[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 165 (Friday, August 24, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51554-51555]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-20223]
[[Page 51554]]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-R5-ES-2012-0059; 50120-1112-0000-F2]
Draft Environmental Impact Statement and Habitat Conservation
Plan; Receipt of Application for Incidental Take Permit; Beech Ridge
Energy
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability, receipt of application.
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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), we, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(Service), announce the availability of an application for an
Incidental Take Permit (ITP) and the associated Habitat Conservation
Plan (HCP) from Beech Ridge Energy, LLC, as well as the Service's draft
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), for public review and comment.
We provide this notice to (1) seek public comments on the proposed
HCP; (2) seek public comments on the draft EIS; and (3) advise other
Federal and State agencies, affected Tribes, and the public of our
intent to prepare a final EIS.
DATES: We will accept comments received or postmarked on or before
October 23, 2012. Comments submitted electronically using the Federal
eRulemaking Portal (see ADDRESSES) must be received by 11:59 p.m.
Eastern Time on the closing date.
We will consider all requests for public meetings. To accommodate
scheduling of meetings and allow sufficient time to publicize them, you
must contact Laura Hill no later than September 14, 2012 (see FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT).
ADDRESSES:
Document availability: You may obtain copies of the documents on
the Internet at http://www.regulations.gov at Docket Number FWS-R5-ES-
2012-0059, or by any of the methods described in Availability of
Documents (under SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION).
Comment submission: You may submit written comments by one of the
following methods:
Electronically: Go to the Federal eRulemaking Portal:
http://www.regulations.gov. In the Search box, enter FWS-R5-ES-2012-
0059, which is the docket number for this notice. Click on the
appropriate link to locate this document and submit a comment.
By hard copy: Submit by U.S. mail or hand-delivery to:
Public Comments Processing, Attn: FWS-R5-ES-2012-0059; Division of
Policy and Directives Management; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; 4401
N. Fairfax Drive, MS 2042-PDM; Arlington, VA 22203.
We request that you send comments by only the methods described
above. We will post all information received on http://www.regulations.gov. This generally means that we will post any
personal information you provide us (see the Public Comments section
below for more information).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Laura Hill, Assistant Field
Supervisor, West Virginia Field Office, 694 Beverly Pike, Elkins, WV
26241; telephone 304-636-6586, ext. 18.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We received an application from Beech Ridge
Energy for an ITP for the operation, and maintenance of 67 existing
turbines in the project area; the construction, operation and
maintenance of up to 33 additional turbines and associated
infrastructure in the project area; the implementation of the HCP
during the life of the permit; and the decomissioning of the entire
100-turbine project and associated infrastructure at the end of its
operational life. If approved, the permit would be for a 25-year period
and would authorize incidental take of the endangered Indiana bat
(Myotis sodalis) and Virginia big-eared bat (Corynorhinus townsendii
virginianus) (covered species). A conservation program to minimize and
mitigate for the impacts of the incidental take would be implemented by
Beech Ridge Energy as described in the proposed Beech Ridge Wind Energy
Project HCP. To comply with the NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), we
prepared a draft EIS that describes the proposed action and possible
alternatives and analyzes the effects of alternatives on the human
environment.
Availability of Documents
The proposed HCP and draft EIS are available on the West Virginia
Field Office's Web site at: http://www.fws.gov/westvirginiafieldoffice/beech_ridge_wind_power.html or at http://www.regulations.gov under
Docket Number FWS-R5-ES-2012-0059. Copies of the proposed HCP and draft
EIS will also be available for public review during regular business
hours at the West Virginia Field Office, 694 Beverly Pike, Elkins, WV
26241.
Paper copies of the proposed HCP and draft EIS may also be viewed
at the following public libraries: (1) Greenbrier County Public
Library, 152 Robert W. McCormick Drive, Lewisburg, WV; (2) Kanawha
County Public Library, 123 Capitol Street, Charleston, WV; and (3)
Rupert Public Library, 602 Nicholas Street, Rupert, WV. Those who do
not have access to the Internet or cannot visit our office or local
libraries can request CD-ROM copies of the documents by telephone at
304-636-6586 or by letter to the West Virginia Field Office (see the
address under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT).
Background
Section 9 of the 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 threatened and endangered
species, respectively, are found in the Code of Federal Regulations (50
CFR 17.22; 50 CFR 17.32).
Beech Ridge Energy has been working with staff from the West
Virginia Field Office since a January 2010 consent decree was signed,
following a court order ruling that construction and operation of the
project would violate section 9 of the ESA ``unless and until [Beech
Ridge Energy] obtains an ITP'' for the Indiana bat. Beech Ridge Energy
is now seeking a permit for the incidental take of the Covered Species
for a term of 25 years. Incidental take of these bat species may occur
due to injury and mortality from collision with turbine blades and
towers and from barotrauma (sudden changes in air pressure near the
tips of spinning blades that cause decompression of the bats' lungs).
Adverse effects to suitable Indiana bat habitat may occur from forest
clearing and fragmentation.
The proposed HCP was developed to address operation of 67 existing
turbines, construction and operation of an additional 33 turbines, and
decommissioning of all 100 turbines by the end of the permit term
(covered activities). The 6,860-acre (2,744- hectare) project planning
area in Greenbrier and Nicholas Counties, West Virginia, is located on
private land managed primarily for timber production.
The HCP's proposed conservation strategy is designed to avoid,
minimize,
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and mitigate the impacts of covered activities on the covered species.
The biological goals and objectives are to (1) significantly minimize
mortality of all bat species consistent with the best available
scientific information; (2) avoid and minimize take of covered species
by implementing turbine operational protocols learned through a
research and adaptive management strategy; and (3) mitigate unavoidable
impacts to covered species by implementing habitat protection or
restoration measures in key habitats for both species.
The HCP that Beech Ridge Energy included with its application for
an ITP includes a series of conservation measures to avoid, minimize,
mitigate, and monitor the effects of project construction and operation
on the covered species. These measures include: (1) Constructing fewer
turbines; (2) relocating turbines greater distances from bat
hibernacula; (3) reducing risk to bats when they are active at low wind
speeds by raising turbine cut-in speeds (the wind speed at which
turbines begin generating electricity) during bat fall migration; (4)
further reducing risk to bats by fully feathering turbine blades so
that they barely move at wind speeds below the cut-in speed; (5)
implementing turbine feathering and cut-in speed research to determine
effectiveness of the changes in operational protocols; (6) monitoring
bat mortality for the life of the project to ensure that biological
goals are being met and that take limits are not exceeded; and (7)
implementing off-site conservation projects designed to benefit the
covered species by protecting and managing key habitats in perpetuity.
The proposed action consists of the issuance of an ITP and
implementation of the proposed HCP. Beech Ridge Energy considered four
alternatives to the proposed action in its HCP: No action (no ITP);
alternate project locations; alternate technologies (such as coal and
natural gas) to generate electricity; and reduced conservation
measures.
Beech Ridge Energy has developed an implementation agreement (IA)
that ensures proper implementation of each of the terms and conditions
of the HCP and describes the applicable remedies and recourse should
any party fail to perform its obligations, responsibilities, and tasks,
as set forth in the agreement. The IA is being included as an appendix
to the proposed HCP for public review.
National Environmental Policy Act
We formally initiated an environmental review of the project
through publication of a notice of intent to prepare an EIS in the
Federal Register on July 22, 2010 (75 FR 42767). That notice also
announced a public scoping period, during which we invited interested
parties to provide written comments expressing their issues or concerns
related to the proposal and to attend a public scoping meeting held in
Rupert, West Virginia.
Based on public scoping comments, we have prepared a draft EIS for
the proposed action and have made it available for public inspection
(see ADDRESSES). NEPA requires that a range of reasonable alternatives
to the proposed action be described. The draft EIS analyzes four
alternatives, which were derived in response to scoping comments on
alternatives and from discussions with Beech Ridge Energy during the
development of the HCP. The alternatives are as follows:
Alternative 1: No action; do not issue a permit; status quo;
Alternative 2: The proposed Federal action of issuance of the
associated ITP and implementation of the proposed HCP for 100 turbines
and two covered species;
Alternative 3: Issuance of an ITP and implementation of an HCP for
100 turbines and 5 covered species; and
Alternative 4: Issuance of an ITP and implementation of an HCP for
67 turbines and 2 covered species.
We are seeking public input on the draft EIS to determine whether
we reviewed an appropriate list of reasonable alternatives, whether
there are additional alternatives that we should consider, there is
additional information that could better inform the EIS, and whether we
appropriately anticipated the environmental effects of the various
alternatives.
Public Meetings
We will consider all requests for public meetings. To accommodate
scheduling of meetings and allow sufficient time to publicize them, all
requests for meetings must be received within 21 days after publication
of this notice (see DATES, ADDRESSES, and FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT). Please indicate the reasons why a meeting is desired (desired
outcomes), desired format of the meeting, who is requesting the meeting
(an individual, group, or groups) and desired meeting location(s).
Next Steps
We will evaluate the permit application, associated documents, and
public comments in reaching a final decision on whether the application
meets the requirements of section 10(a) of the ESA (16 U.S.C. 1531 et
seq.). The HCP and EIS may change in response to public comments. We
will prepare responses to public comments and publish a notice of
availability of the final HCP and final EIS. We also will evaluate
whether issuance of a section 10(a)(1)(B) permit would comply with
section 7 of the ESA by conducting an intra-Service section 7
consultation. We will use the results of this consultation, in
combination with the above findings, in our final analysis to determine
whether to issue a permit. If the requirements are met, we will issue
the permit to the applicant. We will issue a record of decision and
issue or deny the permit no sooner than 30 days after publication of
the notice of availability of the final EIS.
Public Comments
The Service invites the public to comment on the proposed HCP and
draft EIS during a 60-day public comment period (see DATES). You may
submit comments by one of the methods shown under ADDRESSES.
Public Availability of Comments
We will post all public comments and information received
electronically or via hardcopy on http://regulations.gov. All comments
received, including names and addresses, will become part of the
administrative record and will be available to the public. 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--will
be publicly available. 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.
Authority
This notice is provided pursuant to section 10(c) of the ESA (16
U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) and NEPA regulations (40 CFR 1506.6).
Dated: July 30, 2012.
Spencer Simon,
Acting Assistant Regional Director, Northeast Region.
[FR Doc. 2012-20223 Filed 8-23-12; 8:45 am]
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