Draft Environmental Assessment and Proposed Habitat Conservation Plan; Receipt of an Application for an Incidental Take Permit, High Prairie Wind Energy Facility, Schuyler and Adair Counties, Missouri, 77234-77236 [2020-26520]
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(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance No.
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Center at https://msc.fema.gov for
comparison.
Michael M. Grimm,
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Management, Department of Homeland
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Agency.
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Craighead County, Arkansas and Incorporated Areas
Project: 18–06–0001S Preliminary Date: June 30, 2020
City of Bay ................................................................................................
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City of Lake City .......................................................................................
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Town of Egypt ..........................................................................................
Unincorporated Areas of Craighead County ............................................
City Hall, 220 Elder Street, Bay, AR 72411.
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City Hall, 613 Holman, Brookland, AR 72417.
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Unincorporated Areas of Hyde County ....................................................
[FR Doc. 2020–26481 Filed 11–30–20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 9110–12–P
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS–R3–ES–2020–0136;
FXES11140300000–201]
Draft Environmental Assessment and
Proposed Habitat Conservation Plan;
Receipt of an Application for an
Incidental Take Permit, High Prairie
Wind Energy Facility, Schuyler and
Adair Counties, Missouri
AGENCY:
Fish and Wildlife Service,
Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request
for comment and information.
We, the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service (Service), have received
an application from TG High Prairie,
LLC (applicant) for an incidental take
permit (ITP) under the Endangered
Species Act (ESA), for its High Prairie
Wind Energy Facility. If approved, the
ITP would be for a 6-year period and
would authorize the incidental take of
covered species, including the
endangered Indiana bat, threatened
northern long-eared bat, and the little
brown bat, currently under
discretionary review. While the ITP is
for 6 years, the wind energy project is
scheduled to be operational for thirty
years and intensive monitoring
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SUMMARY:
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20:31 Nov 30, 2020
Jkt 253001
Hyde County Government Center, 30 Oyster Creek Road, Swan Quarter, NC 27885.
conducted during this permit term will
inform the need for future avoidance or
a new long-term ITP that will comply
with a new NEPA analysis and habitat
conservation plan (HCP). The applicant
has prepared a HCP that describes the
actions and measures that the applicant
would implement to avoid, minimize,
and mitigate incidental take of the
covered species for the first 6 years. 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 (NEPA). We
request public comment on the
application, which includes the
applicant’s proposed HCP, the Service’s
draft environmental assessment,
prepared pursuant to NEPA and
associated documents. We provide this
notice to seek review and comment from
the public and Federal, Tribal, State and
local governments.
DATES: We will accept comments
received or postmarked on or before
December 31, 2020.
ADDRESSES:
Document availability: Electronic
copies of the documents this notice
announces, as well as public comments
we receive, will be available online in
Docket No. FWS–R3–ES–2020–0136 at
https://www.regulations.gov.
Comment submission: In your
comment, please specify whether your
comment addresses the proposed HCP,
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Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
draft EA, or any combination of the
aforementioned documents, or other
supporting 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–2020–0136.
• By hard copy: Submit comments by
U.S. mail to Public Comments
Processing, Attn: Docket No. FWS–R3–
ES–2020–0136; U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service; 5275 Leesburg Pike, MS: PRB/
3W; Falls Church, VA 22041–3803.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Karen Herrington, Field Supervisor,
Columbia Missouri Ecological Services
Field Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, 101 Park DeVille Drive, Suite
A, Columbia, MO 65203; telephone:
573–234–2132.
Individuals who are hearing impaired
or speech impaired may call the Federal
Relay Service at 1–800–877–8339 for
TTY assistance.
We, the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service),
have received an application from TG
High Prairie LLC (applicant) for an
incidental take permit (ITP) under the
Endangered Species Act of 1973, as
amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.),
for its High Prairie Wind Energy facility
(facility). The facility is located in
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
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01DEN1
Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 231 / Tuesday, December 1, 2020 / Notices
Schuyler and Adair Counties, Missouri,
and consists of 163 2.2-megawatt (MW)
turbines and 12 3.45–MW turbines. If
approved, the ITP would be for a 6-year
period and would authorize the
incidental take of covered species,
including the federally endangered
Indiana bat, federally threatened
northern long-eared bat, and the little
brown bat (LBB), currently under
discretionary review. The little brown
bat is not federally protected, but is
currently being evaluated for protection
under the ESA. The applicant has
chosen to include the LBB as a covered
species, and as such, it will be treated
as if it were currently listed under the
ESA. The ITP, if issued, would
authorize incidental take of the covered
species that may occur as a result of the
operation of 175 wind turbines over a
six-year period. 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 covered
species. We also announce the
availability of a draft environmental
assessment (DEA), 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.). We request public
comment on the application and
associated documents.
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Background
Section 9 of the ESA 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 any
such conduct’’ (16 U.S.C. 1532).
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 (16 U.S.C. 1539).
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.
Applicant’s Proposed Project
The applicant requests a 6-year ITP
for turbine operations that will result in
take of the federally endangered Indiana
bat, federally threatened northern longeared bat, and the little brown bat
(covered species). The applicant
determined that take is reasonably
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18:11 Nov 30, 2020
Jkt 253001
certain to occur incidental to operation
of 175 previously constructed wind
turbines in Schuyler and Adair
Counties, Missouri, consisting of
approximately 113,873 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 covered
species through onsite minimization
measures and to provide habitat
conservation measures to offset any
impacts from operations of the project.
The High Prairie Wind site includes
multiple confirmed summer maternity
roosts or colonies for the covered
species and is more than 65 miles from
the Sodalis Nature Preserve (largest
known Indiana bat hibernaculum). The
HCP provides onsite avoidance and
minimization measures, which include
turbine operational adjustments. The
estimated level of take from the project
is 72 Indiana bats, 96 little brown bats,
and 18 northern long-eared bats over the
6-year permit term. To offset the
impacts of the taking of covered species,
the applicant proposes to protect 211.1
acres of known maternity colony
habitat, in perpetuity, through the
Service-approved Chariton Hills
Conservation Bank located in Adair and
Schuyler Counties.
National Environmental Policy Act
The 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
applicant’s proposed action, and a more
restrictive alternative consisting of
feathering turbines at a rate of wind
speed that results in less impacts to
bats.
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
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Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
77235
on the proposed HCP, draft EA and
supporting documents during a 30-day
public comment period (see DATES). In
particular, information and comments
regarding the following topics are
requested:
1. Whether adaptive management,
monitoring and mitigation provisions in
the Proposed Action alternative are
sufficient;
2. Any threats to the Indiana bat, the
northern long-eared bat and the little
brown bat that may influence their
populations over the life of the ITP that
are not addressed in the proposed HCP
or draft EA;
3. Any new information on whitenose syndrome effects on the Indiana
bat, the northern long-eared bat and the
little brown bat;
4. Any information that could help
inform future operating parameters to
avoid impacts to listed bats (beyond
ceasing operations at night). A specific
data set that would be useful would be
one correlating all bat activity to
temperature and weather parameters;
5. Any new information about colony
grouping and the timing in which bats
leave their summer areas (to further
refine maternity colony adaptive
management strategy dates);
6. Any specific parameters or
suggestions to further refine population
models (in the EA);
7. Whether or not the significance of
the impact on various aspects of the
human environment has been
adequately analyzed; and
8. Any other information pertinent to
evaluating the effects of the proposed
action on the human environment,
including those on the Indiana bat, the
northern long-eared bat and the little
brown bat.
Because this permit application was
sufficiently complete prior to the
effective date of the new NEPA
regulations, we are exercising our
discretion to conduct our NEPA analysis
under the regulations in effect prior to
September 14, 2020.
Availability of Public Comments
You may submit comments by one of
the methods shown under ADDRESSES.
We will post on https://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
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Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 231 / Tuesday, December 1, 2020 / Notices
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 ESA (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.)
and its implementing regulations (50
CFR 17.22) and the NEPA (42 U.S.C.
4321 et seq.) and its implementing
regulations (40 CFR 1506.6 (2019); 43
CFR part 46).
Lori Nordstrom,
Assistant Regional Director, Ecological
Services.
[FR Doc. 2020–26520 Filed 11–30–20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333–15–P
INTERNATIONAL TRADE
COMMISSION
Notice of Receipt of Complaint;
Solicitation of Comments Relating to
the Public Interest
U.S. International Trade
Commission.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
Notice is hereby given that
the U.S. International Trade
Commission has received a complaint
entitled Certain Cloud-Connected
Wood-Pellet Grills and Components
Thereof, DN 3510; the Commission is
soliciting comments on any public
interest issues raised by the complaint
or complainant’s filing pursuant to the
Commission’s Rules of Practice and
Procedure.
SUMMARY:
Lisa
R. Barton, Secretary to the Commission,
U.S. International Trade Commission,
500 E Street SW, Washington, DC
20436, telephone (202) 205–2000. The
public version of the complaint can be
accessed on the Commission’s
Electronic Document Information
System (EDIS) at https://edis.usitc.gov.
For help accessing EDIS, please email
EDIS3Help@usitc.gov.
General information concerning the
Commission may also be obtained by
accessing its internet server at United
States International Trade Commission
(USITC) at https://www.usitc.gov. The
public record for this investigation may
be viewed on the Commission’s
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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
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18:11 Nov 30, 2020
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Electronic Document Information
System (EDIS) at https://edis.usitc.gov.
Hearing-impaired persons are advised
that information on this matter can be
obtained by contacting the
Commission’s TDD terminal on (202)
205–1810.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The
Commission has received a complaint
and a submission pursuant to § 210.8(b)
of the Commission’s Rules of Practice
and Procedure filed on behalf of Traeger
Pellet Grills LLC on November 25, 2020.
The complaint alleges violations of
section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19
U.S.C. 1337) in the importation into the
United States, the sale for importation,
and the sale within the United States
after importation of certain cloudconnected wood-pellet grills and
components thereof. The complaint
names as respondent: GMG Products
LLC of Lakeside, OR. The complainant
requests that the Commission issue a
limited exclusion order and cease and
desist order, and impose a bond upon
respondent alleged infringing articles
during the 60-day Presidential review
period pursuant to 19 U.S.C. 1337(j).
Proposed respondents, other
interested parties, and members of the
public are invited to file comments on
any public interest issues raised by the
complaint or § 210.8(b) filing.
Comments should address whether
issuance of the relief specifically
requested by the complainant in this
investigation would affect the public
health and welfare in the United States,
competitive conditions in the United
States economy, the production of like
or directly competitive articles in the
United States, or United States
consumers.
In particular, the Commission is
interested in comments that:
(i) Explain how the articles
potentially subject to the requested
remedial orders are used in the United
States;
(ii) identify any public health, safety,
or welfare concerns in the United States
relating to the requested remedial
orders;
(iii) identify like or directly
competitive articles that complainant,
its licensees, or third parties make in the
United States which could replace the
subject articles if they were to be
excluded;
(iv) indicate whether complainant,
complainant’s licensees, and/or third
party suppliers have the capacity to
replace the volume of articles
potentially subject to the requested
exclusion order and/or a cease and
desist order within a commercially
reasonable time; and
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(v) explain how the requested
remedial orders would impact United
States consumers.
Written submissions on the public
interest must be filed no later than by
close of business, eight calendar days
after the date of publication of this
notice in the Federal Register. There
will be further opportunities for
comment on the public interest after the
issuance of any final initial
determination in this investigation. Any
written submissions on other issues
must also be filed by no later than the
close of business, eight calendar days
after publication of this notice in the
Federal Register. Complainant may file
replies to any written submissions no
later than three calendar days after the
date on which any initial submissions
were due. Any submissions and replies
filed in response to this Notice are
limited to five (5) pages in length,
inclusive of attachments.
Persons filing written submissions
must file the original document
electronically on or before the deadlines
stated above. Submissions should refer
to the docket number (‘‘Docket No.
3510’’) in a prominent place on the
cover page and/or the first page. (See
Handbook for Electronic Filing
Procedures, Electronic Filing
Procedures 1). Please note the
Secretary’s Office will accept only
electronic filings during this time.
Filings must be made through the
Commission’s Electronic Document
Information System (EDIS, https://
edis.usitc.gov). No in-person paperbased filings or paper copies of any
electronic filings will be accepted until
further notice. Persons with questions
regarding filing should contact the
Secretary at EDIS3Help@usitc.gov.
Any person desiring to submit a
document to the Commission in
confidence must request confidential
treatment. All such requests should be
directed to the Secretary to the
Commission and must include a full
statement of the reasons why the
Commission should grant such
treatment. See 19 CFR 201.6. Documents
for which confidential treatment by the
Commission is properly sought will be
treated accordingly. All information,
including confidential business
information and documents for which
confidential treatment is properly
sought, submitted to the Commission for
purposes of this Investigation may be
disclosed to and used: (i) By the
Commission, its employees and Offices,
and contract personnel (a) for
1 Handbook for Electronic Filing Procedures:
https://www.usitc.gov/documents/handbook_on_
filing_procedures.pdf.
E:\FR\FM\01DEN1.SGM
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 231 (Tuesday, December 1, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77234-77236]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-26520]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS-R3-ES-2020-0136; FXES11140300000-201]
Draft Environmental Assessment and Proposed Habitat Conservation
Plan; Receipt of an Application for an Incidental Take Permit, High
Prairie Wind Energy Facility, Schuyler and Adair Counties, Missouri
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comment and information.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), have
received an application from TG High Prairie, LLC (applicant) for an
incidental take permit (ITP) under the Endangered Species Act (ESA),
for its High Prairie Wind Energy Facility. If approved, the ITP would
be for a 6-year period and would authorize the incidental take of
covered species, including the endangered Indiana bat, threatened
northern long-eared bat, and the little brown bat, currently under
discretionary review. While the ITP is for 6 years, the wind energy
project is scheduled to be operational for thirty years and intensive
monitoring conducted during this permit term will inform the need for
future avoidance or a new long-term ITP that will comply with a new
NEPA analysis and habitat conservation plan (HCP). The applicant has
prepared a HCP that describes the actions and measures that the
applicant would implement to avoid, minimize, and mitigate incidental
take of the covered species for the first 6 years. 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 (NEPA). We
request public comment on the application, which includes the
applicant's proposed HCP, the Service's draft environmental assessment,
prepared pursuant to NEPA and associated documents. We provide this
notice to seek review and comment from the public and Federal, Tribal,
State and local governments.
DATES: We will accept comments received or postmarked on or before
December 31, 2020.
ADDRESSES:
Document availability: Electronic copies of the documents this
notice announces, as well as public comments we receive, will be
available online in Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2020-0136 at https://www.regulations.gov.
Comment submission: In your comment, please specify whether your
comment addresses the proposed HCP, draft EA, or any combination of the
aforementioned documents, or other supporting 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-2020-0136.
By hard copy: Submit comments by U.S. mail to Public
Comments Processing, Attn: Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2020-0136; U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service; 5275 Leesburg Pike, MS: PRB/3W; Falls Church, VA
22041-3803.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Karen Herrington, Field Supervisor,
Columbia Missouri Ecological Services Field Office, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, 101 Park DeVille Drive, Suite A, Columbia, MO 65203;
telephone: 573-234-2132.
Individuals who are hearing impaired or speech impaired may call
the Federal Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339 for TTY assistance.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(Service), have received an application from TG High Prairie LLC
(applicant) for an incidental take permit (ITP) under the Endangered
Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), for its
High Prairie Wind Energy facility (facility). The facility is located
in
[[Page 77235]]
Schuyler and Adair Counties, Missouri, and consists of 163 2.2-megawatt
(MW) turbines and 12 3.45-MW turbines. If approved, the ITP would be
for a 6-year period and would authorize the incidental take of covered
species, including the federally endangered Indiana bat, federally
threatened northern long-eared bat, and the little brown bat (LBB),
currently under discretionary review. The little brown bat is not
federally protected, but is currently being evaluated for protection
under the ESA. The applicant has chosen to include the LBB as a covered
species, and as such, it will be treated as if it were currently listed
under the ESA. The ITP, if issued, would authorize incidental take of
the covered species that may occur as a result of the operation of 175
wind turbines over a six-year period. 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 covered species. We also announce the
availability of a draft environmental assessment (DEA), 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.). We request public comment on the application and
associated documents.
Background
Section 9 of the ESA 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 any such conduct'' (16 U.S.C. 1532). 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 (16 U.S.C. 1539). 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.
Applicant's Proposed Project
The applicant requests a 6-year ITP for turbine operations that
will result in take of the federally endangered Indiana bat, federally
threatened northern long-eared bat, and the little brown bat (covered
species). The applicant determined that take is reasonably certain to
occur incidental to operation of 175 previously constructed wind
turbines in Schuyler and Adair Counties, Missouri, consisting of
approximately 113,873 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 covered species through onsite minimization measures
and to provide habitat conservation measures to offset any impacts from
operations of the project. The High Prairie Wind site includes multiple
confirmed summer maternity roosts or colonies for the covered species
and is more than 65 miles from the Sodalis Nature Preserve (largest
known Indiana bat hibernaculum). The HCP provides onsite avoidance and
minimization measures, which include turbine operational adjustments.
The estimated level of take from the project is 72 Indiana bats, 96
little brown bats, and 18 northern long-eared bats over the 6-year
permit term. To offset the impacts of the taking of covered species,
the applicant proposes to protect 211.1 acres of known maternity colony
habitat, in perpetuity, through the Service-approved Chariton Hills
Conservation Bank located in Adair and Schuyler Counties.
National Environmental Policy Act
The 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 applicant's proposed action,
and a more restrictive alternative consisting of feathering turbines at
a rate of wind speed that results in less impacts to bats.
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 on the proposed HCP, draft EA and supporting documents during a
30-day public comment period (see DATES). In particular, information
and comments regarding the following topics are requested:
1. Whether adaptive management, monitoring and mitigation
provisions in the Proposed Action alternative are sufficient;
2. Any threats to the Indiana bat, the northern long-eared bat and
the little brown bat that may influence their populations over the life
of the ITP that are not addressed in the proposed HCP or draft EA;
3. Any new information on white-nose syndrome effects on the
Indiana bat, the northern long-eared bat and the little brown bat;
4. Any information that could help inform future operating
parameters to avoid impacts to listed bats (beyond ceasing operations
at night). A specific data set that would be useful would be one
correlating all bat activity to temperature and weather parameters;
5. Any new information about colony grouping and the timing in
which bats leave their summer areas (to further refine maternity colony
adaptive management strategy dates);
6. Any specific parameters or suggestions to further refine
population models (in the EA);
7. Whether or not the significance of the impact on various aspects
of the human environment has been adequately analyzed; and
8. Any other information pertinent to evaluating the effects of the
proposed action on the human environment, including those on the
Indiana bat, the northern long-eared bat and the little brown bat.
Because this permit application was sufficiently complete prior to
the effective date of the new NEPA regulations, we are exercising our
discretion to conduct our NEPA analysis under the regulations in effect
prior to September 14, 2020.
Availability of Public Comments
You may submit comments by one of the methods shown under
ADDRESSES. We will post on https://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
[[Page 77236]]
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 ESA (16 U.S.C.
1531 et seq.) and its implementing regulations (50 CFR 17.22) and the
NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and its implementing regulations (40 CFR
1506.6 (2019); 43 CFR part 46).
Lori Nordstrom,
Assistant Regional Director, Ecological Services.
[FR Doc. 2020-26520 Filed 11-30-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333-15-P
