Draft Environmental Assessment and Proposed Habitat Conservation Plan; Receipt of an Application for an Incidental Take Permit; Alliant Energy, Iowa and Minnesota, 57937-57939 [2024-15594]

Agencies

• Fish and Wildlife Service
• DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 136 (Tuesday, July 16, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57937-57939]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-15594]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2024-0070; FXES11140300000-245-FF03E00000]


Draft Environmental Assessment and Proposed Habitat Conservation 
Plan; Receipt of an Application for an Incidental Take Permit; Alliant 
Energy, Iowa and Minnesota

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comment and information.

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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), have 
received an application from Alliant Energy's Interstate Power and 
Light Company and Wisconsin Power and Light Company (Alliant; 
applicant), for an incidental take permit (ITP) under the Endangered 
Species Act, for wind facilities in Iowa and Minnesota (project). The 
applicant requests the ITP for the take of four bat species incidental 
to the otherwise lawful activities associated with the project. The 
applicant proposes a conservation program to minimize and mitigate for 
the unavoidable incidental take as described in their habitat 
conservation plan (HCP). The Service requests public comment on the 
application, which includes the applicant's proposed HCP, and the 
Service's draft environmental assessment, prepared pursuant to the 
National Environmental Policy Act. The Service provides this notice to 
seek comments from the public and Federal, Tribal, State, and local 
governments.

DATES: We will accept comments received or postmarked on or before 
August 15, 2024.

ADDRESSES: 
    Obtaining Documents: Electronic copies of the documents this notice 
announces, along with public comments received, will be available 
online in Docket No. FWS-R3-ES-2024-0070 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-R3-ES-2024-0070.
     U.S. mail: Public Comments Processing, Attn: Docket No. 
FWS-R3-ES-2024-0070; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; 5275 Leesburg 
Pike, MS: PRB/3W; Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kraig McPeek, Field Supervisor, 
Illinois-Iowa Ecological Services Field Office, by email at 
[email protected] or by telephone at 309-757-5800, extension 202; or 
Andrew Horton, Regional HCP Coordinator, by email at 
[email protected] or by 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 
(Service), have received an application from Alliant Energy's 
Interstate Power and Light Company and Wisconsin Power and Light 
Company (Alliant; 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 eight wind facilities in Iowa and one facility in 
Minnesota (project). The applicant requests the ITP, which would be for 
a 30-year period, for the take of the four covered bat species in table 
1, incidental to the otherwise lawful activities associated with the 
project.

[[Page 57938]]



                        Table 1--Covered Species
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                                                         Federal listing
          Common name               Scientific name          status
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Indiana bat...................  Myotis sodalis........  Endangered.
Northern long-eared bat.......  Myotis septentrionalis  Endangered.
Tricolored bat................  Perimyotis subflavus..  Proposed
                                                         endangered.
Little brown bat..............  Myotis lucifugus......  Under review for
                                                         listing.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The applicant proposes a conservation program to minimize and 
mitigate for the unavoidable incidental take as described in their 
habitat conservation plan (HCP). The Service requests public comment on 
the application, which includes the applicant's proposed HCP, and the 
Service's draft environmental assessment, prepared pursuant to the 
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). The 
Service provides this notice to seek comments from the public and 
Federal, Tribal, State, and local governments.

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 such conduct'' (16 U.S.C. 1532(19)). 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.

Applicant's Proposed Project

    The applicant requests a 30-year ITP for take of the four covered 
species in table 1. The applicant determined that the covered 
activities (operation, refurbishment, and repowering) of the wind 
projects are reasonably certain to result in incidental take of these 
covered species. The authorized level of take from the covered 
activities over the 30-year project duration is expected to be 123 
Indiana bats; 246 northern long-eared bats; 2,520 tricolored bats; and 
3,536 little brown bats.
    The proposed conservation strategy in the applicant's proposed HCP 
is designed to avoid, minimize, and mitigate the impacts of the covered 
activities on the covered species. The biological goals and objectives 
are to minimize potential take of the covered species through on-site 
minimization measures and to provide habitat conservation measures for 
the covered species to offset the impact of the taking. On-site 
minimization measures have been designed based on the apparent risk 
level of each project, and include feathering turbines when wind is 
below manufacturer's cut-in speed, below 4.0 meters per second (m/s), 
and below 5.0 m/s during periods of highest bat risk, as described in 
table 5.1 in the HCP. Minimization measures will be implemented nightly 
from sunset to sunrise. To offset the impacts of the taking, the 
applicant proposes to protect and restore known maternity colony 
habitat for the covered species. The Service requests public comments 
on the permit application, which includes a proposed HCP, and an EA 
prepared in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act 
(NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.).
    The applicant's HCP describes the activities that will be 
undertaken to implement the project, as well as the mitigation and 
minimization measures proposed to address the impacts to the covered 
species. Pursuant to NEPA, the EA analyzes the impacts the ITP issuance 
would have on the covered species and the environment.

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 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 during a 30-day public comment period (see DATES). In 
particular, information and comments regarding the following topics are 
requested:
     The direct, indirect, or cumulative effects that 
implementation of any alternative could have on the human environment.
     Whether or not the significance of the impact on various 
aspects of the human environment has been adequately analyzed.
     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://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 ESA (16 U.S.C. 
1531 et seq.) and its implementing regulations (50 CFR 17.22) and NEPA 
(42 U.S.C. 4371 et seq.) and its implementing

[[Page 57939]]

regulations (40 CFR 1506.6; 43 CFR part 46).

Lori Nordstrom,
Assistant Regional Director, Ecological Services.
[FR Doc. 2024-15594 Filed 7-15-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333-15-P