Department of the Interior October 7, 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, have received applications for permits to conduct activities intended to enhance the propagation or survival of endangered or threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. We invite the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies to comment on these applications. Before issuing any of the requested permits, we will take into consideration any information that we receive during the public comment period.

In accordance with the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Final Programmatic Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan and Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (Final PDARP/PEIS), Record of Decision, and Consent Decree, the Federal and State natural resource trustee agencies for the Mississippi Trustee Implementation Group (Mississippi TIG) have prepared a Mississippi Trustee Implementation Group 2019 Final Supplemental Restoration Plan: Grand Bay Land Acquisition and Habitat Management (SRP) and Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI). The SRP approves an additional $10,000,000 in funds for additional land acquisition and habitat management within the Grand Bay Land Acquisition and Habitat Management project (Grand Bay Project) area. The Mississippi TIG originally evaluated and selected the Grand Bay Project as part of the Mississippi Trustee Implementation Group 2016-2017 Restoration Plan/Environmental Assessment (2016-2017 RP/EA). Additional land acquisition and habitat management for the Grand Bay Project will continue the process of conserving and restoring wetlands, coastal, and nearshore habitats injured as a result of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The purpose of this notice is to inform the public of the availability of the final SRP and FONSI.

We, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE), are announcing receipt of a proposed amendment to the Mississippi Abandoned Mine Land Plan (hereinafter, the Plan) under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). Mississippi proposes revisions to its Plan to allow its AML program to receive limited liability protection for certain non-coal reclamation projects. Mississippi intends to revise its Plan in order to meet the requirements of SMCRA and the implementing Federal regulations. This document gives the times and locations where the Mississippi Plan and this proposed amendment to that Plan are available for your inspection, establishes the comment period during which you may submit written comments on the amendment, and describes the procedures that we will follow for the public hearing, if one is requested.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose to remove the plant Howellia aquatilis (water howellia) from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Plants. The best available scientific and commercial data indicate that threats to water howellia identified at the time of listing in 1994 are not as significant as originally anticipated and are being adequately managed. Therefore, the species no longer meets the definition of an endangered or threatened species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). This determination is based on a thorough review of all available information, which indicates that this species' population and distribution are much greater than was known at the time of listing in 1994 and that threats to this species have been sufficiently minimized. We are seeking information and comments from the public regarding this proposed rule and the draft post-delisting monitoring (PDM) plan for water howellia.

In accordance with the Endangered Species Act, as amended, and the National Environmental Policy Act, we, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, announce the availability of the final environmental impact statement and draft record of decision analyzing the impacts of issuance of an incidental take permit (ITP) for implementation of the MidAmerican Energy Company's Final Habitat Conservation Plan MidAmerican Energy Company Iowa Wind Energy Project Portfolio (HCP). Our decision is to issue a 30-year ITP for implementation of the HCP, which authorizes incidental take of the federally endangered Indiana bat, federally threatened northern long-eared bat, federally protected bald eagle, the little brown bat, and tricolored bat under the Endangered Species Act.