[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 8 (Tuesday, January 14, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3241-3243]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-00566]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-R2-ES-2024-0185; FXES 11140200000-256-FF02ENEH00]
Notice of Availability; Draft Amendments to the Oil and Gas and
Renewable (Wind and Solar) Energy, Power Line, and Communication Tower
Habitat Conservation Plans for the Lesser Prairie-Chicken; Colorado,
Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas
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 applications from LPC Conservation LLC (applicant) for amended
incidental take permits (permits) supported by proposed amendments to
the ``Oil and Gas and Renewable (Wind and Solar) Energy, Power Line,
and Communication Tower Habitat Conservation Plans for the Lesser
Prairie-chicken; Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas''
(HCPs). With this notice, we announce the availability for public
comment of the permit applications, the proposed HCP amendments, and
the draft environmental assessments (EAs). Currently, we are only
accepting comments on the amended portions of the HCPs and EAs. We
invite comments from the public and Federal, Tribal, State, and local
governments.
DATES: We must receive your written comments on or before February 13,
2025.
ADDRESSES:
Obtaining Documents: The documents this notice announces, as well
as any comments and materials that we receive, will be available for
public
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inspection online in Docket No. FWS-R2-ES-2024-0185 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-R2-ES-2024-0185.
U.S. mail: Public Comments Processing; Attn: Docket No.
FWS-R2-ES-2024-0185; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; MS: PRB/3W; 5275
Leesburg Pike; Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Clay Nichols, Lesser Prairie-Chicken
Coordinator, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Ecological Services,
Southwest Regional Office; telephone 817-471-6372. 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), make available for public comment applications submitted by
LPC Conservation LLC (applicant) for amended incidental take permits
(permits) under section 10(a)(1)(B) of the Endangered Species Act (ESA;
16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) supported by proposed amendments to the ``Oil
and Gas and Renewable (Wind and Solar) Energy, Power Line, and
Communication Tower Habitat Conservation Plan for the Lesser Prairie-
chicken; Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas'' (HCPs) and
the associated draft environmental assessments (EAs). If approved, the
requested amendments would expand the plan areas of the HCPs to the
north to reflect updates to the lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus
pallidicinctus; LEPC) estimated occupied range (EOR) made in 2022 by
the Lesser Prairie-Chicken Interstate Working Group. By expanding the
HCP plan areas, the HCPs would have the ability to provide LEPC
conservation, as well as incidental take permit coverage for covered
activities, throughout the entire 2022 EOR boundary.
Background
Section 9 of the ESA and our implementing regulations at 50 CFR
part 17 prohibit the ``take'' of fish or wildlife 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(19)). 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 such take of endangered and threatened species are found at
50 CFR 17.21 and 17.22 and 50 CFR 17.31 and 17.32, respectively.
Proposed Action
The proposed action is the issuance of amended incidental take
permits (permits) under section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA supported by
proposed amendments to the ``Oil and Gas and Renewable (Wind and Solar)
Energy, Power Line, and Communication Tower Habitat Conservation Plan
for the Lesser Prairie-chicken; Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma
and Texas'' (HCPs) to be consistent with changes in the HCP plan areas,
as well as other administrative changes.
The HCPs were approved and permitted by the Service on December 1,
2021 (Renewables HCP), and May 27, 2022 (Oil and Gas HCP). At the time
of approval and permit issuance, the plan area for the HCPs was the
2013 LEPC EOR boundary plus a 10-mile buffer. In 2022, after the
Service's approval of the HCPs and issuance of the permits, the Lesser
Prairie-Chicken Interstate Working Group revised the EOR of the LEPC to
expand the range boundaries north and east to include LEPC occurrence
documented in Colorado and to connect to the Kansas Shortgrass/
Conservation Reserve Program Mosaic. The proposed amendments update the
HCPs and permit to incorporate the revised EOR boundary and expand the
plan area boundaries in the HCPs accordingly.
The proposed amendments include updated text, figures, and captions
resulting from the update to the EOR and plan area. In addition, the
amendments include updates to terminology used in figure legends;
miscellaneous formatting, spelling, or grammatical corrections; and
updates to the certificate of inclusion (CI) application found in
Appendix B of each HCP. No changes are proposed to the duration of the
HCPs and associated permits, covered activities, or original incidental
take estimates.
Alternatives
We are considering one alternative to the proposed action as part
of this process, the no action alternative. Under the no action
alternative, the Service would not approve the proposed amendments and
would not issue the amended permits. In this case, the plan areas for
the HCPs would remain as defined in the approved HCPs and permits.
Next Steps
We will evaluate the permit applications, proposed amendments,
draft EAs, and comments we receive to determine whether the
applications meet the requirements of the ESA, National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA), and implementing regulations. If we determine that
all requirements are met, we will approve the amendments and issue the
amended permits under section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA to the applicant,
in accordance with the terms of the HCPs and specific terms and
conditions of the authorizing permits. We will not make our final
decision until after the 30-day comment period ends and we have fully
considered all comments received during the public comment period.
Public Availability of Comments
All comments we receive become part of the public record associated
with this action. If you submit a comment at https://www.regulations.gov, your entire comment, including any personal
identifying information, will be posted on the website. If you submit a
hardcopy comment that includes personal identifying information, such
as your address, phone number, or email address, 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 hardcopy document to withhold your personal identifying
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be
able to do so. Moreover, 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 the authority of section 10(c) of the
ESA and its implementing regulations (50 CFR 17.22 and 17.32) and NEPA
(42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and its implementing
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regulations (40 CFR 1500 through 1508 and 43 CFR part 46).
Amy Lueders,
Regional Director, Southwest Region, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 2025-00566 Filed 1-13-25; 8:45 am]
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