Golden Eagles; Programmatic Take Permit Application; Draft Environmental Assessment; Shiloh IV Wind Project, Solano County, California, 59710-59711 [2013-23732]
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Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 188 / Friday, September 27, 2013 / Notices
at the address shown above or at (916)
414–6651 (telephone).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS–R8–MB–2013–N138;
FXMB12320100000P2–123–FF01M01000]
Golden Eagles; Programmatic Take
Permit Application; Draft
Environmental Assessment; Shiloh IV
Wind Project, Solano County,
California
Fish and Wildlife Service,
Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request
for comment.
AGENCY:
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service announces the availably of a
draft Environmental Assessment (DEA)
under the National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA) for the issuance of a
take permit for golden eagles pursuant
to the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection
Act (Eagle Act), in association with the
operation of the Shiloh IV Wind Project
in Solano County, California. The DEA
was prepared in response to an
application from Shiloh IV Wind
Project, LLC (applicant), an affiliate of
EDF Renewable Development,
Incorporated, for a 5-year programmatic
take permit for golden eagles (Aquila
chrysaetos) under the Eagle Act. The
applicant would implement a
conservation program to avoid,
minimize, and compensate for the
project’s impacts to eagles, as described
in the applicant’s Eagle Conservation
Plan (ECP). We invite public comment
on the DEA, which evaluates
alternatives for this permit.
DATES: To ensure consideration, written
comments must be received on or before
November 12, 2013.
ADDRESSES: Obtaining Documents: You
may download copies of the DEA on the
Internet at: https://www.fws.gov/cno/
conservation/migratorybirds.html.
Alternatively, you may use one of the
methods below to request a CD–ROM of
the document.
Submitting Comments: You may
submit comments or requests for copies
or more information by one of the
following methods.
• Email: ShilohIV_comments@
fws.gov.
• U.S. Mail: Heather Beeler,
Migratory Bird Program, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, Pacific Southwest
Regional Office, 2800 Cottage Way,
W–2605, Sacramento, CA 95825.
• Fax: Heather Beeler, Migratory Bird
Program, 916–414–6486, Attn: Shiloh IV
Wind Project DEA Comments.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Heather Beeler, Migratory Bird Program,
pmangrum on DSK3VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
SUMMARY:
VerDate Mar<15>2010
14:21 Sep 26, 2013
Jkt 229001
Introduction
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is
considering an application under the
Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act
(16 U.S.C. 668a–d; Eagle Act) for a
programmatic golden eagle (Aquila
chrysaetos) take permit from the Shiloh
IV Wind Project LLC, (applicant) an
affiliate of EDF Renewable
Development, Incorporated, for a 5-year
programmatic take permit for golden
eagles. The Shiloh IV Wind Project is an
existing, operational wind facility in the
Montezuma Hills Wind Resource Area
(WRA) within Solano County,
California. The application includes an
Eagle Conservation Plan (ECP) as the
foundation of the applicant’s permit
application, as well as a Bird and Bat
Conservation Strategy (BBCS). The ECP
and BBCS describe actions taken and
proposed future actions to avoid,
minimize, and mitigate adverse effects
on eagles, birds, and bats.
We have prepared this DEA to
evaluate the impacts of several
alternatives associated with this permit
application for compliance with our
Eagle Act permitting regulations in the
Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) at 50
CFR 22.26, as well as impacts of
implementation of the supporting ECP,
which is included as an appendix to the
DEA.
Background
The Eagle Act allows us to authorize
bald eagle and golden eagle
programmatic take (take that is
recurring, is not caused solely by
indirect effects, and that occurs over the
long term or in a location or locations
that cannot be specifically identified).
Such take must be incidental to actions
that are otherwise lawful. The Eagle
Act’s implementing regulations define
‘‘take’’ as to ‘‘pursue, shoot, shoot at,
poison, wound, kill, capture, trap,
collect, destroy, molest, or disturb’’
individuals, their nests and eggs (50
CFR 22.3); and ‘‘disturb’’ is further
defined as ‘‘to agitate or bother a bald
or golden eagle to a degree that causes
. . . (1) injury to an eagle, . . . (2) a
decrease in its productivity, . . . or (3)
nest abandonment’’ (50 CFR 22.3). The
Shiloh IV Wind Project will result in
recurring eagle mortalities over the life
of the project, so the appropriate type of
take permit is the programmatic permit
under 50 CFR 22.26.
We may consider issuance of
programmatic eagle take permits if: (1)
The incidental take is necessary to
protect legitimate interests; (2) the take
PO 00000
Frm 00064
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
is compatible with the preservation
standard of the Eagle Act—providing for
stable or increasing breeding
populations; (3) the take has been
avoided and minimized to the degree
achievable though implementation of
Advanced Compensation Practices
(ACPs), and the remaining take is
unavoidable; and (4) compensatory
mitigation will be provided for any
remaining take. The Service must
determine that the direct and indirect
effects of the take and required
mitigation, together with the cumulative
effects of other permitted take and
additional factors affecting eagle
populations, are compatible with the
preservation of bald eagles and golden
eagles.
Applicant’s Proposal
The permit applicant, Shiloh IV, is
operating a 100-megawatt (MW)
commercial wind-energy facility,
consisting of 50 wind turbines, each
with a 2–MW generation capacity, in the
Montezuma Hills WRA of Solano
County, California. This project was
constructed adjacent to other existing
wind-energy-producing facilities. The
recently constructed (December 2012)
Shiloh IV Wind Project was a
repowering and infill project entailing
the decommissioning and removal of
approximately 230 Kennetech wind
turbines originally constructed in the
late 1980s.
The applicant submitted an ECP on
August 3, 2012 that was developed
following recommendations provided
by the Service and consistent with our
January 2011 Draft Eagle Conservation
Plan Guidance (https://www.fws.gov/
windenergy/docs/ECP_draft_guidance_
2_10_final_clean_omb.pdf). As
recommended in the Service’s draft
guidance, the applicant’s plan outlines
avoidance and minimization measures,
contains a risk assessment, includes
experimental advanced conservation
practices, and adaptive management.
The applicant submitted the ECP as part
of the permit application, and if we
issue the permit following the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
process, then the conservation
commitments would become conditions
of the permit.
The Service independently evaluated
the risk of eagle fatalities from project
operations and compared that risk to the
conservation measures to which the
applicant has committed. This is an
essential step in the Service’s evaluation
of an application for a permit for
programmatic take of eagles because
issuing criteria require permitted take to
comply with the Eagle Acts’s
preservation standard. The Service has
E:\FR\FM\27SEN1.SGM
27SEN1
Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 188 / Friday, September 27, 2013 / Notices
interpreted this standard to require
maintenance of stable or increasing
breeding populations of eagles (74 FR
46836; September 11, 2009). We
evaluate the risk and offsetting
conservation measures, and the
implications for direct, indirect, and
cumulative effects under four
alternatives in the DEA.
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[LLWO300000.L14300000.xx0000]
Renewal of Approved Information
Collection
Next Steps
The public process for the proposed
Federal permit action will be completed
after the public comment period, at
which time we will evaluate the permit
application and comments submitted
thereupon to determine whether the
application meets the permitting
requirements under the Eagle Act,
applicable regulations, and NEPA
requirements. Upon completion of that
evaluation, we will select our course of
action. We will make the final permit
decision no sooner than 30 days after
the close of the public comment period.
Public Comments
We invite public comment on the
proposed DEA. If you wish, you may
submit comments by any one of the
methods discussed above under
ADDRESSES.
Public Availability of Comments
We will consider public comments on
the DEA when making the final
determination on NEPA compliance and
permit issuance. 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 ask us in your comment to
withhold your personal identifying
information from public review, we
cannot guarantee that we will be able to
do so.
Authority
pmangrum on DSK3VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
We provide this notice under Section
668a of the Eagle Act (16 U.S.C. 668–
668c) and NEPA regulations (40 CFR
1506.6).
Dated: September 24, 2013.
Alexandra Pitts,
Deputy Regional Director, Pacific Southwest,
Sacramento, California.
[FR Doc. 2013–23732 Filed 9–26–13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310–55–P
VerDate Mar<15>2010
14:21 Sep 26, 2013
Jkt 229001
Bureau of Land Management,
Interior.
ACTION: 60-Day notice and request for
comments.
AGENCY:
In compliance with the
Paperwork Reduction Act, the Bureau of
Land Management (BLM) invites public
comments on, and plans to request
approval to continue, the collection of
information from individuals, private
entities, and State or local governments
seeking leases, permits, and easements
for the use, occupancy, or development
of public lands administered by the
BLM. The Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) has assigned control
number 1004–0009 to this information
collection.
DATES: Please submit comments on the
proposed information collection by
November 26, 2013.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be
submitted by mail, fax, or electronic
mail.
Mail: U.S. Department of the Interior,
Bureau of Land Management, 1849 C
Street NW., Room 2134LM, Attention:
Jean Sonneman, Washington, DC 20240.
Fax: to Jean Sonneman at 202–245–
0050.
Electronic mail: Jean_Sonneman@
blm.gov.
Please indicate ‘‘Attn: 1004–0009’’
regardless of the form of your
comments.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jeff
Holdren at 202–912–7335. Persons who
use a telecommunication device for the
deaf (TDD) may call the Federal
Information Relay Service (FIRS) at
1–800–877–8339, to leave a message for
Mr. Holdren.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: OMB
regulations at 5 CFR 1320, which
implement provisions of the Paperwork
Reduction Act, 44 U.S.C. 3501–3521,
require that interested members of the
public and affected agencies be given an
opportunity to comment on information
collection and recordkeeping activities
(see 5 CFR 1320.8 (d) and 1320.12(a)).
This notice identifies an information
collection that the BLM plans to submit
to OMB for approval. The Paperwork
Reduction Act provides that an agency
may not conduct or sponsor a collection
SUMMARY:
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Sfmt 4703
59711
of information unless it displays a
currently valid OMB control number.
Until OMB approves a collection of
information, you are not obligated to
respond.
The BLM will request a 3-year term of
approval for this information collection
activity. Comments are invited on: (1)
The need for the collection of
information for the performance of the
functions of the agency; (2) the accuracy
of the agency’s burden estimates; (3)
ways to enhance the quality, utility and
clarity of the information collection; and
(4) ways to minimize the information
collection burden on respondents, such
as use of automated means of collection
of the information. A summary of the
public comments will accompany our
submission of the information collection
requests to OMB.
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 ask us in your comment
to withhold your personal identifying
information from public review, we
cannot guarantee that we will be able to
do so.
The following information is provided
for the information collection:
Title: Land Use Application and
Permit (43 CFR Part 2920).
OMB Control Number: 1004–0009.
Summary: Section 302 of the Federal
Land Policy and Management Act of
1976 (FLPMA) (43 U.S.C. 1732) and
regulations at 43 CFR part 2920
authorize the issuance of leases,
permits, and easements for the use,
occupancy, or development of public
lands administered by the BLM. A
variety of land uses are permissible. The
burdens to respondents also can vary.
Frequency of Collection: On occasion.
Forms: Form 2920–1, Land Use
Application and Permit.
Description of Respondents:
Individuals, private entities, and State
or local governments seeking leases,
permits, and easements for the use,
occupancy, or development of public
lands.
Estimated Annual Responses: 407.
Estimated Annual Burden Hours:
1,597.
Estimated Annual Non-Hour Costs:
$131,760.
The following table itemizes the
estimated annual burdens for
respondents:
E:\FR\FM\27SEN1.SGM
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 188 (Friday, September 27, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59710-59711]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-23732]
[[Page 59710]]
=======================================================================
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-R8-MB-2013-N138; FXMB12320100000P2-123-FF01M01000]
Golden Eagles; Programmatic Take Permit Application; Draft
Environmental Assessment; Shiloh IV Wind Project, Solano County,
California
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comment.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announces the availably of
a draft Environmental Assessment (DEA) under the National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA) for the issuance of a take permit for golden eagles
pursuant to the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act (Eagle Act), in
association with the operation of the Shiloh IV Wind Project in Solano
County, California. The DEA was prepared in response to an application
from Shiloh IV Wind Project, LLC (applicant), an affiliate of EDF
Renewable Development, Incorporated, for a 5-year programmatic take
permit for golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) under the Eagle Act. The
applicant would implement a conservation program to avoid, minimize,
and compensate for the project's impacts to eagles, as described in the
applicant's Eagle Conservation Plan (ECP). We invite public comment on
the DEA, which evaluates alternatives for this permit.
DATES: To ensure consideration, written comments must be received on or
before November 12, 2013.
ADDRESSES: Obtaining Documents: You may download copies of the DEA on
the Internet at: https://www.fws.gov/cno/conservation/migratorybirds.html. Alternatively, you may use one of the methods
below to request a CD-ROM of the document.
Submitting Comments: You may submit comments or requests for copies
or more information by one of the following methods.
Email: ShilohIV_comments@fws.gov.
U.S. Mail: Heather Beeler, Migratory Bird Program, U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, Pacific Southwest Regional Office, 2800
Cottage Way, W-2605, Sacramento, CA 95825.
Fax: Heather Beeler, Migratory Bird Program, 916-414-6486,
Attn: Shiloh IV Wind Project DEA Comments.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Heather Beeler, Migratory Bird
Program, at the address shown above or at (916) 414-6651 (telephone).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Introduction
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering an application
under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act (16 U.S.C. 668a-d; Eagle
Act) for a programmatic golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) take permit
from the Shiloh IV Wind Project LLC, (applicant) an affiliate of EDF
Renewable Development, Incorporated, for a 5-year programmatic take
permit for golden eagles. The Shiloh IV Wind Project is an existing,
operational wind facility in the Montezuma Hills Wind Resource Area
(WRA) within Solano County, California. The application includes an
Eagle Conservation Plan (ECP) as the foundation of the applicant's
permit application, as well as a Bird and Bat Conservation Strategy
(BBCS). The ECP and BBCS describe actions taken and proposed future
actions to avoid, minimize, and mitigate adverse effects on eagles,
birds, and bats.
We have prepared this DEA to evaluate the impacts of several
alternatives associated with this permit application for compliance
with our Eagle Act permitting regulations in the Code of Federal
Regulations (CFR) at 50 CFR 22.26, as well as impacts of implementation
of the supporting ECP, which is included as an appendix to the DEA.
Background
The Eagle Act allows us to authorize bald eagle and golden eagle
programmatic take (take that is recurring, is not caused solely by
indirect effects, and that occurs over the long term or in a location
or locations that cannot be specifically identified). Such take must be
incidental to actions that are otherwise lawful. The Eagle Act's
implementing regulations define ``take'' as to ``pursue, shoot, shoot
at, poison, wound, kill, capture, trap, collect, destroy, molest, or
disturb'' individuals, their nests and eggs (50 CFR 22.3); and
``disturb'' is further defined as ``to agitate or bother a bald or
golden eagle to a degree that causes . . . (1) injury to an eagle, . .
. (2) a decrease in its productivity, . . . or (3) nest abandonment''
(50 CFR 22.3). The Shiloh IV Wind Project will result in recurring
eagle mortalities over the life of the project, so the appropriate type
of take permit is the programmatic permit under 50 CFR 22.26.
We may consider issuance of programmatic eagle take permits if: (1)
The incidental take is necessary to protect legitimate interests; (2)
the take is compatible with the preservation standard of the Eagle
Act--providing for stable or increasing breeding populations; (3) the
take has been avoided and minimized to the degree achievable though
implementation of Advanced Compensation Practices (ACPs), and the
remaining take is unavoidable; and (4) compensatory mitigation will be
provided for any remaining take. The Service must determine that the
direct and indirect effects of the take and required mitigation,
together with the cumulative effects of other permitted take and
additional factors affecting eagle populations, are compatible with the
preservation of bald eagles and golden eagles.
Applicant's Proposal
The permit applicant, Shiloh IV, is operating a 100-megawatt (MW)
commercial wind-energy facility, consisting of 50 wind turbines, each
with a 2-MW generation capacity, in the Montezuma Hills WRA of Solano
County, California. This project was constructed adjacent to other
existing wind-energy-producing facilities. The recently constructed
(December 2012) Shiloh IV Wind Project was a repowering and infill
project entailing the decommissioning and removal of approximately 230
Kennetech wind turbines originally constructed in the late 1980s.
The applicant submitted an ECP on August 3, 2012 that was developed
following recommendations provided by the Service and consistent with
our January 2011 Draft Eagle Conservation Plan Guidance (https://www.fws.gov/windenergy/docs/ECP_draft_guidance_2_10_final_clean_omb.pdf). As recommended in the Service's draft guidance, the
applicant's plan outlines avoidance and minimization measures, contains
a risk assessment, includes experimental advanced conservation
practices, and adaptive management. The applicant submitted the ECP as
part of the permit application, and if we issue the permit following
the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process, then the
conservation commitments would become conditions of the permit.
The Service independently evaluated the risk of eagle fatalities
from project operations and compared that risk to the conservation
measures to which the applicant has committed. This is an essential
step in the Service's evaluation of an application for a permit for
programmatic take of eagles because issuing criteria require permitted
take to comply with the Eagle Acts's preservation standard. The Service
has
[[Page 59711]]
interpreted this standard to require maintenance of stable or
increasing breeding populations of eagles (74 FR 46836; September 11,
2009). We evaluate the risk and offsetting conservation measures, and
the implications for direct, indirect, and cumulative effects under
four alternatives in the DEA.
Next Steps
The public process for the proposed Federal permit action will be
completed after the public comment period, at which time we will
evaluate the permit application and comments submitted thereupon to
determine whether the application meets the permitting requirements
under the Eagle Act, applicable regulations, and NEPA requirements.
Upon completion of that evaluation, we will select our course of
action. We will make the final permit decision no sooner than 30 days
after the close of the public comment period.
Public Comments
We invite public comment on the proposed DEA. If you wish, you may
submit comments by any one of the methods discussed above under
ADDRESSES.
Public Availability of Comments
We will consider public comments on the DEA when making the final
determination on NEPA compliance and permit issuance. 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 ask us in your
comment to withhold your personal identifying information from public
review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.
Authority
We provide this notice under Section 668a of the Eagle Act (16
U.S.C. 668-668c) and NEPA regulations (40 CFR 1506.6).
Dated: September 24, 2013.
Alexandra Pitts,
Deputy Regional Director, Pacific Southwest, Sacramento, California.
[FR Doc. 2013-23732 Filed 9-26-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-P
