[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 227 (Friday, November 25, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 85250-85254]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-28336]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[Docket No. FWS-R5-ES-2016-0135; FXES11120500000-167-FF05E00000]
Proposed Oil & Gas Coalition Multi-State Habitat Conservation
Plan for Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement;
notice of public scoping meetings; request for comments.
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[[Page 85251]]
SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce our
intent to prepare a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for
proposed issuance of an incidental take permit (ITP) under section
10(a)(1)(B) of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) for the draft Oil & Gas
Coalition Multi-State Habitat Conservation Plan (O&G HCP). The O&G HCP
is being developed to streamline environmental permitting and
compliance with the ESA for nine companies in conjunction with their
respective midstream and upstream oil and gas exploration, production,
and maintenance activities in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia
over a 50-year period. We announce a public scoping period during which
we invite input regarding development of the draft EIS, which will
evaluate the impacts to the human environment associated with issuance
of an ITP and implementation of the O&G HCP, and alternatives. We will
hold public informational meetings and request comments during this
public scoping period.
DATES: Comment submission: We will accept comments received or
postmarked on or before December 27, 2016. Comments submitted
electronically using the Federal eRulemaking Portal (see ADDRESSES)
must be received by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the closing date.
Public meetings: The Service will host five public information and
scoping meetings, as well as an informational webinar. Information
about the scoping meetings and webinar is provided below in
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION under Scoping Meetings and also on the
Service's project Web page: www.fws.gov/northeast/ecologicalservices/hcp/oghcp.html. Please note that the scoping meetings will be hosted by
the Service in an open house format from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Eastern
Time, with a presentation provided from 6:00 to 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time.
ADDRESSES: You may submit written comments by one of the following
methods:
Electronically: Go to the Federal eRulemaking Portal Web site at:
http://www.regulations.gov. In the Search box, enter FWS-R5-ES-2016-
0135, 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-2016-0135, Division of Policy,
Performance, and Management Programs; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service;
5275 Leesburg Pike, ABHC-PPM; Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.
At the scoping meetings: You will have the opportunity to submit
comments either electronically or in hard copy format at five public
scoping meetings. The addresses for the meetings are set forth below in
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION under Scoping Meetings. Comment forms and a
computer station will be available for use at the meeting venues.
We request that you send comments by only one of the methods
described above. We will post all information received in the docket at
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: Pamela R. Shellenberger, by mail at
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 110 Radnor Rd, Suite 101, State
College, PA 16801, or by telephone at (814) 234-4090, extension 7459.
If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf, please call the
Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The O&G HCP is being developed by a
coalition of nine companies (collectively called ``the companies'')
that individually conduct upstream and/or midstream oil and gas
activities within the three-State plan area. The coalition members are:
Antero Resources Corporation; Ascent Resources, LLC; Chesapeake Energy
Corporation; EnLink Midstream L.P.; EQT Corporation; MarkWest Energy
Partners, L.P., MPLX L.P., and Marathon Petroleum Corporation (all part
of same corporate enterprise); Rice Energy, Inc.; Southwestern Energy
Company; and The Williams Companies, Inc. The companies, which will be
co-permittees, intend to seek ITP coverage because their respective oil
and gas exploration, production, and maintenance activities have the
potential to incidentally take species that are known to occur in the
three-State plan area and that are protected by the Endangered Species
Act of 1973, as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). Therefore, the
companies' ITP application will include a draft HCP that addresses
these activities. The companies have indicated that they intend to
request ITP coverage for five bat species: The endangered Indiana bat
(Myotis sodalis), the threatened northern long-eared bat (Myotis
septentrionalis), the little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus), the eastern
small-footed bat (Myotis leibii), and the tri-colored bat (Perimyotis
subflavus).
We publish this notice under the authority of the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4231 et
seq.), its implementing regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations
at 40 CFR 1501.7, 1506.6, and 1508.22 and the Department of the
Interior's NEPA implementing regulations at 43 CFR 46.235, and pursuant
to section 10(c) of the ESA. We intend to prepare a draft EIS to
evaluate the impacts to the human environment associated with the
companies' anticipated permit application and draft O&G HCP and several
alternatives. In advance of receiving the companies' ITP application,
the Service is providing this notice to request information from other
agencies, Tribes, and the public on the scope of the Service's review
as well as issues to consider in the NEPA analysis. The primary purpose
of the scoping process is to allow the public, Tribes, and other
agencies to provide input to the Service for development of the draft
EIS by identifying important issues and alternatives related to the
Service's proposed action (issuance of an ITP based on the companies'
anticipated application and draft O&G HCP).
Project Summary
The companies' draft HCP is being prepared to streamline
environmental permitting and compliance with the ESA in conjunction
with their respective midstream and upstream oil and gas exploration,
production, and maintenance activities in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West
Virginia. The geographic extent of the companies' activities within the
three-State O&G HCP plan area over the requested 50-year permit term
will in part be informed by predictive modeling.
Midstream and upstream oil and gas exploration, production, and
maintenance activities will potentially affect covered species (see
Covered Species, below) in the plan area. A model of the proposed
covered activities will be used to estimate potential impacts to the
covered species by overlaying the predicted covered activity
implementation (including the type and location of infrastructure
build-out) on the covered species' habitats. The draft HCP will include
measures to ensure that impacts from incidental take of covered species
and impacts to those species' habitats associated with the covered
activities (see Covered Activities, below) will be minimized and
mitigated to the maximum extent practicable.
[[Page 85252]]
Background
Section 9 of the ESA prohibits ``take'' of fish and wildlife
species listed as endangered under section 4 (16 U.S.C. 1538, 1533,
respectively). The ESA implementing regulations extend, under certain
circumstances, the prohibition of take to threatened species (50 CFR
17.31). Under section 3 of the ESA, the term ``take'' means to
``harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or
collect, or attempt to engage in any such conduct'' (16 U.S.C. 1532
(19)). The term ``harm'' is defined by regulation as an act which
actually kills or injures wildlife. Such act may include significant
habitat modification or degradation where it actually kills or injures
wildlife by significantly impairing essential behavioral patterns,
including breeding, feeding, or sheltering (50 CFR 17.3). The term
``harass'' is defined in the regulations as an intentional or negligent
act or omission which creates the likelihood of injury to wildlife by
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).
Pursuant to section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA, the Secretary of the
Interior 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. Service regulations governing permits for endangered species
and threatened species, respectively, appear at 50 CFR 17.22 and 17.32.
Section 10(a)(2)(B) of the ESA contains provisions for issuing an ITP
to a non-Federal entity for the take of endangered and threatened
species, provided the following criteria are met:
The taking will be incidental;
The applicant will, to the maximum extent practicable,
minimize and mitigate the impact of such taking;
The applicant will develop an HCP and ensure that adequate
funding for the plan will be provided;
The taking will not appreciably reduce the likelihood of
survival and recovery of the species in the wild; and
The applicant will carry out any other measures that the
Secretary may require as being necessary or appropriate for the
purposes of the HCP.
Plan Area
The companies' oil and gas development activities will be conducted
within a three-State plan area of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West
Virginia. This plan area was developed to ensure that the natural
resources that might be affected by covered activities can be
adequately assessed at a regional scale and that sufficient mitigation
opportunities are available. The companies intend that any resulting
permit will cover their activities wherever they may occur within the
three-State area, though the draft plan may identify a subset of that
area where certain activities may or may not occur.
Covered Activities
The companies intend to develop an HCP to address their oil and gas
exploration, production, and maintenance activities that will occur in
the plan area over a proposed 50-year ITP term. Their specific
midstream and upstream oil and gas activities that are proposed for
coverage in the HCP include the following:
Upstream (Well) Development Activities:
[ssquf] Development activities, including those associated with
access roads, staging areas, and seismic operations, as well as
geophysical exploration, which includes surveying/staking, land/tree
clearing, explosives use, boring, and vehicle traffic.
[ssquf] Well field development activities, including those
associated with production wells, well pads, drilling rigs, pump/well
heads, reserve pits, storage tanks, fuel tanks, water tanks, electric
equipment, drilling pipe storage, water wells, waterlines, surface
water intakes, disposal wells, water impoundments, borrow pits, reserve
pits, electric distribution lines, and communication towers.
[ssquf] Construction activities associated with well pads,
ancillary features, and onsite components, including but not limited to
surveying/staking; land/tree clearing; grading; stormwater and erosion
and sediment control; wetland, stream, and sensitive area mitigation/
protection; trenching/boring; surface water pumping; spoil/debris
placement; vegetation pile placement, vehicle traffic, drilling/well
pad development and completion activities; and office, control,
utility, storage, and maintenance structure construction or placement
incidental to specific projects.
[ssquf] Production and operations activities, including those
related to access roads, production, gas flaring, vehicle traffic,
post-construction stormwater management, maintenance of well pads and
ancillary features and components (supporting infrastructure
installation, repair and replacement, equipment upgrades, inspections
and repairs, workovers and recompletions, minor amounts of soil
disturbance, vegetation maintenance, road maintenance, etc.).
[ssquf] Decommissioning and reclamation activities, including those
associated with vehicle traffic, land/tree clearing, land excavation/
backfilling, vegetation restoration, and well plugging.
Midstream (Pipeline) Development Activities
[ssquf] Construction of gathering, transmission, and distribution
pipelines and associated activities, including but not limited to
access road construction, staging area establishment, pipe storage/
laydown area establishment, stream and water crossing construction,
road boring, surveying/staking, land/tree clearing, stormwater and
erosion and sediment control, grading, trenching/boring, stockpiling,
pipeline assembly, trench backfilling, vehicle traffic, revegetation,
and surface impact reclamation.
[ssquf] Construction of surface features, including but not limited
to access roads, staging areas, and storage yards; booster, compressor,
and pump stations and related facilities; meter stations; mainline
valves; pig launcher/receiver facilities; regular facilities;
facilities to process, refine, stabilize, and store natural gas and/or
other hydrocarbons; communication towers; electric distribution lines;
electric substations; capacitor stations; transformer stations; office/
control/utility/storage/maintenance structures incidental to specific
projects; parking areas; cathodic protection facilities; and storage
tanks.
[ssquf] Operation and maintenance of pipeline and surface
facilities and related activities, including but not limited to vehicle
traffic, equipment upgrades, inspections and repairs/replacements, leak
detection, pigging, painting, minor amounts of soil disturbance,
vegetation maintenance to preserve the right of way, road maintenance,
and odor reduction.
[ssquf] Installation of new culverts/ditches, gas flaring, blow
downs, and hydrostatic testing and discharge.
[ssquf] Decommissioning and reclamation of pipeline and surface
facilities and related activities, including but not limited to vehicle
traffic, land excavation/backfilling, and vegetative restoration.
Covered Species
The companies intend to seek incidental take coverage for five
species of bats: The Indiana bat, northern long-eared bat, little brown
bat, eastern small-footed bat, and tri-colored bat. The Indiana bat is
listed as an endangered species, and the northern long-eared bat is
listed as threatened under the ESA. A rule issued under
[[Page 85253]]
section 4(d) of the ESA for northern long-eared bats (81 FR 1900,
January 14, 2016) prohibits certain actions that do not include the
incidental take of northern long-eared bats resulting from most
otherwise lawful activities, including take due to the removal of
habitat and disturbance from human activities, and intentional take
caused by human activities in most areas. The companies anticipate that
they may include northern long-eared bats in the O&G HCP, so that the
species could be covered under the ITP should the section 4(d) rule be
rescinded or amended or if the species were to be uplisted to
endangered under the ESA during the permit term. The little brown bat,
eastern small-footed bat, and tri-colored bat are included as covered
species under the HCP so that the species are addressed in the event
that any or all were to be listed under the ESA within the term of the
proposed permit.
Permit Term
The companies anticipate requesting a 50-year ITP term. Their
reasoning for their request includes the following: Oil and gas
infrastructure has a long production and economic life; the extensive
oil and gas resources in the plan area are expected to be developed
over the long term; preliminary information indicates that ongoing
operations and maintenance and decommissioning may result in incidental
take after facility construction; and facility construction schedules
are responsive to dynamic market pressures. The Service will determine
the permit term consistent with applicable legal requirements.
Environmental Impact Statement
The NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) requires that Federal agencies
conduct an environmental analysis of their proposed actions to
determine if the actions may significantly affect the human
environment. Based on 40 CFR 1508.27 and 1508.8, we have determined
that the proposed action (i.e., issuance of a section 10(a)(1)(B)
permit (ITP) to the companies for implementation of the proposed O&G
HCP) may have significant effects on the human environment. Therefore,
before deciding whether to issue an ITP to the companies, the Service
intends to prepare an EIS to analyze the impacts associated with that
action and alternatives to it. We will first develop a draft EIS, which
will be subject to public review, before finalizing the EIS and making
a permit decision.
The draft EIS will consider the impacts of the proposed action on
the human environment. The draft EIS will also include analysis of a
reasonable range of alternatives to the proposed action. Alternatives
to be analyzed in the draft EIS may include, but are not limited to,
measures such as: Variations in the permit term or permit structure;
the quantity of take permitted; the amount, location, and/or type of
conservation, monitoring, or mitigation provided in the O&G HCP; the
scope of covered activities; or a combination of these factors.
Additionally, a no-action alternative (i.e., no permit issuance) will
be evaluated in the draft EIS.
The draft EIS will identify and describe direct, indirect, and
cumulative impacts on the human environment, which may include
biological resources, land use, air quality, water quality, water
resources, socioeconomics, climate, and other environmental resources
that could occur with the implementation of the proposed action and
alternatives. Following scoping for the draft EIS, and after receipt of
the companies' permit application, including the proposed O&G HCP, the
Service will publish a notice of availability, which will request
comments on the application and on the Service's draft EIS.
Public Comments
We request data, comments, information, and suggestions from the
public, other concerned governmental agencies, the scientific
community, Tribes, industry, and any other interested party regarding
the scope of our NEPA analysis, and impacts to the human environment
resulting from the proposed action and alternatives. We will consider
these comments when developing the draft EIS. We particularly seek
comments on the following:
(1) Aspects of the human environment that warrant examination
(e.g., biological resources, land use, air quality, water quality,
water resources, socioeconomics, climate, and other environmental
resources, etc.) and any baseline information that could inform the
analyses.
(2) Information concerning the range, distribution, population
size, and population trends concerning the covered species in the plan
area.
(3) Additional biological information concerning the covered
species or other federally listed species that occur in the plan area.
(4) Direct, indirect, and/or cumulative impacts that implementation
of the proposed action (i.e., covered activities) will have on the
covered species or other federally listed species.
(5) Information about measures that can be implemented to avoid,
minimize, and mitigate impacts to the covered species.
(6) Other possible alternatives to the proposed action that the
Service should consider.
(7) Whether there are connected, similar, or reasonably foreseeable
cumulative actions (i.e., current or planned activities) and their
potential impacts on covered species or other federally listed species
in the plan area.
(8) The presence of archaeological sites, buildings and structures,
historic events, sacred and traditional areas, and other historic
preservation concerns within the plan area that are required to be
considered in project planning by the National Historic Preservation
Act.
(9) Any other environmental issues that should be considered with
regard to the proposed HCP and potential permit issuance.
You may submit your comments and materials by one of the methods
listed in ADDRESSES.
The Service will post all public comments and information received
electronically or via hardcopy in the docket at: 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, electronic
mail 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.
Scoping Meetings
The purpose of the scoping meetings will be to provide the public
with information regarding the anticipated application, draft HCP, and
the Service's permitting process, and its associated environmental
review. The Service will provide information on the scope of issues and
alternatives that may be initially considered. The companies' HCP
contractor will also be available to answer questions about the draft
HCP under development. Written comments will be accepted at the
meeting. Comments can also be submitted by methods listed in ADDRESSES.
Once the draft EIS and draft HCP are complete and made available for
review, there will be additional opportunity for public comment on the
content of these
[[Page 85254]]
documents through an additional public comment period.
The scoping meetings will be held from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Eastern
Time at the following locations on the following dates:
1. Chartiers Township Community Center (Banquet Room; 2013
Community Center Drive, Houston, PA 15342) on Monday, December 12,
2016.
2. Southgate Hotel (Banquet Rooms 1 and 2; 2248 Southgate Parkway,
Cambridge, OH 43725) on Tuesday, December 13, 2016.
3. Beni Kedem Temple (Ballroom; 100 Quarrier Street, Charleston, WV
25301) on Wednesday, December 14, 2016.
4. Village Square Conference Center (Ballroom A; Rt. 19 South/1489
Milford Street, Clarksburg, WV 26301) on Thursday, December 15, 2016.
5. Genetti Hotel (Washington Room; 200 West Fourth Street,
Williamsport, PA 17701) on Friday, December 16, 2016.
The webinar will be held on Tuesday, December 20, 2016, at 6:00
p.m. Eastern Time. Registration and log-in information for the webinar
is available on the Service's project Web page: www.fws.gov/northeast/ecologicalservices/hcp/oghcp.html.
Persons needing reasonable accommodations to attend and participate
in the public meetings should contact Pam Shellenberger at 814-234-
4090, extension 7459, as soon as possible. To allow sufficient time to
process requests, please call at least 1 week before the public
meetings. Information regarding this proposed action is available in
alternative formats upon request.
Dated: November 15, 2016.
Paul Phifer,
Assistant Regional Director, Ecological Services, Northeast Region.
[FR Doc. 2016-28336 Filed 11-23-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333-15-P