[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 58 (Monday, March 29, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16388-16389]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-06402]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-R3-ES-2020-0121; FXES11140300000-212]
Draft Environmental Assessment and Proposed Habitat Conservation
Plan; Receipt of an Application for an Incidental Take Permit, Bitter
Ridge Wind Farm, Jay County, Indiana
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comment and information.
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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) have received
an application from Scout Clean Energy's Bitter Ridge Wind Farm, LLC
(applicant), for an incidental take permit (ITP) under the Endangered
Species Act (ESA), for its Bitter Ridge Wind Farm (project). The
applicant requests the ITP, which would be for a 35-year period, for
the take of the federally listed endangered Indiana bat and threatened
northern long-eared bat incidental to the otherwise lawful activities
associated with the Bitter Ridge Wind Farm. The applicant proposes a
conservation program to minimize and mitigate for the unavoidable
incidental take as described in their Habitat Conservation Plan. The
Service requests public comment on the application, which includes the
applicant's proposed HCP, and the Service's draft environmental
assessment, prepared pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA). The Service provides this notice to seek comments from the
public and Federal, Tribal, State and local governments.
DATES: We will accept comments received or postmarked on or before
April 28, 2021.
ADDRESSES:
Document availability: Electronic copies of the documents this
notice announces, along with public comments received, will be
available online in Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2020-0121 at http://www.regulations.gov.
Comment submission: In your comment, please specify whether your
comment addresses the proposed HCP, draft EA, or any combination of the
aforementioned documents, or other supporting documents. You may submit
written comments by one of the following methods:
Online: http://www.regulations.gov. Search for and submit
comments on Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2020-0121.
By hard copy: Submit comments by U.S. mail to Public
Comments Processing, Attn: Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2020-0121; U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service; 5275 Leesburg Pike, MS: PRB/3W; Falls Church, VA
22041-3803.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Scott Pruitt, Field Supervisor,
Bloomington, Indiana, Ecological Services Field Office, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, 620 South Walker Street, Bloomington, IN 47403;
telephone: 812-334-4261, extension 214; or Andrew Horton, Regional HCP
Coordinator, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service--Interior Region 3, 5600
American Blvd., West, Suite 990, Bloomington, MN 55437-1458; telephone:
612-713-5337.
Individuals who are hearing impaired or speech impaired may call
the Federal Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339 for TTY assistance.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Section 9 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (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 endangered and threatened species, respectively, are found
in the Code of Federal Regulations at 50 CFR 17.22 and 50 CFR 17.32.
Applicant's Proposed Project
The applicant requests a 35-year ITP for take of the federally
endangered Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) and threatened northern long-
eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis). The applicant determined that wind
farm activities on this land are reasonably certain to result in
incidental take of these federally listed covered species. Activity
that
[[Page 16389]]
could result in incidental take if Indiana bats and northern long eared
bats is the operation of 52 wind turbines currently being constructed
in Jay County, Indiana, consisting of approximately 22,170 acres of
private land. The estimated level of take from the project is 69
Indiana bats and 45 northern long-eared bats over the 35-year project
duration.
The proposed conservation strategy in the applicant's proposed HCP
is designed to avoid, minimize, and mitigate the impacts of the covered
activity on the covered species. The biological goals and objectives
are to minimize potential take of Indiana bats and northern long-eared
bats through on-site minimization measures and to provide habitat
conservation measures for Indiana bats and northern long-eared bats to
offset any impacts from operations of the project. On-site minimization
measures include feathering turbine blades up to 3.0 meters per second
(m/s) during winter and spring (October 16-May 15), up to 5.0 m/s
during fall (August 1-October 15), and up to 5.0 m/s at 39 turbines
with risk and 3.0 m/s at the remaining turbines during summer (May 16-
July 31). Minimization measures will be implemented nightly from \1/2\
hour before sunset to \1/2\ hour after sunrise when the temperature is
above 10 [deg]C. To offset the impacts of the taking of Indiana bats
and northern long-eared bats, the applicant proposes to protect known
maternity colony habitat for both covered species and staging/swarming
habitat for Indiana bats. The Service requests public comments on the
permit application, which includes a proposed HCP, and an EA prepared
in accordance with NEPA.
The applicants' HCP describes the activities that will be
undertaken to implement forestry activities, as well as the mitigation
and minimization measures proposed to address the impacts to the
covered species. Pursuant to NEPA, the EA analyzes the impacts the ITP
issuance would have on the covered species and the environment.
National Environmental Policy Act
The issuance of an ITP is a Federal action that triggers the need
for compliance with NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). We prepared a draft
EA that analyzes the environmental impacts on the human environment
resulting from three alternatives: A no-action alternative, the
applicant's proposed action, and a more restrictive alternative
consisting of feathering at a rate of wind speed that results in less
impacts to bats.
Next Steps
The Service will evaluate the permit application and the comments
received to determine whether the application meets the requirements of
section 10(a) of the ESA. 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 issue the requested
ITP to the applicant.
Request for Public Comments
The Service invites comments and suggestions from all interested
parties during a 30-day public comment period (see DATES). In
particular, information and comments regarding the following topics are
requested:
1. The direct, indirect, or cumulative effects that implementation
of any alternative could have on the human environment;
2. Whether or not the significance of the impact on various aspects
of the human environment has been adequately analyzed; and
3. Any other information pertinent to evaluating the effects of the
proposed action on the human environment.
Because this permit application was sufficiently complete prior to
the effective date of the new NEPA regulations, we are exercising our
discretion to conduct our NEPA analysis under the regulations in effect
prior to September 14, 2020.
Availability of Public Comments
You may submit comments by one of the methods shown under
ADDRESSES. We will post on http://regulations.gov all public comments
and information received electronically or via hardcopy. All comments
received, including names and addresses, will become part of the
administrative record associated with this action. 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 request in your
comment that we withhold your personal identifying information from
public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so. 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 section 10(c) of the ESA (16 U.S.C.
1531 et seq.) and its implementing regulations (50 CFR 17.22) and the
NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4371 et seq.) and its implementing regulations (40 CFR
1506.6 (2019); 43 CFR part 46).
Lori Nordstrom,
Assistant Regional Director, Ecological Services.
[FR Doc. 2021-06402 Filed 3-26-21; 8:45 am]
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