Notice2024-25089
Proposed Multi-Bat Species General Conservation Plan for Routine Development Projects in New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia; Draft Environmental Assessment
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
October 29, 2024
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentFish and Wildlife Service
Abstract
We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the availability for public comment of a proposed general conservation plan (GCP), as well as an associated draft environmental assessment, for routine development projects in New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia that impact the federally listed Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) and/or northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis), and/or the proposed to be listed tricolored bat (Perimyotis subflavus). We invite comments from the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 209 (Tuesday, October 29, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 209 (Tuesday, October 29, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 85981-85983]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-25089]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-R5-ES-2024-0039; FXES11140500000-245-FF05E00000]
Proposed Multi-Bat Species General Conservation Plan for Routine
Development Projects in New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia;
Draft Environmental Assessment
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 the
availability for public comment of a proposed general conservation plan
(GCP), as well as an associated draft environmental assessment, for
routine development projects in New York, Pennsylvania, and West
Virginia that impact the federally listed Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis)
and/or northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis), and/or the
proposed to be listed tricolored bat (Perimyotis subflavus). We invite
comments from the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal
agencies.
DATES: We will accept comments received or postmarked on or before
November 29, 2024. Comments submitted online at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> (see ADDRESSES) must be received by 11:59 p.m.
eastern time on November 29, 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-2024-0039 at
<a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>.
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:
<bullet> Online: <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments on Docket No. FWS-R5-ES-2024-0039.
<bullet> U.S. Mail: Public Comments Processing; Attn: Docket No.
FWS-R5-ES-2024-0039; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters, MS:
PRB/3W; 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.
We will post all comments on <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>. This
generally means that we will post any personal information you provide
us (see Public Availability of Comments under SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
for more information).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Eric Tattersall, by telephone at 413-
253-8630. 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), announce the availability of a proposed general conservation
plan (GCP), as well as an associated draft environmental assessment
(EA), for routine development projects in New York,
[[Page 85982]]
Pennsylvania, and West Virginia that may impact Indiana bat (Myotis
sodalis), northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis), and/or
tricolored bat (Perimyotis subflavus). We invite comments from the
public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies.
We developed and now make available the GCP to provide a
streamlined mechanism to assist future individual applicants engaged in
certain otherwise lawful routine development projects to meet statutory
and regulatory requirements of a habitat conservation plan for issuance
of an incidental take permit under section 10(a)(1)(B) of the
Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et
seq.), while promoting conservation of the Indiana bat (Myotis
sodalis), the northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis), and the
tricolored bat (Perimyotis subflavus). The GCP includes measures to
minimize and mitigate impacts to the covered species. Permits issued
under the GCP would authorize incidental take of the covered species
for up to 15 years after the GCP becomes effective. We developed the
GCP in accordance with section 10(a)(2)(A) of the ESA (16 U.S.C. 1531
et seq.).
We prepared the draft EA in accordance with the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) to
evaluate the potential effects to the natural and human environment
resulting from issuing permits under the GCP.
Background
Section 9 of the ESA 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, or to attempt to engage in any such
conduct'' (16 U.S.C. 1532). However, under section 10(a)(1)(B) of the
ESA, we may issue permits to authorize take of listed species that is
incidental to, and not the purpose of, carrying out an otherwise lawful
activity (i.e., ``incidental taking'' (50 CFR 17.3)). Regulations
governing permits for the incidental taking of endangered and
threatened species, respectively, are found in the Code of Federal
Regulations at 50 CFR 17.22 and 50 CFR 17.32.
Proposed Action
The proposed action is approval of the GCP that has been prepared
by the Service in accordance with section 10(a)(2)(A) of the ESA to
provide a more efficient and standardized mechanism for proponents
engaged in certain otherwise lawful routine development projects on
non-Federal lands. The proposed GCP describes the routine development
activities for which the plan establishes associated conservation
measures an applicant would agree to undertake first to avoid and then
to minimize and mitigate for the impacts of the incidental take of the
listed (and proposed) bat species to the maximum extent practicable,
and to ensure that incidental take will not appreciably reduce the
likelihood of the survival and recovery of these species in the wild.
The GCP would allow private individuals, local and State agencies, and
other non-Federal entities to meet the statutory and regulatory
requirements of the ESA by applying for a permit and complying with the
requirements of the GCP, including all applicable avoidance,
minimization, and mitigation actions. We propose that applications for
projects falling within the GCP and which adopt all applicable plan
requirements would meet the permit issuance criteria as required by
section 10(a)(2)(B) of the ESA, thereby enabling the establishment of a
programmatic permitting and conservation process to address a defined
suite of project types impacting defined listed species within a
defined planning area. The GCP would be available for adoption and use
by eligible applicants for a period of 10 years. Individual permits
issued through the streamlined GCP process may be authorized for a term
of up to 5 years. Therefore, permittees would have up to 5 years to
complete their projects, even if the permit is issued in the final year
(i.e., year 10) of the GCP. If a project proponent is unable to
complete their covered activities during the duration of their permit,
they can request a permit renewal (for up to 5 additional years) from
the Service.
Covered Species
The proposed GCP would cover the bat species in table 1.
Table 1--Bat Species Covered in the Proposed General Conservation Plan
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Common name Scientific name Federal listing status
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Indiana bat............................ Myotis sodalis............ Endangered.
Northern long-eared bat................ Myotis septentrionalis.... Endangered.
Tricolored bat......................... Perimyotis subflavus...... Proposed endangered.
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National Environmental Policy Act Compliance
The draft EA provides the required NEPA documentation for the
proposed Federal action (approval of a conservation plan and subsequent
issuance of permits pursuant to section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA),
providing information on the environmental baseline and a discussion of
impacts to the human and natural environment that may occur as a result
of implementation of the GCP. Importantly, the scope of the EA is
limited to evaluation of the proposed GCP as a mechanism to standardize
permit issuance for covered activities; this EA neither evaluates nor
results in approval of the routine development activities. Land use
approval(s) for individual projects would continue to be the
responsibility of the local or State agency(ies) that have appropriate
jurisdiction(s) over individual projects. A section 10(a)(1)(B)
incidental take permit issued by the Service does not authorize the
covered activities themselves; rather, it authorizes only the take of
covered species resulting from those activities.
We are also considering a no-action alternative to the proposed
action in the EA. Under this no-action alternative, the Service would
not approve the proposed GCP as a standardized mechanism for compliance
with section 10 of the ESA. Project proponents planning to conduct
otherwise lawful routine development activities involving potential
impacts to Indiana bat, northern long-eared bat, and/or tricolored bat
would continue to develop project-specific HCPs in order to apply for
and obtain permits authorizing those species to be taken.
Public Availability of Comments
All comments received, including names and addresses, will become
part of the administrative record associated with this action. If you
submit a comment via <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>, your entire comment,
including any personal
[[Page 85983]]
identifying information such as your address, phone number, and email
address, will be posted on the website.
If you submit a hardcopy comment that includes personal identifying
information, you may request at the top of your document that we
withhold this information from public review. However, we cannot
guarantee that we will be able to do so. We will post all hardcopy
comments on <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>.
Next Steps
The Service will evaluate the comments received to determine
whether the GCP meets the requirements of section 10(a) of the ESA (16
U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). 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 above findings, we will
determine whether the permit issuance criteria of section 10(a)(l)(B)
of the ESA have been met. If met, the Service will implement the GCP
and issue ITPs to qualified applicants that agree to comply with all
avoidance, minimization, and mitigation actions that apply to their
proposed projects.
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. 2024-25089 Filed 10-28-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333-15-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on October 29, 2024.
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