and future proposed activities for expanding the diversion. We 
are considering issuing a 50-year permit to the applicant that would 
exempt the applicant's incidental take of endangered steelhead, and are 
making the permit application and related documents available to the 
public for review and comment. We will use the comments received, the 
permit application, and other information required by applicable 
statute and regulation, to determine whether the permit application 
meets the criteria for issuing the permit to the applicant. 
Additionally, we are issuing this notice to advise Federal, State, and 
local government agencies and the public that we are withdrawing our 
2013 Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare a draft Environmental Impact 
Statement (EIS) for a previous application from United Water 
Conservation District for an incidental take permit under the ESA.

DATES: Written comments on the permit application (File no. 28282) must 
be received at the appropriate email address (see ADDRESSES) on or 
before August 29, 2024.
    The notice to prepare an EIS for the previous permit application is 
withdrawn as of July 30, 2024.

ADDRESSES: The permit application is available for download and review 
online at https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/action/united-water-conservation-districts-application-section-10a1b-incidental-take-permit. The application is also available upon request (see FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT).
    You may submit comments electronically through email to the 
following address: [email protected].
    Instructions: We may not consider comments submitted by any other 
method, to another address, or to a specific individual. All comments 
received are part of the public record and will be made available in a 
future Federal Register notice. Commenters should avoid including any 
personally identifiable information or otherwise sensitive information 
with submissions, which are publicly accessible. We will accept 
comments that are classified as anonymous or the commenter clearly 
indicates the intent to remain anonymous. Attachments to electronic 
comments will be accepted in Microsoft Word, Excel, or Adobe PDF file 
formats only.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rick Bush at [email protected] or 
562-980-3562.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

ESA-Listed Species Covered in This Notification

    The endangered Southern California Distinct Population Segment of 
steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss).

Background

    Approximately 16-kilometers (km) upstream of the confluence with 
the Pacific Ocean, the applicant operates the Freeman Diversion on the 
lower Santa Clara River to redirect a maximum of 10.62 m\3\ per second 
of water from the river to spreading basins for

[[Page 61099]]

groundwater recharge or directly to the neighboring farming community 
on the Oxnard Plain. Spanning the entire 366-m river channel, the 7.6-m 
tall diversion dam presents an obstacle to endangered steelhead that 
must migrate to and from their historical spawning and rearing habitats 
in the upper watershed and the estuary and ocean to complete their life 
cycle. To improve passage of endangered steelhead and renovate and 
expand the existing headworks of the Freeman Diversion, the applicant's 
April 9, 2024 application proposes: (1) renovating the existing Denil 
fish ladder and diversion headworks; (2) resurfacing the diversion's 
grade-control structure; (3) operating the fish-passage, water 
diversion, and sediment-management systems; (4) capturing and 
relocating steelhead; (5) expanding the off-channel water-conveyance 
infrastructure and diversion capacity to 21.24 m\3\ per second; (6) 
maintaining facilities and property; (7) developing conservation and 
monitoring programs; (8) restoring and enhancing habitat; and (9) 
implementing adaptive-management measures. The applicant seeks a 50-
year permit term to exempt incidental take of endangered steelhead 
associated with the foregoing activities, which are described further 
in the applicant's Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP). Additionally, the 
HCP specifies the steps that the applicant will undertake to avoid, 
minimize, mitigate, and monitor the impacts of the proposed activities 
and related incidental take on endangered steelhead.

Authority

    Section 9 of the ESA and Federal regulation prohibit the take of 
the Endangered Southern California Distinct Population Segment of 
Steelhead (endangered steelhead). 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. However, under 
section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA, we may issue permits to authorize 
incidental take. ``Incidental take'' is defined by the ESA as take that 
is incidental to, and not the purpose of, carrying out an otherwise 
lawful activity. Section 10(a)(2)(A) of the ESA requires an applicant 
for an incidental take permit to submit an HCP that specifies the steps 
the applicant will take to minimize and mitigate the impacts of the 
taking on the species. Regulations governing incidental take permits 
for threatened and endangered species are found at 50 CFR 222.307.

National Environmental Policy Act

    We are withdrawing the NOI published in the Federal Register on 
November 11, 2013 (78 FR 67336) to prepare an EIS in accordance with 
the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to analyze the impacts on 
the human environment resulting from the potential for issuing a HCP on 
a previous permit application from the applicant. We are taking this 
action because the proposed action for the previous permit application 
used as the basis for preparing the NOI has changed, and the original 
analysis is outdated. Additional details about the range of 
alternatives considered in this action are included in the November 11, 
2013 NOI and are not repeated here. We solicited public input on the 
scope of the analysis through a public comment on the NOI from November 
11, 2013 until January 13, 2014.
    We will revisit and fulfill all necessary NEPA obligations once the 
revised permit application has been determined to meet issuance 
criteria.

Next Steps

    We will evaluate the applicant's April 9, 2024 permit application, 
including the HCP, related documents, and public comments received, to 
determine whether the application meets the criteria for issuing a 
permit under 16 U.S.C. 1539(a)(2)(B). In addition, we will evaluate 
whether issuing a section 10(a)(1)(B) permit to the applicant would 
comply with section 7 of the ESA through the conduct of an intra-agency 
section 7 consultation. The final NEPA and permit determinations will 
not be made until after the end of the comment period. NMFS will 
publish a record of its final action in the Federal Register.

    Dated: July 23, 2024.
Angela Somma,
Chief, Endangered Species Division, Office of Protected Resources, 
National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2024-16563 Filed 7-29-24; 8:45 am]
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