[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 192 (Friday, October 2, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62318-62320]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-21769]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[Docket No. FWS-R8-ES-2020-0115; FXES11120800000-201-FF08ENVS00]
Draft Environmental Assessment and Proposed Habitat Conservation
Plan for the Spring Mountain Raceway Northern Expansion, Pahrump, Nye
County, Nevada
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comment.
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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, announce the
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availability of a draft environmental assessment (EA) under the
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). We also announce receipt of
an application for an incidental take permit (ITP) under the Endangered
Species Act (ESA), and of a draft habitat conservation plan (HCP).
Spring Mountain Raceway, LLC has applied for an ITP under the ESA for
an expansion project in Pahrump, Nye County, Nevada. The ITP would
authorize the take of one species incidental to the project. We invite
the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies to comment on
the draft EA, HCP, and permit application. Before issuing the requested
ITP, we will take into consideration any information we receive during
the public comment period.
DATES: We must receive your written comments on or before November 2,
2020.
ADDRESSES:
Obtaining Documents: You may obtain copies of the draft EA,
proposed HCP, and permit application in Docket No. FWS-R8-ES-2020-0115
at http://www.regulations.gov.
Submitting Comments: To submit written comments, please use one of
the following methods, and note to which document(s) your comments
pertain.
Internet: http://www.regulations.gov; search for and
submit comments in Docket No. FWS-R8-ES-2020-0115.
U.S. Mail: Public Comments Processing, Attn: Docket No.
FWS-R8-ES-2020-0115; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters, MS:
PRB/3W; 5275 Leesburg Pike; Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.
For more information, see Public Comments and Public Availability of
Comments under SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Glen W. Knowles, Field Supervisor,
Southern Nevada Fish and Wildlife Office, by phone at 702-515-5244, or
via the Federal Information Relay Service at 800-877-8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We, the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service
(Service), announce the availability of a draft Environmental
assessment (draft EA) prepared pursuant to the National Environmental
Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), and its
implementing regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) at 40
CFR 1506.6. We also announce receipt of an application submitted by
Spring Mountain Raceway, LLC of Pahrump, Nevada (applicant), for a 5-
year incidental take permit (ITP) under section 10 (a)(1)(B) of the
Endangered Species Act, as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). The
application for the permit requires the preparation of a habitat
conservation plan (HCP) with measures to avoid, minimize, and mitigate
the impacts of incidental take of endangered or threatened species to
the maximum extent practicable. The applicant prepared the draft Spring
Mountain Raceway Northern Expansion HCP pursuant to section 10(a)(1)(B)
of the ESA. The purpose of the draft EA is to assess the effects of
issuing the ITP and implementing the draft HCP on the natural and human
environment.
We invite the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies
to comment on the draft EA, HCP, and permit application. Before issuing
the requested ITP, we will take into consideration any information we
receive during the public comment period.
Background
Section 9 of the ESA (16 U.S.C. 1538) prohibits the taking of fish
and wildlife species listed as endangered under section 4 of the ESA;
by regulation, take of certain species listed as threatened is also
prohibited. (16 U.S.C. 1533(d); 50 CFR 17.31). Regulations governing
permits for endangered and threatened species are at 50 CFR 17.22 and
17.32. For more about the Federal habitat conservation plan (HCP)
program, go to http://www.fws.gov/endangered/esa-library/pdf/hcp.pdf.
National Environmental Policy Act Compliance
The proposed permit issuance triggers the need for compliance with
the NEPA. The draft EA was prepared to analyze the impacts of issuing
an ITP based on the draft HCP and to inform the public of the proposed
action, any alternatives, and associated impacts, and to disclose any
irreversible commitments of resources.
Proposed Action Alternative
Under the Proposed Action Alternative, the Service would issue an
ITP to the applicant for a period of 5 years for certain covered
activities (described below) to construct and operate an extension of
the existing Spring Mountain Raceway. The extension includes 2.3 miles
of additional track, flood management features, classrooms, parking
area, and a paved paddock area for preparing cars. The applicant has
requested an ITP for one covered species, the Mojave desert tortoise
(Gopherus agassizii), which is listed under the ESA as threatened
(April 2, 1990, 55 FR 12178).
Habitat Conservation Plan Area
The geographic scope of the draft HCP area comprises 227 acres of
private land in the town of Pahrump, in Nye County, Nevada, where the
development will occur.
Covered Activities
The proposed section 10(a) ITP would allow incidental take of one
covered species from covered activities in the proposed HCP area. The
applicant is requesting incidental take authorization for covered
activities, including construction, operation, and maintenance of the
facility within the 227 ac owned by the applicant.
Construction would begin after installation of a desert tortoise
exclusion fence and removal of all tortoises. Construction would entail
clearing of vegetation; grading and leveling of soil to achieve desired
topography for the track, facilities, and flood management features;
digging and trenching for utilities; placement of the new track base
and surface; construction of the flood management features;
construction of the buildings, parking areas, and paddock; and
installation of the necessary underground power, phone, sewer, and
water pipelines to the buildings. These activities would remove
approximately half of the native vegetation in the area based on the
preliminary design, but may remove more based on final design and
future reconfiguration of the facility. Operation and maintenance of
the expansion would entail use of the facility in a manner consistent
with the existing interconnected facility, all of which will occur on
private property within the desert tortoise exclusion fencing. Covered
activities also include construction, operation, and maintenance
equipment and other vehicle travel on existing access roads to the
facility.
The applicant is proposing to implement best management practices,
as well as general and species-specific measures to avoid and minimize
the impacts of the take from the covered activities, including worker
environmental and desert tortoise awareness training, installation and
maintenance of desert tortoise exclusion fencing; tortoise removal,
translocation, and monitoring; noxious weed management; dust control;
and support of conservation and management measures to offset the loss
of occupied habitat.
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Covered Species
The applicant has requested an ITP for one federally listed
threatened species:
Mojave desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii).
No Action Alternative
Under the No-Action Alternative, the Service would not issue an ITP
to the applicant, and the draft HCP would not be implemented. Under
this alternative, the applicant may choose not to construct the
facility or would do so in a manner presumed not to result in the take
of ESA-listed species.
Public Comments
We request data, comments, new information, or suggestions from the
public, other concerned governmental agencies, the scientific
community, Tribes, industry, or any other interested party on this
notice, the draft EA and the draft HCP. If you wish to comment on the
permit application, plan, and associated documents, you may submit
comments by any one of the methods in ADDRESSES.
Public Availability of Comments
Any comments we receive will become part of the decision 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.
Next Steps
Issuance of an incidental take permit is a Federal proposed action
subject to compliance with NEPA and section 7 of the ESA. We will
evaluate the application, associated documents, and any public comments
we receive as part of our NEPA compliance process to determine whether
the application meets the requirements of section 10(a) of the ESA. If
we determine that those requirements are met, we will conduct an intra-
Service consultation under section 7 of the ESA for the Federal action
for the potential issuance of an ITP. If the intra-Service consultation
confirms that issuance of the ITP will not jeopardize the continued
existence of any endangered or threatened species, or destroy or
adversely modify critical habitat, we will issue a permit to the
applicant for the incidental take of the covered species.
Authority
We provide this notice under section 10(c) of the ESA (16 U.S.C.
1539(c)) and its implementing regulations (50 CFR 17.32), and NEPA (42
U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and NEPA implementing regulations (40 CFR 1506.6).
Glen Knowles,
Field Supervisor, Southern Nevada Fish and Wildlife Office.
[FR Doc. 2020-21769 Filed 10-1-20; 8:45 am]
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