[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 1 (Tuesday, January 3, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 129-130]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-33630]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-R1-MB-2011-N245; FXMB12320100000P2-123-FF01M01000]
Golden Eagles; Programmatic Take Permit Application; Draft
Environmental Assessment; West Butte Wind Project, Crook and Deschutes
Counties, OR
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: We have received an application under the Bald and Golden
Eagle Protection Act (BGEPA) from West Butte Wind Power, LLC, for a
programmatic permit for the take of golden eagles. If issued, the
permit would be the first programmatic permit issued under our new
permitting regulations. We invite public comment on a draft
environmental assessment (DEA), which evaluates alternatives for this
permit application.
DATES: To ensure consideration, please send your written comments by
February 2, 2011.
ADDRESSES: You may download a copy of the DEA on the Internet at http://www.fws.gov/pacific/migratorybirds/nepa.html. Alternatively, you may
use one of the methods below to request hard copies or a CD-ROM of the
documents. Please specify the ``DEA for the West Butte Wind Project''
on all correspondence.
Submitting Comments: You may submit comments or requests for copies
or more information by one of the following methods.
Email: pacific_birds@fws.gov. Include ``DEA for the West
Butte Wind Project'' in the subject line of the message.
U.S. Mail: Please address written comments to Michael
Green, Acting Chief, Division of Migratory Birds and Habitat Programs,
Pacific Region, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 911 NE 11th Ave.,
Portland, OR 97232.
Fax: Michael Green, Acting Chief, Division of Migratory
Birds and Habitat Programs, (503) 231-2019, Attn.: DEA for the West
Butte Wind Project.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Green, Acting Chief, Division
of Migratory Birds and Habitat Programs, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, (503) 231-2019 (phone); pacific_birds@fws.gov (email, include
``DEA for the West Butte Wind Project'' in the subject line of the
message). If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD),
please call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at (800) 877-
8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Introduction
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering an application
under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act (16 U.S.C. 668a-d;
BGEPA) for a programmatic golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) take permit
from West Butte Wind Power, LLC. The company plans to develop the West
Butte wind-power project in central Oregon, and there is a risk of
eagle fatalities as a result of the operation of this facility. The
application includes an avian and bat protection plan combined with an
eagle conservation plan that describes actions taken and proposed
future actions to avoid, minimize, and mitigate adverse effects on
eagles. The eagle conservation plan was developed in collaboration with
the Service.
The Draft Environmental Assessment (DEA) analyzes the alternatives
associated with this permit application in light of our BGEPA
permitting regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) at 50
CFR 22.26. If the results of this analysis lead us to issue this
permit, it will be the first programmatic permit issued under these new
regulations, as well as the first eagle take permit issued to a wind-
energy company.
Background
BGEPA allows us to authorize bald eagle and golden eagle
programmatic take (take that is recurring, is not caused solely by
indirect effects, and that occurs over the long term or in a location
or locations that cannot be specifically identified). Such take must be
incidental to actions that are otherwise lawful. BGEPA's implementing
regulations define ``take'' as ``to pursue, shoot, shoot at, poison,
wound, kill, capture, trap, collect, destroy, molest, or disturb
individuals, their nests and eggs'' (50 CFR 22.3); and ``disturb'' is
further defined as ``to agitate or bother a bald or golden eagle to a
degree that causes * * * injury to an eagle, * * * a decrease in its
productivity, * * * or nest abandonment'' (50 CFR 22.3). The West Butte
Wind Project potentially will result in one or more recurring eagle
mortalities over the life of the project, so the appropriate type of
take permit is the programmatic permit under 50 CFR 22.26.
To obtain a programmatic permit under BGEPA and 50 CFR 22.26, the
applicant must (1) avoid and minimize take to the maximum extent
achievable; (2) conduct adequate monitoring to determine effects; (3)
offset through compensatory mitigation any remaining take, such that
the net effect on the eagle population is, at a minimum, no change for
eagle management populations that cannot sustain additional mortality;
and (4) ensure that the direct and indirect effects of the take and
required mitigation, together with the cumulative effects of other
permitted take and additional factors affecting eagle populations, are
compatible with the preservation of bald eagles and golden eagles.
Applicant's Proposal
The 104-megawatt (MW) project is to be built in Crook and Deschutes
Counties, Oregon. As a result of monitoring studies conducted on the
proposed project site, the applicant considers the use of the site by
eagles to be low, and has requested in their application a permit for
the legal take of ``1 to 2 Golden Eagles over the 20 to 30 year life of
the project.''
The applicant developed an eagle conservation plan, following
recommendations provided by the Service (Draft Eagle Conservation Plan
Guidance, January 2011, http://www.fws.gov/windenergy/docs/ECP_draft_guidance_2_10_final_clean_omb.pdf). As recommended in the
Service's guidance, the applicant's plan outlines avoidance and
minimization measures and advanced conservation practices, assesses
risk from pre-construction monitoring data, makes commitments for
mitigating eagle mortalities, and commits to post-construction
monitoring. This plan was
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submitted as part of the permit application, and if we issue the permit
following the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process, then
the conservation commitments would become conditions of the permit.
The Service independently evaluated the risk of eagle fatalities
from the construction of this project and compared that risk to the
conservation measures, largely mitigation actions, to which the
applicant has committed. This is an essential step in the Service's
evaluation of an application for a permit for programmatic take of
eagles, since issuing criteria require permitted take to be in
compliance with the BGEPA's preservation standard. The Service has
interpreted this standard to require maintenance of stable or
increasing breeding populations of eagles (74 FR 46836; September 11,
2009). The evaluation of risk and offsetting conservation measures, and
the implications for direct, indirect, and cumulative effects under
three alternatives, are discussed in detail in the DEA.
Next Steps
The public process for the proposed Federal permit action will be
completed after the public comment period, at which time we will
evaluate the permit application and comments submitted thereon to
determine whether the application meets the permitting requirements
under BGEPA, applicable regulations, and NEPA requirements. Upon
completion of that evaluation, we will select our course of action.
Public Comments
We invite public comment on the proposed DEA. If you wish, you may
submit comments by any one of the methods discussed above under
ADDRESSES.
Public Availability of Comments
Before including your address, phone number, email address, or
other personal identifying information in your comments, you should be
aware that your entire comment--including your personal identifying
information--may be made publicly available at any time. You can ask us
in your comment to withhold your personal identifying information from
public review, but we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.
Authority
We provide this notice under section 668a of the Act (16 U.S.C.
668-668c) and NEPA regulations (40 CFR 1506.6).
Dated: December 19, 2011.
Richard Hannan,
Acting Regional Director, Pacific Region, Portland, Oregon.
[FR Doc. 2011-33630 Filed 12-30-11; 8:45 am]
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