Draft Environmental Assessment and Proposed Habitat Conservation Plan; Receipt of an Application for an Incidental Take Permit, Crescent Wind Project; Hillsdale County, Michigan, 5372-5373 [2023-01696]
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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 18 / Friday, January 27, 2023 / Notices
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
Fish and Wildlife Service,
Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request
for comment and information.
AGENCY:
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
khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES
SUMMARY:
VerDate Sep<11>2014
16:53 Jan 26, 2023
Jkt 259001
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-ofcontact in the United States.
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 longeared 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 longeared 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.).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
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.
PO 00000
Frm 00074
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
Applicant’s Proposed Project
The applicant requests a 30-year ITP
to take the federally endangered Indiana
bat (Myotis sodalis) and northern longeared 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 longeared 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 30year 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
E:\FR\FM\27JAN1.SGM
27JAN1
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 18 / Friday, January 27, 2023 / Notices
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.
khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES
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
VerDate Sep<11>2014
16:53 Jan 26, 2023
Jkt 259001
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]
BILLING CODE 4333–15–P
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[L13100000.PP0000.LLHQ330000.234; OMB
Control No. 1004–0132]
Agency Information Collection
Activities; Geothermal Resource
Leases and Unit Agreements
Bureau of Land Management,
Interior.
ACTION: Notice of Information
Collection; request for comment.
AGENCY:
In accordance with the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the
Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
proposes to renew an information
collection.
DATES: Interested persons are invited to
submit comments on or before March
28, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Send your written
comments on this information
collection request (ICR) by mail to
Darrin King, Information Collection
Clearance Officer, U.S. Department of
the Interior, Bureau of Land
Management, Attention PRA Office, 440
W 200 S #500, Salt Lake City, UT 84101;
or by email to BLM_HQ_PRA_
Comments@blm.gov. Please reference
Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) Control Number 1004–0132 in
the subject line of your comments.
Please note that the electronic
submission of comments is
recommended.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To
request additional information about
this ICR, contact Jennifer Spencer by
email at j35spenc@blm.gov, or by
telephone at (307) 775–6261, or Lorenzo
Trimble, BLM National Geothermal
Program Lead by email at ltrimble@
blm.gov, or by telephone at (916) 978–
4377. 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-ofSUMMARY:
PO 00000
Frm 00075
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
5373
contact in the United States. You may
also view the ICR at https://
www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In
accordance with the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA, 44 U.S.C.
3501 et seq.) and 5 CFR 1320.8(d)(1), all
information collections require approval
under the PRA. We may not conduct or
sponsor, and you are not required to
respond to a collection of information
unless it displays a currently valid OMB
control number.
As part of our continuing effort to
reduce paperwork and respondent
burdens, we invite the public and other
Federal agencies to comment on new,
proposed, revised, and continuing
collections of information. This helps us
assess the impact of our information
collection requirements and minimize
the public’s reporting burden. It also
helps the public understand our
information collection requirements and
provide the requested data in the
desired format.
We are especially interested in public
comment addressing the following:
(1) Whether the collection of
information is necessary for the proper
performance of the functions of the
agency, including whether the
information will have practical utility;
(2) The accuracy of our estimate of the
burden for this collection of
information, including the validity of
the methodology and assumptions used;
(3) Ways to enhance the quality,
utility, and clarity of the information to
be collected; and
(4) How the agency might minimize
the burden of the collection of
information on those who are to
respond, including the use of
appropriate automated, electronic,
mechanical, or other technological
collection techniques or other forms of
information technology, e.g., permitting
electronic submission of response.
Comments that you submit in
response to this notice are a matter of
public record. We will include or
summarize each comment in our request
to OMB to approve this ICR. 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.
Abstract: The Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) uses this
E:\FR\FM\27JAN1.SGM
27JAN1
]]>Agencies
[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]
[[Page 5372]]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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
[email protected], or telephone at 517-351-6274; or Andrew Horton,
Regional HCP Coordinator, Midwest Region, by email at
[email protected], 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
[[Page 5373]]
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]
BILLING CODE 4333-15-P
