Department of the Interior December 18, 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), received an application for an enhancement of survival permit (permit) under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA), for take associated with implementation of a lesser prairie-chicken Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances (CCAA) throughout the species' range in Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas. The intent of the CCAA is to provide the oil and gas industry with the opportunity to voluntarily conserve the lesser prairie-chicken and its habitat, in a manner that would contribute to precluding the need to list the species, while carrying out their oil and gas activities. The Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA) is the permit applicant and proposes to convey incidental take authorization to oil and gas companies that enroll in the CCAA through certificates of inclusion. Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), we have prepared a draft environmental assessment (EA) that analyzes the potential impacts of issuance of the permit and implementation of the proposed CCAA, as well as two alternatives to the proposed action. The permit application, draft CCAA, and draft EA are available for public review, and we seek public comment on these documents and potential issuance of the permit.

This order partially revokes a Secretarial Order insofar as it affects 1,106.76 acres of public lands withdrawn on behalf of the Bureau of Reclamation for the Shoshone Reclamation Project.

This document is the Proposed Sale Notice (PSN) for the sale of commercial wind energy leases on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) offshore Maryland, pursuant to BOEM's regulations at 30 CFR 585.216. BOEM proposes to offer for sale two leases, Lease OCS-A 0489 and Lease OCS-A 0490. BOEM will use a multiple-factor auction for the lease sale. In this PSN, you will find information pertaining to the areas available for leasing, proposed lease provisions and conditions, auction details, the lease form, criteria for evaluating competing bids, award procedures, appeal procedures, and lease execution. BOEM invites comments during a 60-day comment period following publication of this notice. The issuance of the proposed leases resulting from this sale would not constitute an approval of project-specific plans to develop offshore wind energy. Such plans, expected to be submitted by successful lessees, will be subject to subsequent environmental and public review prior to a decision to proceed with development.