[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 217 (Thursday, November 10, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67946-67947]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-24607]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2022-0145; FXES11140300000-223]
Receipt of an Incidental Take Permit Application for Proposed
Habitat Conservation Plan, Consumers Energy Natural Gas Pipeline
Replacement; Five Counties, Michigan; Categorical Exclusion
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comment and information.
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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, have received an
application from Consumers Energy for an incidental take permit under
the Endangered Species Act. If approved, the permit would authorize the
incidental take of a federally threatened species, the eastern
massasauga rattlesnake (Sistrurus catenatus; EMR). The applicant has
prepared a habitat conservation plan in support of their application.
We have made a preliminary determination that the HCP and permit
application are eligible for categorical exclusion under the National
Environmental Policy Act. We invite comments from the public and
Federal, Tribal, State, and local governments.
DATES: We will accept comments received or postmarked on or before
December 12, 2022.
ADDRESSES:
Document availability: Electronic copies of the documents this
notice announces, along with public comments received, will be
available online in Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2022-0145 at https://www.regulations.gov.
Comment submission: Please specify whether your comment addresses
the proposed habitat conservation plan, draft environmental action
statement, any combination of the aforementioned documents, or other
documents. You may submit written comments by one of the following
methods:
Online: https://www.regulations.gov. Search for and submit
comments on Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2022-0145.
By hard copy: Submit comments by U.S. mail to Public
Comments Processing, Attn: Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2022-0145; U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service; 5275 Leesburg Pike, MS: PRB/3W; Falls Church, VA
22041-3803.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carrie Tansy, Deputy Field Supervisor,
Michigan Ecological Services Field Office, by email at
carrie_tansy@fws.gov, or telephone at 517-351-8375; or Andrew Horton,
Regional HCP Coordinator, Midwest Region, by email at
andrew_horton@fws.gov or telephone at 612-713-5337. Individuals in the
United States who are deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing, or have a
speech disability may dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to access
telecommunications relay services. Individuals outside the United
States should use the relay services offered within their country to
make international calls to the point-of-contact in the United States.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(Service), have received an application from Consumers Energy for an
incidental take permit under the Endangered Species Act (ESA; 16 U.S.C.
1531 et seq.). If approved, the permit would be for a 15-year period
and would authorize the incidental take of a federally threatened
species, the eastern massasauga rattlesnake (Sistrurus catenatus; EMR).
The applicant has prepared a habitat conservation plan (HCP) that
describes the actions and measures proposed that would avoid, minimize,
and mitigate incidental take of EMR along an approximate 56-mile (mi)
construction corridor. We have made a preliminary determination that
the HCP and permit application are eligible for categorical exclusion
under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA; 42 U.S.C.
4321 et seq.).
Background
Section 9 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA;
16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), and its implementing regulations prohibit the
``take'' of animal species listed as endangered or threatened. ``Take''
is defined under the ESA as to ``harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot,
wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect [listed animal species], or to
attempt to engage in such conduct'' (16 U.S.C. 1538). However, under
section 10(a) of the ESA, we may
[[Page 67947]]
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.
Regulations governing incidental take permits (ITP) for endangered and
threatened species, respectively, are found in the Code of Federal
Regulations at 50 CFR 17.22 and 50 CFR 17.32.
Applicant's Proposed Project
The applicant requests a 15-year ITP to take the federally
threatened eastern massasauga rattlesnake. The applicant determined
that take is reasonably certain to occur incidental to the construction
and maintenance of a 55.8-mi pipeline replacement project, covering
approximately 721 acres (ac) of private land, 44 ac of which occur
within presumed occupied EMR habitat. The applicant has submitted a HCP
in support of their application for an ITP to address take of EMR. The
HCP's area encompasses the counties of Clinton, Livingston, Shiawassee,
Ingham, and Washtenaw, located in southern Michigan. The covered
activities include the following: surveying and staking, vegetation
clearing, grading, stringing and bending of pipe, trenching,
backfilling, horizontal directional drilling, hydrostatic testing,
habitat restoration, and ongoing pipeline maintenance. The applicant
has determined that actions associated with construction and
maintenance within the existing 56-mi pipeline corridor have the
potential to incidentally take the species.
The proposed conservation strategy in the applicant's proposed HCP
is designed to avoid, minimize, and mitigate the impacts of the covered
activity on EMR. The biological goals and objectives are to conduct the
project in a manner that minimizes impacts and maintains persistence of
EMR within the HCP area, to restore habitat postconstruction to
maintain or improve preexisting habitat quality and function for EMR,
and to monitor response of EMR to best management practices (BMPs) and
site restoration to inform conservation efforts. The authorized level
of take from the project is no more than two individual snakes over the
15-year project duration. To offset the impacts of the taking of
snakes, the applicant proposes to restore the site to previous or
improved condition and to provide conservation funds for EMR habitat
protection and public education.
Our Preliminary Determination
We are requesting comments on our preliminary determination that
the applicant's proposal will have a minor or negligible effect on the
eastern massasauga and that the plan qualifies as a low-effect HCP as
defined by our Habitat Conservation Planning Handbook (December 2016).
We base our determinations on three criteria: (1) Implementation of the
proposed project as described in the HCP would result in minor or
negligible effects on federally listed, proposed, and/or candidate
species and their habitats; (2) implementation of the HCP would result
in minor or negligible effects on other environmental values or
resources; and (3) HCP impacts, considered together with those of other
past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future projects, would not
result in cumulatively significant effects. In our analysis of these
criteria, we have made a preliminary determination that the approval of
the HCP and issuance of an ITP qualify for categorical exclusion under
the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.),
as provided by the Department of the Interior implementing regulations
in part 46 of title 43 of the Code of Federal Regulations (43 CFR
46.205, and 46.215). However, based upon our review of public comments
that we receive in response to this notice, this preliminary
determination may be revised.
National Environmental Policy Act
The issuance of an ITP is a Federal action that triggers the need
for compliance with NEPA. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service)
has made a preliminary determination that the applicant's project and
the proposed mitigation measures would individually and cumulatively
have a minor or negligible effect on the covered species and the
environment. Therefore, we have preliminarily concluded that the ITP
for this project would qualify for categorical exclusion, and the HCP
would be low effect under our NEPA regulations at 43 CFR 46.205.
Next Steps
The Service will evaluate the permit application and the comments
received to determine whether the application meets the requirements of
section 10(a) of the ESA. We will also conduct an intra-Service
consultation pursuant to section 7 of the ESA to evaluate the effects
of the proposed take. After considering the above findings, we will
determine whether the permit issuance criteria of section 10(a)(l)(B)
of the ESA have been met. If met, the Service will issue the requested
ITP to the applicant.
Request for Public Comments
The Service invites comments and suggestions from all interested
parties during a 30-day public comment period (see DATES). In
particular, information and comments regarding the following topics are
requested:
1. The environmental 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;
3. Any threats to eastern massasauga that may influence their
populations over the life of the ITP that are not addressed in the
proposed HCP or Catex screening form; and
4. Any other information pertinent to evaluating the effects of the
proposed action on the human environment.
Availability of Public Comments
You may submit comments by one of the methods shown under
ADDRESSES. We will post on https://www.regulations.gov all public
comments and information received electronically or via hardcopy. All
comments received, including names and addresses, will become part of
the administrative 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 section 10(c) of the Endangered
Species Act (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.
4371 et seq.) and its implementing regulations (40 CFR 1506.6; 43 CFR
part 46).
Lori Nordstrom,
Assistant Regional Director, Ecological Services.
[FR Doc. 2022-24607 Filed 11-9-22; 8:45 am]
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