[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 149 (Friday, August 2, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63214-63215]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-17004]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[FWS-R8-ES-2024-0089; FXES11140800000-245-FF08EVEN00]


Receipt of Incidental Take Permit Application for Participation 
in the General Conservation Plan for Oil and Gas Activities; 
Categorical Exclusion; Santa Barbara County, CA

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), announce 
receipt of an application from the Southern California Gas Company 
(SoCalGas) for an incidental take permit (ITP), pursuant to the 
Endangered Species Act, under the approved General Conservation Plan 
for Oil and Gas Activities (GCP). If granted, the ITP would authorize 
take of the California red-legged frog (Rana draytonii), incidental to 
activities within unincorporated Santa Barbara County, California. We 
request public comment on the application, 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 low-effect screening form. The application 
and the screening form are 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 September 3, 
2024.

ADDRESSES: 
    Obtaining Documents: The document this notice announces (draft 
screening form), as well as any comments and other materials that we 
receive, will be available for public inspection online in Docket No. 
FWS-R8-ES-2024-0089 at https://www.regulations.gov. The approved GCP 
and the associated final environmental assessment/finding of no 
significant impact are also available on that site. However, we are no 
longer taking comments on those finalized, approved documents.
    Submitting Comments: If you wish to submit comments, 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-R8-ES-2024-0089.
     U.S. mail: Public Comments Processing, Attn: Docket No. 
FWS-R8-ES-2024-0089; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, MS: PRB/3W; 5275 
Leesburg Pike; Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Daniel Cisneros, Fish and Wildlife 
Biologist, by email at [email protected], by telephone at 805-677-
1766, or by U.S. mail at the Ventura Fish and Wildlife Office, 2493 
Portola Road, Suite B, Ventura, CA 93003. 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.

[[Page 63215]]


SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 
(Service), announce receipt of an application from the Southern 
California Gas company for an incidental take permit (ITP), pursuant to 
the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et 
seq.), under the approved General Conservation Plan for Oil and Gas 
Activities (GCP). A GCP is a mechanism that meets the definition of a 
conservation plan in section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA and enables the 
construct of a programmatic permitting and conservation process to 
address a defined suite of proposed activities over a defined planning 
area. The application for an incidental take permit was made pursuant 
to section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA. The ITP, if granted, would authorize 
take of the federally threatened California red-legged frog (Rana 
draytonii) incidental to activities associated with temporary 
excavations and pipeline replacement of the existing natural gas 
transmission Line 247, west of the city of Goleta at 100 El Capitan 
Terrace Lane within unincorporated Santa Barbara County, California. 
The permit would be issued to the applicant under the GCP for Oil and 
Gas Activities, which was approved on June 27, 2022. Prior to approval, 
a notice of availability of the draft programmatic environmental 
assessment (EA) and GCP published on March 6, 2020 (85 FR 13181). The 
approved GCP and the associated final programmatic environmental 
assessment/finding of no significant impact are available on the 
Ventura Fish and Wildlife Office web page at https://www.fws.gov/media/habitat-conservation-plans-and-general-conservation-plans. We have also 
uploaded them to https://www.regulations.gov. However, we are no longer 
taking comments on these finalized, approved documents.

Documents for Public Comment

    We invite public comment on the application for an ITP, the draft 
screening form we prepared in accordance with the National 
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), and on 
our preliminary determination that this proposed ITP 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)).

Background

    The Service listed the California red-legged frog as threatened on 
May 23, 1996 (61 FR 25813). Section 9 of the ESA prohibits ``take'' of 
fish and wildlife species listed as threatened or endangered (16 U.S.C. 
1538), where take is defined to include the following activities: ``to 
harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or 
collect, or to attempt to engage in any such conduct'' (16 U.S.C. 
1532). Under section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA (16 U.S.C. 1539(a)(1)(B)), 
we may issue permits to authorize take of listed fish and wildlife 
species 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 are in the Code of 
Federal Regulations (CFR) at 50 CFR 17.22 and 17.32, respectively. 
Issuance of an ITP also must not jeopardize the existence of federally 
listed fish, wildlife, or plant species. The permittee would receive 
assurances under our ``No Surprises'' regulations (50 CFR 17.22(b)(5) 
and 17.32(b)(5)).

Applicant's Proposed Activities

    The applicant has applied for a permit for incidental take of 
California red-legged frog. The take would occur in association with 
activities necessary to provide safety upgrades and replacement of the 
existing natural gas transmission Line 247, west of the city of Goleta 
at 100 El Capitan Terrace Lane within an unincorporated area of Santa 
Barbara County, California. Project activities would include the 
removal of an existing 1,200-foot-long bypass line to the west of El 
Capitan Creek. Removal of the bypass line will require an approximately 
3-foot (ft)-wide by 1,200-ft-long trench in a 15-ft-wide workspace. 
Removal of the bypass line is anticipated to take approximately 6 
weeks. Segment 2 of project activities will require a jack and bore 
method of drilling of approximately 175 linear ft to install a 
replacement 16-inch (in) steel pipeline by excavation of an open 
trench. The existing pipeline under El Capitan Creek will be abandoned 
in place to limit disturbance to riparian habitat. A temporary 8-in-
diameter and 56-ft-long bypass line will be tied in on the eastern end 
to provide service during construction. Segment 2 of project activities 
is anticipated to take approximately 16 weeks to complete. The 
applicant will backfill trenches with a layer of sand slurry at the 
bottom and then recompact with native soil following the installation 
of the replacement pipeline. Additionally, the applicant will a return 
all excavated areas to their original grades and revegetate them with 
native seed mix. Project activities will not occur in El Capitan Creek 
or its riparian habitat; thus, no California red-legged frog breeding 
habitat will be disturbed. However, transient adult California red-
legged frogs may be encountered in upland habitat during project 
activities. The nearest known location of California red-legged frogs 
is within 1 mile south of the project site. The proposed pipeline 
repair would temporarily impact dispersal habitat through ground 
disturbance by excavation and vegetation removal for workspace 
development, as well as the potential for direct injury or mortality 
from crushing.
    The project includes minimization measures for the California red-
legged frog and mitigation for unavoidable impacts to the species and 
its habitat. The applicant has proposed a one-time fixed payment of 
$21,350 to the California red-legged frog mitigation account managed by 
the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to compensate for unavoidable 
impacts to the California red-legged frog.

Public Availability of Comments

    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 
ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying 
information from public view, 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).

Stephen P. Henry,
Field Supervisor, Ventura Fish and Wildlife Office, Ventura, 
California.
[FR Doc. 2024-17004 Filed 8-1-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333-15-P