Department of the Interior November 2014 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Special Trustee for American Indians requests nominations of candidates to serve on the Special Trustee Advisory Board (Advisory Board). The Advisory Board provides advice on all matters within the jurisdiction of the Special Trustee and consists of nine members.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, invite the public to comment on the following applications to conduct certain activities with endangered species. With some exceptions, the Endangered Species Act (Act) prohibits activities with endangered and threatened species unless a Federal permit allows such activity. The Act also requires that we invite public comment before issuing recovery permits to conduct certain activities with endangered species.

In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended, and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, as amended, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has prepared the Carson City District Draft Resource Management Plan (RMP) and Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Carson City District Office, Sierra Front and Stillwater Field Offices, and by this notice is announcing the opening of the comment period.

We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the availability of an incidental take permit (ITP) application and a Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP). Vulcan Materials Company, Florida Rock Division (dba Florida Rock Industries, Inc., a subsidiary of Vulcan Materials Company) (applicant), requests an ITP under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). The applicant's HCP describes the minimization and mitigation measures proposed to address the effects of the project on the sand skink and gopher tortoise. We invite written comments on the ITP application and HCP.

This document is the Final Sale Notice (FSN) for the sale of four commercial wind energy leases on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) offshore Massachusetts, pursuant to BOEM's regulations at 30 CFR 585.216. BOEM is offering four leases for sale using a multiple factor auction format: Lease OCS-A 0500, Lease OCS-A 0501, Lease OCS-A 0502, and Lease OCS-A 0503. The four lease areas (LAs) are identical to those announced in the Proposed Sale Notice (PSN) for Commercial Leasing for Wind Power on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Offshore Massachusetts, which was published on June 18, 2014, in the Federal Register with a 60-day public comment period (79 FR 34771). This FSN contains information pertaining to the areas available for leasing, lease provisions and conditions, auction procedures, the lease form, criteria for evaluating competing bids, award procedures, appeal procedures, and lease execution. The issuance of the leases resulting from this lease 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.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Colorado State Office is publishing this notice to inform the public of the official filing of the survey plat listed below. The plat will be available for viewing at https://www.glorecords.blm.gov.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Colorado State Office is publishing this notice to inform the public of the intent to officially file the survey plat listed below and afford a proper period of time to protest this action prior to the plat filing. During this time, the plat will be available for review in the BLM Colorado State Office.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, announce a public meeting of the Trinity Adaptive Management Working Group (TAMWG). The TAMWG is a Federal advisory committee that affords stakeholders the opportunity to give policy, management, and technical input concerning Trinity River (California) restoration efforts to the Trinity Management Council (TMC). The TMC interprets and recommends policy, coordinates and reviews management actions, and provides organizational budget oversight.

BSEE is extending the public comment period on the ANPR on Helideck and Aviation Fuel Safety for Fixed Offshore Facilities, which was published in the Federal Register on September 24, 2014 (79 FR 57008). The original public comment period would end on November 24, 2014. However, BSEE has received a request from an offshore oil and gas industry association to extend the comment period. The BSEE has reviewed the extension request and determined that a 30-day comment period extensionto December 24, 2014is appropriate.

This notice advises the public that the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), in cooperation with the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation (Tribes), intends to gather information necessary to prepare a programmatic environmental impact statement (Programmatic EIS) for the proposed Integrated Resource Management Plan (IRMP) for the Colville Reservation in Okanogan and Ferry Counties, Washington. This notice also announces public scoping meetings to identify potential issues and content for inclusion in the Programmatic EIS.

On September 30, 2014, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) published in the Federal Register with a 60-day comment period a proposed rule, to facilitate responsible solar and wind energy development and to receive fair market value for such development. (79 FR 59021) The proposed rule would promote the use of preferred areas for solar and wind energy development and establish competitive processes, terms, and conditions (including rental and bonding requirements) for solar and wind energy development rights-of-way both inside and outside these preferred areas. The proposed rule would also make technical changes, corrections, and clarifications to existing rights-of-way regulations. Some of these changes would affect all rights-of-way and some provisions would affect particular types of actions, such as transmission lines with a capacity of 100 Kilovolts (kV) or more, or pipelines 10 inches or more in diameter. The BLM received requests to extend the comment period of this proposed rule. In response to these requests, the BLM is extending the comment period for 15 days beyond the end of the initial comment period. As a result of this extension, the comment period will now close on December 16, 2014.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the availability of the final comprehensive conservation plan (CCP) and finding of no significant impact (FONSI) for Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), located in Morris County, New Jersey, for public review and comment. In this final CCP, we describe how we will manage the refuge for the next 15 years.

Notice is hereby given in accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, (5 U.S.C. Appendix 1-16), of a meeting of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Review Committee (Review Committee). The Review Committee will meet on March 3-4, 2015. All meetings will be open to the public.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), designate critical habitat for the Gunnison sage-grouse (Centrocercus minimus) under the Endangered Species Act (Act). In total, approximately 1,429,551 acres (ac) (578,515 hectares (ha)) are designated as critical habitat in Delta, Dolores, Gunnison, Hinsdale, Mesa, Montrose, Ouray, Saguache, and San Miguel Counties in Colorado; and in Grand and San Juan Counties in Utah. The effect of this regulation is to conserve Gunnison sage-grouse habitat under the Act.

In order to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), as lead agency in cooperation with the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe (Tribe), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and other Federal agencies, intend to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) that will evaluate a proposed photovoltaic (PV) solar energy generation project on the Las Vegas Paiute Indian Reservation and a transmission line located on tribal lands, private lands and/or Federal lands administered and managed by BLM in Clark County, Nevada. This notice announces the beginning of the scoping process to solicit public comments and identify potential issues related to the EIS. It also announces that public scoping meetings will be held in Nevada to identify potential issues, alternatives, and mitigation to be considered in the EIS.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) is submitting to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request for approval for the revision of collection of information for the Indian Child Welfare Quarterly and Annual Report. The information collection is currently authorized by OMB Control Number 1076-0131, which expires November 30, 2014.

As required by the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. Appendix 1-16), the National Park Service (NPS) is hereby giving notice that the Cape Krusenstern National Monument Subsistence Resource Commission (SRC), Kobuk Valley National Park SRC, and Wrangell-St. Elias National Park SRC will hold meetings to develop and continue work on NPS subsistence program recommendations, and other related regulatory proposals and resource management issues. The NPS SRC program is authorized under Section 808 of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 3118), Title VIII.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the reopening of the comment period for our October 2, 2013, proposed rule to list the northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis) as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). We are taking this action to notify the public of new information that was supplied to us by, or on behalf of, State agencies within the range of the species. This reopening of the comment period will allow the public to provide comments on our proposed rule in light of that new information. We also are notifying the public that we have scheduled an informational meeting followed by a public hearing on the proposed rule. Comments previously submitted on the proposal need not be resubmitted, as they are already incorporated into the public record and will be fully considered in our final determination.

The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) has prepared the Resource Management Plan/Final Environmental Impact Statement (Final RMP/EIS) for the Newlands Project. This Final RMP/EIS provides a range of alternatives for managing Reclamation-administered lands in the Newlands Project Planning Area, which is in the west-central Nevada counties of Washoe, Storey, Lyon, and Churchill.

As authorized under the provisions of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, notice is hereby given that certain public lands near P.R. Springs developed camping site in Utah were temporarily closed to overnight camping. This closure provided for public health and safety due to serious concerns noted by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources regarding the potential for human-bear conflicts in the area.

Under the Endangered Species Act, we, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, announce the receipt and availability of a revised joint Safe Harbor Agreement and Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances (revised agreement) and accompanying documents for establishing a programmatic enrollment of willing landowners by the parties to the revised agreement: Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, Natural Resources Conservation Service, The Nature Conservancy, and the Fish and Wildlife Service, Arkansas Ecological Services Field Office (parties). The revised agreement analyzes effects of conservation measures and certain land uses on two endangered speciesthe yellowcheek darter (Etheostoma moorei), a fish, and rabbitsfoot (Quadrula cylindrica cylindrica), a musselin the Upper Little Red River Watershed, northcentral Arkansas, so that these listed species, as well as 19 candidate and other unlisted species, might be added to those already covered by the existing enhancement of survival permits. We invite public comments on these documents.

The Department of the Interior, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal Agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)). Currently, the Federal Consulting Group within the Department of the Interior is soliciting comments concerning the E- Government Web site Customer Satisfaction Survey used by numerous Federal agencies to continuously assess and improve their Web sites.

The National Park Service proposes to amend the regulations for the curation of federally-owned and administered archeological collections to establish definitions, standards, and procedures to dispose of particular material remains that are determined to be of insufficient archaeological interest. This rule would promote more efficient and effective curation of these archeological collections.