[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 27 (Friday, February 8, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2900-2902]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-01600]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[Docket No. FWS-R6-ES-2014-0048; FF06E220000-178-FXES11140600000]
Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Incidental Take
Permit and Habitat Conservation Plan for the R-Project Transmission
Line; Final Environmental Impact Statement
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the
availability of the final environmental impact statement (EIS), final
habitat conservation plan (HCP), and associated documents for the R-
Project transmission line in north-central Nebraska. The Nebraska
Public Power District (NPPD) applied for an incidental take permit for
take of the American burying beetle (Nicrophorus americanus), which is
listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA), as
amended. The permit would authorize take likely to result from the
construction, operation, and maintenance of the transmission line. The
HCP describes the applicant's actions and required measures to
minimize, mitigate, and monitor incidental take. The final EIS analyzes
the effects of authorizing the take and implementation of the HCP on
the natural and human environment in accordance with the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
DATES: Our decision whether to issue the permit will occur no sooner
than 30 days after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency publishes
its notice of the final EIS in the Federal Register. We will document
our decision in a record of decision (ROD).
ADDRESSES: You may obtain copies of the documents by any of the
following methods:
Internet: Federal eRulemaking Portal (http://www.regulations.gov)
under Docket No. FWS-R6-ES-2014-0048.
Upon Request: You may call 308-382-6468 (extension 204) to request
alternative formats of the documents or make an appointment to inspect
the documents during normal business hours at U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, Nebraska Field Office, 9325 South Alda Road, Wood River, NE
68883.
In Person:
North Platte Public Library, 120 West 4th Street, North
Platte, Nebraska.
Logan County Library, 317 Main Street, Stapleton,
Nebraska.
Hooker County Library, 102 North Cleveland Avenue, Mullen,
Nebraska.
Garfield County Library, 217 G Street, Burwell, Nebraska.
Ewing Township Library, 202 East Nebraska, Ewing,
Nebraska.
Ainsworth Public Library, 455 North Main Street,
Ainsworth, Nebraska.
Valentine Public Library, 324 North Main Street,
Valentine, Nebraska.
Thomas County Library, 501 Main Street, Thedford,
Nebraska.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Drue DeBerry, 303-236-4774 or
RProject_FEIS@fws.gov (email). If you use a telecommunications device
for the deaf, hard-of-hearing, or speech disabled, please call the
Federal Relay Service at 800-877-8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice announces that the final EIS,
HCP, and associated documents for the
[[Page 2901]]
R-Project transmission line in Nebraska is available for the public to
read. NPPD applied for a permit to authorize incidental take of the
federally endangered American burying beetle resulting from the
construction, operation, and maintenance of the proposed R-Project
transmission line and substations. As part of its application, NPPD
prepared an HCP that describes actions to avoid, minimize, mitigate,
and monitor impacts of incidental take of the American burying beetle.
According to NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and its implementing
regulations (40 CFR 1500 et seq.), we analyze in the final EIS the
effects of our preferred alternative to authorize incidental take of
the beetle and NPPD's implementation of the HCP required by the permit.
The final EIS also analyzes potential effects from two alternatives and
identifies alternatives that we considered but eliminated from further
analysis.
Background
Section 9 of the ESA prohibits take of fish and wildlife species
listed as endangered (16 U.S.C. 1538). 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)).
Under section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA (16 U.S.C. 1539(a)(1)(B)), the
Service may issue permits to authorize take of listed fish and wildlife
species that is incidental to, and not the purpose of, carrying out an
otherwise lawful activity. The Service shall issue an incidental take
permit to non-Federal entities, provided the following criteria are
met:
The taking will be incidental.
The applicant will minimize and mitigate, to the maximum
extent practicable, 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
the survival and recovery of the species in the wild.
The applicant will carry out any other measures that the
Secretary of the Interior may require as being necessary or appropriate
for the purposes of the HCP.
Regulations governing permits for endangered species are set forth
in title 50 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) at part 17,
section 17.22 (50 CFR 17.22).
NEPA requires that Federal agencies analyze their proposed actions
to determine whether the actions may significantly affect the human
environment. Under NEPA and its implementing regulations, Federal
agencies must also compare effects of a reasonable range of
alternatives to the proposed action. In these analyses, the Federal
agency will identify potentially significant direct, indirect, and
cumulative effects, as well as possible mitigation for any significant
effects, on biological resources, land use, air quality, water
resources, socioeconomics, environmental justice, cultural resources,
and other environmental resources that could occur with the
implementation of the proposed action and alternatives.
In accordance with NEPA, we announced public scoping to prepare an
EIS in the Federal Register on October 30, 2014 (79 FR 64619). We
published a notice of availability of the draft EIS and draft HCP, and
requested public comments on those draft documents, in the Federal
Register on May 12, 2017 (82 FR 22153). The May 12, 2017, notice also
announced three public meetings on the draft EIS and draft HCP, which
we held in June 2017, in three Nebraska cities. We reopened the comment
period for the draft EIS and draft HCP in the Federal Register on
September 8, 2017 (82 FR 42561). The final EIS addresses public
comments on the draft EIS.
Proposed Action
We propose to issue a 50-year permit for incidental take of the
American burying beetle if NPPD's HCP meets all the ESA's section
10(a)(1)(B) permit issuance criteria. The permit would authorize take
of the American burying beetle incidental to the proposed construction,
operation, and maintenance, including emergency repairs, of the R-
Project. The permit would require NPPD to implement the final HCP,
which includes measures to avoid, minimize, mitigate, and monitor the
impacts of the authorized take. NPPD would avoid the incidental take of
other federally listed species by implementing avoidance measures
identified in the final HCP.
The 345-kilovolt R-Project transmission line would be approximately
225 miles long in north-central Nebraska. The permit would authorize
take within 1 mile on each side of the R-Project centerline from
Stapleton, Nebraska, north to the Thedford Substation and 4 miles on
each side of the centerline from the Thedford Substation east to a new
Holt County Substation.
Construction of the R-Project would permanently remove 33 acres and
temporarily disturb 1,250 acres of American burying beetle habitat over
the term of the permit. To fully offset these impacts to the beetle,
the HCP commits NPPD to work with the Service to protect at least 500
acres of occupied American burying beetle habitat in Nebraska in
perpetuity. The HCP's commitments for NPPD to restore beetle habitat
would also minimize and mitigate impacts.
Public Review
We are not requesting public comments on the final EIS and HCP, but
any written comments we receive will 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 may 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.
Next Steps
We will evaluate the permit application, final HCP, and public
comments to determine whether the application meets the requirements of
section 10(a) of the ESA. This determination includes our compliance
with section 7 of the ESA through an intra-Service consultation. We
will rely on the results of this consultation, our ROD under NEPA, and
the above findings on permit issuance criteria to decide whether to
issue the permit with appropriate terms and conditions. If all
requirements are met, we will sign the ROD and issue the permit to
NPPD. We will post the signed ROD and related documents on our website
at https://www.fws.gov/nebraskaes/R-Project.php.
Authority
We provide this notice under section 10(c) of the ESA (16 U.S.C.
1531 et seq.) and its implementing regulations for incidental take
permits (50 CFR 17.22) and NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and
[[Page 2902]]
its implementing regulations (40 CFR 1506.6; 43 CFR part 46).
Michael Thabault,
Assistant Regional Director--Ecological Services, Mountain-Prairie
Region, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Lakewood, Colorado.
[FR Doc. 2019-01600 Filed 2-7-19; 8:45 am]
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