Federal Register, Volume 83 Issue 157 (Tuesday, August 14, 2018)

[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 157 (Tuesday, August 14, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40327-40328]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-17502]

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[FWS-R2-ES-2018-N065; FXES11140200000-189-FF02ENEH00]

Incidental Take Permit Applications Received To Participate in
the American Burying-Beetle Amended Oil and Gas Industry Conservation
Plan in Oklahoma

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability; request for public comments.

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SUMMARY: Under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), as amended, we, the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, invite the public to comment on
Federally-listed American burying-beetle incidental take permit (ITP)

[[Page 40328]]

applications. The applicants anticipate American burying-beetle take as
a result of impacts to Oklahoma habitat the species uses for breeding,
feeding, and sheltering. The take would be incidental to the
applicants' activities associated with oil and gas well field and
pipeline infrastructure (gathering, transmission, and distribution),
including geophysical exploration (seismic), construction, maintenance,
operation, repair, decommissioning, and reclamation. If approved, the
permits would be issued under the approved American Burying Beetle
Amended Oil and Gas Industry Conservation Plan (ICP) Endangered Species
Act Section 10(a)(1)(B) Permit Issuance in Oklahoma.

DATES: To ensure consideration, written comments must be received on or
before September 13, 2018.

ADDRESSES: You may obtain copies of all documents and submit comments
on the applicants' ITP applications by one of the following methods.
Please refer to the proposed permit number when requesting documents or
submitting comments.
Email: fw2_hcp_permits@fws.gov.
U.S. Mail: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Endangered
Species--HCP Permits, P.O. Box 1306, Room 6093, Albuquerque, NM 87103.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Marty Tuegel, Branch Chief, by U.S.
mail at U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Environmental Review Division,
P.O. Box 1306, Room 6078, Albuquerque, NM 87103; or by telephone at
505-248-6651.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Introduction

Under the Endangered Species Act (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), we,
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, invite the public to comment on ITP
applications to take the Federally-listed American burying-beetle
(Nicrophorus americanus) during oil and gas well field infrastructure
geophysical exploration (seismic) and construction, maintenance,
operation, repair, and decommissioning, as well as oil and gas
gathering, transmission, and distribution pipeline infrastructure
construction, maintenance, operation, repair, decommissioning, and
reclamation in Oklahoma.
If approved, the permits would be issued to the applicants under
the American Burying Beetle Amended Oil and Gas Industry Conservation
Plan (ICP) Endangered Species Act Section 10(a)(1)(B) Permit Issuance
in Oklahoma. The original ICP was approved on May 21, 2014, and the
``no significant impact'' finding notice was published in the Federal
Register on July 25, 2014 (79 FR 43504). The draft amended ICP was made
available for comment on March 8, 2016 (81 FR 12113), and approved on
April 13, 2016. The ICP and the associated environmental assessment/
finding of no significant impact are available on our website at http://www.fws.gov/southwest/es/oklahoma/ABBICP. However, we are no longer
taking comments on these finalized, approved documents.

Applications Available for Review and Comment

We invite local, state, Tribal, and Federal agencies, and the
public to comment on the following applications under the ICP, for
incidentally taking the Federally-listed American burying-beetle.
Please refer to the appropriate proposed permit number (TE84779C,
TE84778C, or TE84781C) when requesting application documents and when
submitting comments. Documents and other information the applicants
have submitted are available for review, subject to Privacy Act (5
U.S.C. 552a) and Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552)
requirements.

Permit TE84779C

Applicant: Midship Pipeline Company, LLC, Houston, TX.

Applicant requests a permit for oil and gas upstream and midstream
production, including oil and gas well field infrastructure geophysical
exploration (seismic) and construction, maintenance, operation, repair,
and decommissioning, as well as oil and gas gathering, transmission,
and distribution pipeline infrastructure construction, maintenance,
operation, repair, decommissioning, and reclamation in Oklahoma.

Permit TE84778C

Applicant: Blue Water Resources, LLC, Tulsa, OK.

Permit TE84781C

Applicant: VM ARKOMA Stack, LLC, Oklahoma City, OK.

Public Availability of Comments

Written comments we receive become part of the public 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 the ESA, section 10(c) (16 U.S.C. 1531
et seq.) and its implementing regulations (50 CFR 17.22) and the
National Environmental Policy Act (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and its
implementing regulations (40 CFR 1506.6).

Dated: May 14, 2018.
Amy L. Lueders,
Regional Director, Southwest Region, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 2018-17502 Filed 8-13-18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333-15-P