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

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, announce a public meeting of the Wildlife and Hunting Heritage Conservation Council (Council). The Council provides advice about wildlife and habitat conservation endeavors that benefit wildlife resources; encourage partnership among the public, the sporting conservation organizations, the States, Native American tribes, and the Federal Government; and benefit recreational hunting.

The Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Land and Minerals Management proposes to withdraw, subject to valid existing rights, on behalf of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), 10,094.03 acres of public lands located in San Bernardino County, California, from location and entry under the United States mining laws, but not from leasing under the mineral or geothermal leasing laws or disposal under the Materials Act of 1947. The purpose of the proposed withdrawal is to protect the botanical integrity of the Coolgardie Mesa and West Paradise Conservation Areas in San Bernardino County, California as a conservation measure for the federally endangered Lane Mountain Milkvetch. This notice temporarily segregates the lands from location and entry under the United States mining law for 2 years, gives the public an opportunity to comment on the proposed withdrawal application, and announces the date, time, and location of a public meeting.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, announce the availability of a draft comprehensive conservation plan (CCP) and draft environmental impact statement for the San Luis Valley National Wildlife Refuge Complex (refuge complex) in Alamosa, Rio Grande, and Saguache, Colorado. In these documents, we describe alternatives, including our proposed action alternative, to manage the refuge complex for the 15 years following approval of the final CCP.

We (National Park Service) will ask the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to approve the information collection (IC) concerning recreational use along the Colorado Riverspecifically the stretch between the Glen Canyon Dam and Lee's Ferry. As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and as part of our continuing efforts to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, we invite the general public and other federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on this IC. A federal agency not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.

We (the U.S. Geological Survey) will ask the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to approve the information collection (IC) described below. As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, and as part of our continuing efforts to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, we invite the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on this IC. This collection is scheduled to expire on December 31, 2014.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce a revised 12-month finding on a petition to list the least chub (Iotichthys phlegethontis) as an endangered or threatened species and to designate critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). After a review of the best available scientific and commercial information, we find that listing the least chub is not warranted at this time. Therefore, we are removing the species from our list of candidates under the Act. However, we ask the public to submit to us any new information that becomes available concerning threats to the least chub or its habitat at any time.

We, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE), announce a 30-day extension of the comment period on a petition, submitted pursuant to the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, (SMCRA or the Act), requesting that we amend our regulations governing the use of explosives to prohibit visible nitrogen oxide clouds. We are requesting comments on the merits of the petition and the rule changes suggested in the petition. Comments received will assist the Director of OSMRE in making the decision whether to grant or deny the petition.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has submitted an information collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to continue the collection of information from applicants for grazing permits and leases, and from holders of grazing permits and leases. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) previously approved this information collection activity, and assigned it control number 1004-0041.

Notice is hereby given in accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, 5 U.S.C. Appendix 1-16, and Parts 62 and 65 of title 36 of the Code of Federal Regulations that the National Park System Advisory Board will meet October 23-24, 2014, in Grand Canyon, Arizona. The agenda will include the review of proposed actions regarding the National Historic Landmarks (NHL) Program and the National Natural Landmarks (NNL) Program. Interested parties are encouraged to submit written comments and recommendations that will be presented to the Board. Interested parties also may attend the board meeting and upon request may address the Board concerning an area's national significance.

The Fish and Wildlife Service (hereinafter Service or we) is proposing to establish the 2014-15 late-season hunting regulations for certain migratory game birds. We annually prescribe frameworks, or outer limits, for dates and times when hunting may occur and the number of birds that may be taken and possessed in late seasons. These frameworks are necessary to allow State selections of seasons and limits and to allow recreational harvest at levels compatible with population and habitat conditions.

Following consultation with the General Services Administration, notice is hereby given that the Secretary of the Interior is renewing the United States Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (USEITI) Federal Advisory Committee (Committee). The Committee was established to advise the Department on the implementation the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), which requires governments to publicly disclose their revenues from oil, gas, and mining assets, and for companies to make parallel disclosures regarding payments. The Committee serves as the Multi- Stakeholder Group and its duties include consideration and fulfillment of the tasks required to achieve EITI compliant status. The Committee reports to the Secretary of the Interior through the Deputy Assistant Secretary, Natural Resources Revenue Management.

This order extends the duration of the withdrawal created by Public Land Order No. 7070, as corrected, for an additional 20-year period. The extension is necessary for continued protection of the Desert National Wildlife Range in Clark and Lincoln Counties, Nevada, which would otherwise expire on August 3, 2014.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce a public teleconference of the Joint Implementation Working Group (Working Group) for the National Fish, Wildlife, and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy (Strategy). The purpose of the Strategy is to inspire and enable natural resource professionals and other decision makers to take action to conserve the nation's fish, wildlife, plants, and ecosystem functions, as well as the human uses and values these natural systems provide, in a changing climate. At this meeting, the Working Group will review the first Strategy Implementation Progress Report, discuss future approaches to implementation, hear comments from stakeholders, and make plans for the Fall-2014 in-person meeting. With this notice, we also initiate the Working Group's recently approved Stakeholder Engagement Plan, which commits the Working Group to open meetings going forward. This will be the only announcement of meetings made in the Federal Register. All future meetings (including logistical information) will be made only via the Strategy Web site (www.wildlifeadaptationstrategy.gov).

Per the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920, Bakken Hunter LLC, Baytex Energy USA Ltd. and Williston Hunter Inc. timely filed a petition for reinstatement of competitive oil and gas lease NDM 94466, Divide County, North Dakota. The lessees paid the required rentals accruing from the date of termination. No leases were issued that affect these lands.

In compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA), and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA), as amended, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Cedar City Field Office, Cedar City, Utah, intends to prepare a Resource Management Plan (RMP) amendment with an associated Environmental Assessment (EA) and by this notice is announcing the beginning of the scoping process to solicit public comments and identify issues. One parcel of public land in Beaver County, Utah, and the associated mineral estate of no known value, is being considered for disposal by direct sale under the provisions of FLPMA Sections 203 and 209.

On July 30, 2014, we, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, announced the availability for public review and comment of a draft comprehensive conservation plan and environmental assessment (draft CCP/EA) for Sam D. Hamilton Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge in Mississippi. However, edits had not yet been completed on the draft CCP/EA, and the document is not yet ready for public review. We will publish a second Federal Register notice when the draft CCP/EA is ready for review.

The Department of the Interior is issuing a final rule to amend its regulations to exempt certain records of the Debarment and Suspension Program system of records from particular provisions of the Privacy Act because these records contain investigatory material.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has examined and found suitable for classification and conveyance under the provisions of the Recreation and Public Purposes (R&PP) Act, as amended, 43.08 acres of land on Thunder Bay Island in Alpena Township, Michigan. Alpena Township proposes to acquire the lighthouse and surrounding land on Thunder Bay Island to use as a historic site.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is proposing a non- competitive (direct) sale of 280 acres of public land in Carbon County, Utah, to Hunt Consolidated, Inc., under the provisions of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA), as amended, at not less than the fair market value of $196,000.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, published a final rule in the Federal Register on August 12, 2014, that determined endangered species status under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act), for the Florida leafwing (Anaea troglodyta floridalis) and Bartram's scrub-hairstreak (Strymon acis bartrami), two butterflies endemic to South Florida. In that rule, we made an error in our amendatory language. With this document, we correct our error.

BOEM is seeking comments and information regarding its effort to update its regulations and program oversight for Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) financial assurance requirements. When BOEM's existing bonding regulations were originally drafted and first implemented, the principal risks associated with OCS leases were non-payment of rents and royalties, noncompliance with laws and regulations, and potential problems due to bankruptcy. While potentially significant, such risks were generally well-known and of limited complexity, size and scope. Due to increasingly complex business, functional, organizational and financial issues and vast differences in costs associated with expanded and varied offshore activities, BOEM has recognized the need to develop a comprehensive program to assist in identifying, prioritizing, and managing the risks associated with industry activities on the OCS. BOEM intends to design and implement a more robust and comprehensive risk management, financial assurance and loss prevention program to address these complex issues and cost differences associated with offshore operations. To do so, BOEM is seeking stakeholder comments regarding various risk management and monitoring activities pertaining to financial risks to taxpayers that may result from activities on the OCS. This notice specifically discusses the bonding and financial assurance program for BOEM's offshore oil and gas program. However, we also welcome the submission of comments on the analogous bonding and financial assurance program for BOEM's offshore renewable energy and hard minerals programs. BOEM currently requires lessees to provide performance bonds and/or one of various alternative forms of financial assurance to ensure compliance with the terms and conditions of leases, Rights-of-Use and Easements (RUEs) and Pipeline Rights-of-Way (ROWs). BOEM is seeking comments on who is best suited to mitigate risks and whether the correct parties are providing guarantees and other forms of financial assurance, as well as whether, or to what extent, the current forms of financial assurance are adequate and appropriate. Because costs and damages associated with oil spill financial responsibility (OSFR) are covered separately in the regulations, which is the subject of other proposed rulemakings on BOEM's regulatory agenda, BOEM is not soliciting comments on those regulations and their associated risk mitigation measures at this time.

In accordance with the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) and the Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972 (FACA), the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Eastern Montana Resource Advisory Council (RAC) will meet as indicated below.

We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), intend to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) under the National Environmental Policy Act regarding an application to amend the Endangered Species Act permit issued for the Multiple Species Conservation Program County of San Diego Subarea Plan (Subarea Plan). The EIS will evaluate the impacts of several alternatives related to the proposed issuance of an amended incidental take permit to the County of San Diego (applicant) for the quarry and landfill project in San Diego County, California. We request data, comments, new information, or suggestions from the public, other concerned governmental agencies, the scientific community, Tribes, industry, or any other interested party.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, invite the public to comment on the following applications to conduct certain activities with endangered species, marine mammals, or both. With some exceptions, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) prohibit activities with listed species unless Federal authorization is acquired that allows such activities.