Department of the Interior March 15, 2018 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

As requested by Crescent Peak Renewables, LLC, and in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Las Vegas Field Office will prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), which may include a Plan Amendment to the 1998 Las Vegas Resource Management Plan (RMP) or subsequent RMP, for a proposed wind energy project located on public lands 10 miles west of Searchlight in Clark County, Nevada. Publication of this Notice initiates the scoping process and opens a 90-day public comment period. The BLM is considering a Plan Amendment to change the Visual Resource Management classification of the project area. Through a separate ongoing process, the 1998 Las Vegas RMP is being revised. If the BLM issues a Record of Decision (ROD) before the RMP revision is completed, and a change to the plan is determined to be necessary, then the ROD would amend the 1998 RMP. If the ROD comes after RMP revision is completed, and a change to the plan is necessary, then the ROD would amend the revised RMP. Publication of this Notice serves to segregate the public lands from appropriation under the public land laws, including location under the Mining Law, but not the Mineral Leasing Act or the Materials Act, subject to valid existing rights. This Notice initiates the public scoping process and the segregation.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, we, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) are proposing to renew an information collection related to requirements for coal exploration.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), withdraw our September 15, 2016, proposed rule to list Chorizanthe parryi var. fernandina (San Fernando Valley spineflower), a plant from southern California, as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). This withdrawal is based on our conclusion that the threats to this plant, as identified in the proposed rule, are no longer as significant as we believed them to be when we issued the proposed rule. We base this conclusion on our analysis of current and future threats and conservation efforts. We find the best scientific and commercial data available indicate that the threats to C. parryi var. fernandina and its habitat have been reduced below the level where this plant would meet the statutory definition of threatened or endangered. Therefore, we are withdrawing our proposal to list C. parryi var. fernandina as a threatened species.