Department of the Interior November 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Pursuant to the joint bidding provisions of 30 CFR 556.511 556.515, the Director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is publishing a List of Restricted Joint Bidders. Each entity within one of the following groups is restricted from bidding with any entity in any of the other following groups at Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas lease sales to be held during the bidding period November 1, 2016, through April 30, 2017. This List of Restricted Joint Bidders will cover the period November 1, 2016, through April 30, 2017, and replace the prior list published on May 17, 2016, which covered the period of May 1, 2016, through October 31, 2016.

The State of California and the Pala Band of Mission Indians entered into a Tribal-State compact governing Class III gaming. This notice announces that the compact is taking effect.

The National Park Service (NPS) has prepared and approved a Record of Decision (ROD) for the Nonfederal Oil and Gas Regulations (36 CFR part 9, subpart B) Revisions. Approval of this Record of Decision completes the National Environmental Policy Act process.

The California State Director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is proposing to establish new supplementary rules related to dog management and public safety on public lands at Fort Ord National Monument (FONM), California. Furthermore, these proposed rules would clarify some of the existing restrictions that have been in place on the FONM since 1996. These proposed rules are consistent with the national monument proclamation of 2012 (i.e., Proclamation 8803), and the BLM's 2007 Resource Management Plan.

This notice corrects a notice that was published in the Federal Register on September 30, 2016 (81 FR 67377), which misidentified the Department of the Interior official who approved an amendment to a previously filed withdrawal application.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), in accordance with the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act), are amending the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife (List) by adding: three foreign coral species (Cantharellus noumeae, Siderastrea glynni, and Tubastraea floreana), dusky sea snake (Aipysurus fuscus), Banggai cardinalfish (Pterapogon kauderni), the Tanzanian distinct population segment (DPS) of African coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae), Nassau grouper (Epinephelus striatus), and three angelshark species (Squatina aculeata, S. oculata, and S. squatina). We are also updating the entries for Puget Sound-Georgia Basin canary rockfish (Sebastes pinniger), Puget Sound-Georgia Basin yelloweye rockfish (Sebastes ruberrimus), lower Columbia River coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch), and the Puget Sound steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) to reflect the designation of critical habitat, and we are updating the entry for the North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) to reflect an applicable rule citation. These amendments are based on previously published determinations by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce, which has jurisdiction for these species.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, announce the availability of a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for the final Environmental Assessment (FEA) under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for the issuance of a take permit for golden eagles pursuant to the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act (Eagle Act), in association with the operation of the Alta East Wind Project (Alta East) in Kern County, California. The FEA was prepared in response to an application from Alta Wind X, LLC (applicant), an affiliate of NRG Yield, Inc., for a 5-year programmatic take permit for golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) under the Eagle Act. The applicant will implement a conservation program to avoid, minimize, and compensate for the project's impacts to eagles, as described in the applicant's Eagle Conservation Plan (ECP). We solicited comments on the draft Environmental Assessment (Draft EA) and have reviewed those comments in the course of preparing our findings for this project. Based on the FEA, the Service concludes that a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) is appropriate. Based on the FONSI and findings we prepared associated with the permit application, we intend to issue the permit after 30 days.

In accordance with the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Consent Decree, and the Final Programmatic Damage Assessment Restoration Plan and Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (Final PDARP/PEIS), the Federal and State natural resource trustee agencies for the Louisiana Trustee Implementation Group (Trustees) have prepared a Draft Restoration Plan #1: Restoration of Wetlands, Coastal, and Nearshore Habitats; Habitat Projects on Federally Managed Lands; and Birds (Draft Restoration Plan 1) describing and proposing engineering and design activities for restoration projects intended to continue the process of restoring natural resources and services injured or lost as a result of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which occurred on or about April 20, 2010, in the Gulf of Mexico.

Notice is hereby given in accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. Appendix 1-16) that the November 9, 2016, meeting of the Wekiva River System Advisory Management Committee previously announced in the Federal Register, Vol. 81, February 2, 2016, pp. 5481, is cancelled.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the comment period reopening on our proposed rules to add the headwater chub (Gila nigra) and the roundtail chub (Gila robusta) distinct population segment (DPS) as threatened species to the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife. We are taking this action based on significant new information regarding the species' taxonomic status as presented by the American Fisheries Society and the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (AFS/ASIH) Joint Committee on the Names of Fishes. We are reopening the comment period for 45 days to provide the public additional time to review and consider our proposed rulemakings in light of this new information.