[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 69 (Tuesday, April 9, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24851-24852]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-07482]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-R5-ES-2024-0021; FXES11140500000-245-FF05E00000]
Proposed Safe Harbor Agreement and Candidate Conservation
Agreement With Assurances for the Greene County Pennsylvania, Wharton
Run Bat Hibernaculum; Draft Categorical Exclusion
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), have
received an application from CNX Gas Company LLC for an enhancement of
survival permit under the Endangered Species Act. The applicant also
submitted a proposed safe harbor agreement and candidate conservation
agreement with assurances (SHA/CCAA) in support of the application. We
request public comment on the application, which includes the
applicant's proposed SHA/CCAA, and the Service's preliminary
determination that the proposed permitting action may be eligible for a
categorical exclusion pursuant to the Council on Environmental
Quality's National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations, the
Department of the Interior's (DOI) NEPA regulations, and the DOI
Departmental Manual. To make this preliminary determination, we
prepared a draft environmental action statement and low-effect
screening form, both of which are also available for public review. We
invite comment from the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal
agencies.
DATES: We will accept comments received or postmarked on or before May
9, 2024. Comments submitted online at https://www.regulations.gov (see
ADDRESSES) must be received by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on May 9, 2024.
ADDRESSES:
Obtaining documents: The documents this notice announces, as well
as any comments and other materials that we receive, will be available
for public inspection online in Docket No. FWS-R5-ES-2024-0021 at
https://www.regulations.gov.
Submitting Comments: If you wish to submit comments on any of the
documents, you may do so in writing by one of the following methods:
Online: https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments on Docket No. FWS-R5-ES-2024-0021.
U.S. mail: Public Comments Processing; Attn: Docket No.
FWS-R5-ES-2024-0021; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters, MS:
PRB/3W; 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Pamela R. Shellenberger, by telephone
at 814-234-4090, extension 7459, or by email at
[email protected]. 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 CNX Gas Company LLC
(applicant, CNX) for an enhancement of survival permit under the
Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et
seq.). The applicant also submitted a proposed safe harbor agreement
and candidate conservation agreement with assurances (SHA/CCAA) in
support of the application. The applicant intends to implement the
agreement within the boundaries of the State of Pennsylvania, to
actively manage the covered species to benefit the recovery of
federally listed species and to prevent the need to list candidate or
otherwise sensitive species. The Service has made a preliminary
determination that the proposed agreement qualifies as low effect,
categorically excluded, under the National Environmental Policy Act of
1969 (NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). To make this determination, we
used our
[[Page 24852]]
environmental action statement and low-effect screening form, both of
which are also available for public review. We provide this notice to
seek comments from the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal
agencies.
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 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 for endangered and threatened species, respectively, are found
in the Code of Federal Regulations at 50 CFR 17.22 and 50 CFR 17.32.
Safe Harbor Agreements and Candidate Conservation Agreements With
Assurances
A SHA is an agreement between the Service, partners, and
landowners, for voluntary management of non-Federal lands to contribute
towards recovery of an ESA-listed species in a manner that is
consistent with the Service's policy on SHAs (64 FR 32717, June 17,
1999) and applicable regulations. A CCAA is an agreement between the
Service, partners, and landowners for voluntary management of non-
Federal lands to remove or reduce key threats to species that may
become listed under the ESA, in a manner that is consistent with the
Service's policy on CCAAs (81 FR 95164, December 27, 2016) and
applicable regulations. In return for implementing conservation
measures in a SHA/CCAA, the Service gives participants assurances that
the Service will not impose land, water, or resource use restrictions
or conservation requirements on ESA-listed species, or those that may
become listed, beyond those agreed to in the SHA/CCAA.
Applicant's Proposed Safe Harbor Agreement/Candidate Conservation
Agreement With Assurances
The purpose of this SHA/CCAA is to support collaborative efforts
between the Service and CNX Gas Company LLC, in cooperation with
regional agencies and universities, to implement conservation measures
that result in net conservation benefits for six covered bat species.
These measures include the installation of a human-made bat
hibernaculum and other artificial roosting structures to provide a
refuge to bat species that exist within the enrolled property.
Covered Species
The proposed SHA/CCAA covers the following bat species.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Common name Scientific name Federal listing status State listing status
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Indiana bat.......................... Myotis sodalis......... Endangered............. Pennsylvania--endangere
d.
Northern long-eared bat.............. Myotis septentrionalis. Endangered............. Pennsylvania--endangere
d.
Tricolored bat....................... Perimyotis subflavus... Proposed endangered.... Pennsylvania--endangere
d.
Little brown bat..................... Myotis lucifugus....... No..................... Pennsylvania--endangere
d.
Big brown bat........................ Eptesicus fuscus....... No..................... No.
Eastern small-footed bat............. Myotis leibii.......... No..................... Pennsylvania--threatene
d.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
National Environmental Policy Act Compliance
Issuance of the permit would be a Federal action that would trigger
the need for compliance with NEPA. The Service has made a preliminary
determination that the proposed permit issuance is eligible for
categorical exclusion under NEPA, based on the following criteria: (1)
Implementation of the SHA and CCAA would result in minor or negligible
adverse effects on federally listed, proposed, and candidate species
and their habitats; (2) implementation of the SHA and CCAA would result
in minor or negligible adverse effects on other environmental values or
resources; and (3) impacts of the SHA and CCAA, considered together
with the impacts of other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable
similarly situated projects, would not result, over time, in cumulative
adverse effects to environmental values or resources which would be
considered significant. To make this determination, we used our EAS and
low-effect screening form, which are also available for public review.
Public Availability of Comments
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.
Next Steps
The Service will evaluate the application and the comments received
to determine whether to issue the requested permit. We also will
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)(1)(A) of the ESA have been met. If met, the Service
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.
1531 et seq.) and its implementing regulations (50 CFR 17.22 and 17.32)
and NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and its implementing regulations (40
CFR 1500-1508 and 43 CFR 46).
Sharon Marino,
Assistant Regional Director, Ecological Services Northeast Region.
[FR Doc. 2024-07482 Filed 4-8-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333-15-P