Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Designation of Critical Habitat for the Miami Tiger Beetle, 61745-61746 [2021-24357]

Agencies

• Fish and Wildlife Service
• DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 213 (Monday, November 8, 2021)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 61745-61746]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-24357]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

50 CFR Part 17

[Docket No. FWS-R4-ES-2021-0053; FF09E21000 FXES1111090FEDR 223]
RIN 1018-BF38


Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Designation of 
Critical Habitat for the Miami Tiger Beetle

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Proposed rule; extension of comment period, and announcement of 
public hearing.

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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), are 
extending the public comment period on our September 7, 2021, proposed 
rule to designate critical habitat for the Miami tiger beetle 
(Cicindelidia floridana) under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 
(Act), as amended. We are taking this action to conduct a public 
hearing and to allow all interested parties additional time to comment. 
Comments previously submitted need not be resubmitted and will be fully 
considered in preparation of the final rule.

DATES: Comment submission: The comment period for the proposed rule 
published on September 7, 2021 (86 FR 49945), is extended. We will 
accept comments received or postmarked on or before December 23, 2021. 
Please note that comments submitted electronically using the Federal 
eRulemaking Portal (see ADDRESSES, below) must be received by 11:59 
p.m. Eastern Time on the closing date, and comments submitted by U.S. 
mail must be postmarked by that date to ensure consideration.
    Public hearing: On December 2, 2021, we will hold a public hearing 
from 6 to 7:30 p.m., Eastern Time, using the Zoom platform (for more 
information, see Public Hearing, below).

ADDRESSES: Availability of documents: You may obtain copies of the 
September 7, 2021, proposed rule and associated documents on the 
internet at https://www.regulations.gov under Docket No. FWS-R4-ES-
2021-0053.
    Comment submission: You may submit written comments by one of the 
following methods:
    (1) Electronically: Go to the Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. In the Search box, enter the RIN or docket number, 
which are displayed in the initial headings of this document. For best 
results, do not copy and paste the RIN or docket number; instead, type 
the RIN or docket number into the Search box using hyphens. Then, click 
on the Search button. On the resulting page, in the Search panel on the 
left side of the screen, under the Document Type heading, click on the 
Proposed Rule box to locate this document. You may submit a comment by 
clicking on ``Comment.'' Please ensure you have located the correct 
document before submitting your comments.
    (2) By hard copy: Submit by U.S. mail to: Public Comments 
Processing, Attn: FWS-R4-ES-2021-0053, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 
MS: PRB/3W, 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.
    We request that you send comments only by the methods described 
above. We will post all comments on https://www.regulations.gov. This 
generally means that we will post any personal information you provide 
us (see Public Comments, below, for more information).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lourdes Mena, Division Manager, 
Florida Classification and Recovery, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 
Florida Ecological Services Field Office, 7915 Baymeadows Way, Suite 
200, Jacksonville, FL 32256-7517; telephone 904-731-3134. Persons who 
use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal 
Relay Service at 800-877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On September 7, 2021, we published a proposed rule (86 FR 49945) to 
designate critical habitat for the Miami tiger beetle under the Act. 
The proposed rule established a 60-day public comment period, ending 
November 8, 2021. During the comment period, we received a request for 
a public hearing. Therefore, we are announcing a public hearing and a 
45-day extension of the September 7, 2021, proposed rule's comment 
period (see DATES, above) to allow the public an additional opportunity 
to provide comments on the proposed rule.
    For a description of previous Federal actions concerning the Miami 
tiger beetle and information on the types of comments that would be 
helpful to us in promulgating this rulemaking action, please refer to 
the September 7, 2021, proposed rule (86 FR 49945).

Public Hearing

    We are holding a public hearing to accept comments on the proposed 
rule on the date and at the time listed in DATES. We are holding the 
public hearing via the Zoom online video platform and via 
teleconference so that participants can attend remotely. For security 
purposes, registration is required. All participants must register in 
order to listen and view the hearing via Zoom, listen to the hearing by 
telephone, or provide oral public comments at the hearing by Zoom or 
telephone. For information on how to register, or if technical problems 
occur joining Zoom on the day of the hearing, visit https://www.fws.gov/southeast/florida. Registrants will receive the Zoom link 
and the telephone number for the public hearing. If applicable, 
interested members of the public not familiar with the Zoom platform 
should view the Zoom video tutorials (https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/206618765-Zoom-video-tutorials) prior to the public hearing.
    The public hearing will provide interested parties an opportunity 
to present verbal testimony (formal, oral comments) regarding the 
September 7, 2021, proposed rule to designate critical habitat for the 
Miami tiger beetle (86 FR 49945). The public hearing will not be an 
opportunity for dialogue with the Service, but rather a forum for 
accepting formal verbal testimony. In the event there is a large 
attendance, the time allotted for oral statements may be limited. 
Therefore, anyone wishing to make an oral statement at the public

[[Page 61746]]

hearing for the record is encouraged to provide a prepared written copy 
of their statement to us through the Federal eRulemaking Portal, or 
U.S. mail (see ADDRESSES, above). There are no limits on the length of 
written comments submitted to us. Anyone wishing to make an oral 
statement at the public hearing must register before the hearing 
(https://www.fws.gov/southeast/florida). The use of a virtual public 
hearing is consistent with our regulations at 50 CFR 424.16(c)(3).

Reasonable Accommodation

    The Service is committed to providing access to the public hearing 
for all participants. Closed captioning will be available during the 
public hearing. Participants will also have access to live audio during 
the public hearing via their telephone or computer speakers. Persons 
with disabilities requiring reasonable accommodations to participate in 
the hearing should contact the person listed under FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT at least 5 business days prior to the date of the 
hearing to help ensure availability. An accessible version of the 
Service's presentation will also be posted online at https://www.fws.gov/southeast/florida prior to the hearing (see DATES, above). 
See https://www.fws.gov/southeast/florida for more information about 
reasonable accommodation.

Public Comments

    If you submit information via https://www.regulations.gov, your 
entire submission--including any personal identifying information--will 
be posted on the website. If your submission is made via hard copy that 
includes personal identifying information, you may request at the top 
of your document that we withhold this information from public review. 
However, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so. We will 
post all hardcopy submissions on https://www.regulations.gov. Comments 
and materials we receive, as well as supporting documentation we used 
in preparing the proposed rule, will be available for public inspection 
on https://www.regulations.gov.

Authors

    The primary authors of this document are staff members of the 
Florida Ecological Services Field Office and Interior Regions 2/4 
Regional Office.

Authority

    The authority for this action is the Endangered Species Act of 
1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).

Martha Williams,
Principal Deputy Director, Exercising the Delegated Authority of the 
Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 2021-24357 Filed 11-5-21; 8:45 am]
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