[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 18 (Friday, January 27, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5372-5373]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-01696]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2022-0147; FXES11140300000-234]
Draft Environmental Assessment and Proposed Habitat Conservation
Plan; Receipt of an Application for an Incidental Take Permit, Crescent
Wind Project; Hillsdale County, Michigan
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 Company for an incidental take permit
under the Endangered Species Act, for its Crescent Wind Project
(project). If approved, the permit would authorize the incidental take
of two endangered species, the Indiana bat and the northern long-eared
bat. The applicant has prepared a habitat conservation plan in support
of their application. We also announce the availability of a draft
environmental assessment, which has been prepared in response to the
permit application in accordance with the requirements of 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
February 27, 2023.
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-2022-0147 at https://www.regulations.gov.
Comment submission: Please specify whether your comment addresses
the proposed habitat conservation plan, draft Environmental Assessment,
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-2022-0147.
By hard copy: Submit comments by U.S. mail to Public
Comments Processing, Attn: Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2022-0147; U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service; 5275 Leesburg Pike, MS: PRB/3W; Falls Church, VA
22041-3803.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Scott Hicks, Field Supervisor,
Michigan Ecological Services Field Office, by email at
scott_hicks@fws.gov, or telephone at 517-351-6274; 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, have
received an application from Consumers Energy Company for an incidental
take permit (ITP) under the Endangered Species Act (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531
et seq.), for its Crescent Wind Project (project). If approved, the ITP
would be for a 30-year period and would authorize the incidental take
of two endangered species, the Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis), and
northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis). The applicant has
prepared a habitat conservation plan (HCP) that describes the actions
and measures that the applicant would implement to avoid, minimize, and
mitigate incidental take of the Indiana bat and northern long-eared
bat. We also announce the availability of a draft environmental
assessment (EA), which has been prepared in response to the permit
application in accordance with the requirements of the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.).
Background
Section 9 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (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 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 30-year ITP to take the federally
endangered Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) and northern long-eared bat
(Myotis septentrionalis). The applicant determined that take is
reasonably certain to occur incidental to operation of 60 wind turbines
that have a total generating capacity of 166 megawatts and cover
approximately 38,320 acres of private land. The proposed conservation
strategy in the applicant's proposed HCP is designed to avoid,
minimize, and mitigate the impacts of the covered activity on the
covered species. The biological goals and objectives are to minimize
potential take of Indiana bats and northern long-eared bats through on-
site minimization measures, and to provide habitat conservation
measures for Indiana bats and northern long-eared bats to offset any
impacts from operations of the project. The HCP provides on-site
avoidance and minimization measures, which include turbine operational
adjustments and acoustic-activated curtailment technology that adjusts
turbine operations when bats are detected acoustically near turbine
blades. The authorized level of take from the project is 96 Indiana
bats and 49 northern long-eared bats over the 30-year project duration.
To offset the impacts of taking Indiana bats and northern long-eared
bats, the applicant proposes to protect summer maternity habitat in
Hillsdale County, Michigan, as well as known swarming/staging habitat
for both species at an approved mitigation site in southern Indiana.
The summer mitigation site is connected to habitat where both covered
species were captured during preconstruction surveys for the Crescent
Wind Project, and the swarming/staging site is located within a mile of
Ray's Cave, a Priority 1 hibernaculum for Indiana bats, where bats from
two southern Michigan maternity colonies have been observed during
hibernation.
National Environmental Policy Act
Issuance of an ITP is a Federal action that triggers the need for
compliance with NEPA. We prepared a draft EA that analyzes the
environmental impacts on the human environment resulting from three
alternatives: A no-action alternative, the proposed action, and a more
restrictive alternative consisting of feathering below higher wind
speeds that results in lower impacts to bats.
Next Steps
The Service will evaluate the permit application and the comments
received to determine whether the application
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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). 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 the Indiana bat and the northern long-eared bat
that may influence their populations over the life of the ITP that are
not addressed in the proposed HCP or Environmental Assessment; 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. 2023-01696 Filed 1-26-23; 8:45 am]
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