[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 66 (Friday, April 5, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20690-20692]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-07595]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-R3-ES-2013-0032: FXES11120300000F2-134-FF03E00000]
Draft Environmental Impact Statement, Draft Habitat Conservation
Plan, Draft Programmatic Agreement, and Draft Implementing Agreement;
Application for an Incidental Take Permit, Fowler Ridge Wind Farm,
Benton County, Indiana
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), have
received an application from Fowler Ridge Wind Farm LLC, Fowler Ridge
II Wind Farm LLC, Fowler Ridge III Wind Farm LLC, and Fowler Ridge IV
Wind Farm LLC, collectively referred to as Fowler Ridge (applicant),
for an incidental take permit (ITP) under the Endangered Species Act of
1973, as amended (ESA), for its Fowler Ridge Wind Farm (FRWF)
(project). If approved, the ITP would be for a 22-year period and would
authorize the incidental take of an endangered species, the Indiana
bat. The applicant has prepared a draft habitat conservation plan (HCP)
that describes the actions and measures that the applicant would
implement to avoid, minimize, and mitigate incidental take of the
Indiana bat. The ITP application also includes a draft implementing
agreement (IA). We also announce the availability of a draft
Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), which has been prepared in
response to the permit application in accordance with the requirements
of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and a draft
Programmatic Agreement (PA) that has been prepared in response to the
permit application in accordance with the National Historic
Preservation Act (NHPA). We request public comment on the application
and associated documents.
DATES: Public Meeting: Thursday, April 18, 2013 from 4 to 8 p.m. local
time (EST) at the Benton County Government Annex, 410 South Adeway,
Suite A, Fowler, IN 47944.
Comments: We will accept comments received or postmarked on or
before June 4, 2013. Comments submitted electronically using the
Federal eRulemaking Portal (see ADDRESSES section, below) must be
received by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the closing date.
ADDRESSES: Document availability:
Internet: You may obtain copies of the documents on the
Internet at http://www.regulations.gov (Docket Number FWS-R3-ES-2013-
0032) or http://www.fws.gov/midwest/endangered/permits/hcp/r3hcps.html.
U.S. Mail: You can obtain the documents by mail from the
Indiana Ecological Services Field Office (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT).
In-Person: To view hard copies of the documents in person,
go to one of the Ecological Services Offices (8 a.m. to 4 p.m.) listed
under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT, or to one of the following
libraries during normal business hours: Benton County Public Library,
765-884 -1720, 102 N. Van Buren Avenue, Fowler, IN 47944; or Otterbein
Public Library (www.otterbeinpubliclibrary.org), 765-583-2107, 23 E.
1st Street, Otterbein, IN 47970.
Public Meeting: See DATES.
Comment submission: In your comment, please specify whether your
comment addresses the draft HCP, draft EIS, draft PA, or draft IA, or
any combination of the aforementioned documents, or other supporting
documents. 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-R3-ES-2013-
0032, which is the docket number for this notice. Then, on the left
side of the screen, under the Document Type heading, click on the
Notices 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-R3-ES-2013-0032; 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 only by the methods described
above. We will post all information received on http://www.regulations.gov. This generally means that we will post any
[[Page 20691]]
personal information you provide us (see the Public Comments section
below for more information).
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 Rick Amidon, Fish and
Wildlife Biologist, Ecological Services, Midwest Regional Office, U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, 5600 American Blvd., West, Suite 990,
Bloomington, MN 55437-1458; telephone: 612-713-5164.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We have received an application from Fowler
Ridge Wind Farm LLC, Fowler Ridge II Wind Farm LLC, Fowler Ridge III
Wind Farm LLC, and Fowler Ridge IV Wind Farm LLC, collectively referred
to as Fowler Ridge, for an incidental take permit (TE95012A) under the
ESA (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). If approved, the ITP would be for a 22-
year period and would authorize incidental take of the endangered
Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis).
The applicant has prepared a draft HCP that covers the operation of
Phases I-IV of the project. The project consists of a wind-powered
electric generation facility located in an approximately 72,947-acre
area (the project area including a one-half-mile buffer around the
outside turbines) in Benton County, Indiana. The draft HCP describes
the following: (1) Biological goals and objectives of the HCP; (2)
covered activities; (3) permit duration; (4) project area; (5)
alternatives to the taking that were considered; (5) public
participation; (6) life history of the Indiana bat; (6) quantification
of the take for which authorization is requested; (7) assessment of
direct and indirect effects of the taking on the Indiana bat within the
Midwest Recovery Unit (as delineated in the 2007 Indiana Bat Draft
Recovery Plan, Service) and rangewide; (8) a conservation program
consisting of avoidance and minimization measures, mitigation,
monitoring, and adaptive management; (9) funding for the HCP; (10)
procedures to deal with changed and unforeseen circumstances; and (11)
methods for ITP amendments.
In addition to the draft HCP, the applicant has prepared a draft IA
to document the responsibilities of the parties. The Service invites
comment on the IA as well as the applicants' HCP.
Pursuant to the NHPA (16 U.S.C. 470, 470f), the Service has
initiated Section 106 consultation with the Indiana State Historic
Preservation Office regarding the construction of turbines under Phase
IV of the FRWF project and the implementation of mitigation projects in
accordance with the terms of the HCP. Sites have not been selected for
the Phase IV turbines or for the mitigation. Therefore, future efforts
will be required to identify archaeological sites that may be adversely
affected by the construction of Phase IV turbines and implementation of
mitigation. Following siting of the Phase IV turbines and location of
mitigation sites, archaeological surveys will be conducted, with plans
and reports submitted to the Indiana State Historic Preservation Office
for review. The draft PA between the Service, Fowler Ridge, and the
Indiana State Historic Preservation Office describes the process for
conducting the surveys, evaluating the results of the surveys, and
determining if resources can be avoided or if additional surveys or
mitigation are necessary before the Section 106 process is completed.
The final PA will be signed prior to issuance of the EIS Record of
Decision. The Section 106 process will be completed and a memorandum of
agreement signed prior to construction or mitigation beginning. Public
comments are solicited on the content of the draft PA.
Under the NEPA (43 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and the ESA, the Service
announces that we have gathered the information necessary to:
1. Determine the impacts and formulate alternatives for an EIS
related to:
a. Issuance of an ITP to the applicant for the take of the Indiana
bat, and
b. Implementation of the associated HCP; and
2. Evaluate the application for ITP issuance, including the HCP,
which provides measures to minimize and mitigate the effects of the
proposed incidental take of the Indiana bat.
Background
The Fowler Ridge application is unusual in that 355 wind turbines
are already in place and have been operational since 2009. At the time
of their construction, no Indiana bats had been documented to have been
killed by a commercial wind facility (the first Indiana bat fatality
was found at FRWF during monitoring in 2009). The turbines were
constructed in three phases with a total energy capacity of 600
megawatts (MW). The 301.3-MW Fowler Phase I was constructed in 2008 and
consists of 40 Clipper Liberty wind turbine generators (WTG) with a
capacity of 2.5 MW per turbine and 122 Vestas V82 WTGs with a capacity
of 1.65 MW per turbine. The 199.5-MW Fowler Phase II was constructed in
2009 and began operating later that year. The site consists of 133 GE
WTGs, each with a 1.5-MW capacity. The 99-MW Fowler Phase III was
constructed in 2008 and began operating in 2009. The site consists of
60 Vestas V82 WTGs, each with a 1.65-MW capacity per turbine. Phase IV
will consist of up to 94 GE 1.6-MW turbines for a total capacity of
150.4 MW. Currently, Phase IV is planned for construction in 2014. The
need for the proposed action (i.e., issuance of an ITP) is based on
finding two dead Indiana bats at the facility, the aforementioned 2009
fatality and another in 2010, and the potential that future operation
of FRWF could result in additional take of Indiana bats.
The HCP provides a detailed conservation plan to ensure that the
incidental take caused by the operation of the project will not
appreciably reduce the likelihood of the survival and recovery of the
Indiana bat in the action area or in the recovery unit, and provides
mitigation to fully offset the impact of the taking. Further, the HCP
provides a long-term monitoring and adaptive management strategy to
ensure that the ITP terms are satisfied, and to account for changed and
unforeseen circumstances.
Purpose and Need for Action
In accordance with NEPA, the Service has prepared an EIS to analyze
the impacts to the human environment that would occur if the requested
ITP were issued and the associated HCP were implemented.
Proposed Action
Section 9 of the ESA prohibits the ``taking'' of threatened and
endangered species. However, provided certain criteria are met, the
Service is authorized to issue permits under section 10(a)(1)(B) of the
ESA for take of federally listed species when, among other things, such
a taking is incidental to, and not the purpose of, otherwise lawful
activities. Under the ESA, the term ``take'' means to harass, harm,
pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect endangered
and threatened species, or to attempt to engage in any such conduct.
Our implementing regulations define ``harm'' as an act which actually
kills or injures wildlife, and such act may include significant habitat
modification or degradation that results in death or injury to listed
species by significantly impairing essential behavioral patterns,
including breeding, feeding, or sheltering (50 CFR 17.3). Harass, as
defined, means ``an intentional or negligent act or omission which
creates the likelihood of injury to wildlife by
[[Page 20692]]
annoying it to such an extent as to significantly disrupt normal
behavioral patterns which include, but are not limited to, breeding,
feeding, or sheltering'' (50 CFR 17.3).
The HCP analyzes, and the ITP would cover, take from harassment,
harm, and killing of bats due to the operation of the FRWF project. If
issued, the ITP would authorize incidental take consistent with the
applicant's HCP and the ITP. To issue the ITP, the Service must find
that the application, including its HCP, satisfies the criteria of
section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA and the Service's implementing
regulations at 50 CFR parts 13 and 17.22. If the ITP is issued, the
applicant would receive assurances under the Service's No Surprises
policy, as codified at 50 CFR 17.22(b)(5).
The applicant proposes to construct 94 turbines under Phase IV and
operate a maximum of 449 wind turbines and associated facilities
(described below) for a period of 22 years in Benton County, Indiana.
The project will consist of wind turbines, associated access roads, an
underground and aboveground electrical collector system, four
substations (one for each phase of the project) containing six
transformers that feed electricity into an existing 345-kilovolt (kV)
electrical tie-in line (roughly 200 poles carrying electricity
approximately 50 km (31 mi) to the existing Dequine Substation in
Tippecanoe County), seven permanent un-guyed 80-m tall meteorological
towers, and an operations and maintenance building. Project facilities
and infrastructure will be placed on private land via long-term
easement agreements between the applicant and respective landowners.
While approximately 6,400 acres are located within the Phase IV
project area, a relatively small portion of that land, approximately
554 acres, will be disturbed, and only 78.2 acres will be permanently
occupied by the Phase IV facilities. The FRWF project area is 93-
percent row crop agriculture. Phases I-III have been in operation since
2009 within this agricultural context. Beyond the area required for
construction, Phase IV is not expected to change current land use.
The draft HCP describes the impacts of take associated with the
operation of the FRWF and includes measures to avoid, minimize,
mitigate, and monitor the impacts of incidental take on the Indiana
bat. The applicant will mitigate for take and associated impacts
through protection of a Priority 1 hibernaculum and restoration and
protection of maternity colony habitat at one or more documented
maternity colonies. Maternity colony habitat mitigation, including any
restored habitat, will occur on private land and be permanently
protected by restrictive covenants approved by the Service. Chapter 5
of the HCP describes the Conservation Program, including details of
avoidance and minimization measures, compensatory mitigation, and
adaptive management that will limit and mitigate for the take of
Indiana bats.
The Service is soliciting information regarding the adequacy of the
HCP to avoid, minimize, mitigate, and monitor the proposed incidental
take of the covered species and to provide for adaptive management. In
compliance with section 10(c) of the ESA (16 U.S.C. 1539(c)), the
Service is making the ITP application materials available for public
review and comment as described above.
We invite comments and suggestions from all interested parties on
the draft documents associated with the ITP application (HCP, HCP
Appendices, and IA), and request that comments be as specific as
possible. In particular, we request information and comments on the
following topics:
1. Whether adaptive management and monitoring provisions in the
Proposed Action alternative are sufficient;
2. Any threats to the Indiana bat that may influence its population
over the life of the ITP that are not addressed in the draft HCP or
draft EIS;
3. Any new information on white-nose syndrome effects on the
Indiana bat;
4. Any other information pertinent to evaluating the effects of the
proposed action on the Indiana bat.
Alternatives in the Draft EIS
The DEIS contains an analysis of four alternatives: (1) No Action
alternative, in which all 449 turbines would be shut down (i.e., non-
operational) from sunset to sunrise from August 1 through October 15,
the primary fall migratory period of the Indiana bat, each year during
the operational life (22 years) of the FRWF; (2) The 3.5 m/s Cut-In
Speed (Feathered) Alternative, including implementation of the HCP and
issuance of a 22-year ITP; (3) the 5.0 m/s Cut-In Speed (Feathered)
Alternative, including implementation of the HCP and issuance of a 22-
year ITP; and (4) the 6.5 m/s Cut-In Speed (Feathered) Alternative,
including implementation of the HCP and issuance of a 22-year ITP. The
DEIS considers the direct, indirect, and cumulative effects of the
alternatives, including any measures under the Proposed Action
alternative intended to minimize and mitigate such impacts. The DEIS
also identifies five additional alternatives that were considered but
were eliminated from consideration (detailed in Section 3.1 of the
DEIS).
The Service invites comments and suggestions from all interested
parties on the content of the DEIS. 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.
Public Comments
You may submit your comments and materials concerning the notice by
one of the methods listed in ADDRESSES. We request that you send
comments only by one of the methods described in ADDRESSES.
If you submit a comment via http://www.regulations.gov, your entire
comment--including any personal identifying information--will be posted
on the Web site. We will post all hardcopy comments on http://www.regulations.gov as well. 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.
Comments and materials we receive, as well as documents associated
with the notice, will be available for public inspection on http://www.regulations.gov at Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2013-0032, or by
appointment, during normal business hours, at the Indiana Ecological
Services Field Office in Bloomington, Indiana (see FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT).
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), the NEPA
(42 U.S.C. 4371 et seq.) and its implementing regulations (40 CFR
1506.6; 43 CFR part 46), and the NHPA (16 U.S.C. 470 et seq.) and its
implementing regulations (36 CFR part 800).
Dated: March 20, 2013.
Lynn Lewis,
Assistant Regional Director, Ecological Services, Midwest Region.
[FR Doc. 2013-07595 Filed 4-4-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-P