Department of the Interior October 1, 2024 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose to list the Bethany Beach firefly (Photuris bethaniensis), a firefly species from Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). This determination also serves as our 12-month finding on a petition to list the Bethany Beach firefly. After a review of the best available scientific and commercial information, we find that listing the species is warranted. We also propose protective regulations issued under section 4(d) of the Act to provide for the conservation of the Bethany Beach firefly. If we finalize this rule as proposed, it would add this species to the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and extend the Act's protections to the species.

In accordance with the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Alaska State Office, is transmitting the final boundary of Birch Creek National Wild and Scenic River to Congress.

On July 8, 2024, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) published the notice of availability of the joint record of decision (ROD) on the final environmental impact statement (EIS) for the construction and operations plan (COP) submitted by Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Project 1, LLC and Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind Project 2, LLC (Atlantic Shores) for its proposed Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind South Project (Project) offshore New Jersey in the Federal Register (89 FR 55977). The ROD described the Department of the Interior's selected alternative. This errata notice clarifies that the Department of the Interior's selected alternative also includes the removal of a single wind turbine generator (WTG) location, identified as AX01 and located approximately 150 to 200 ft (46 to 61 m) from the observed Fish Haven (Atlantic City Artificial Reef Site). While WTG AX01 was identified as removed in the description of the preferred alternative in the final EIS, BOEM inadvertently omitted a specific statement in the ROD noting that position was removed from the selected layout. In addition, the originally published ROD inadvertently identified WTG AX01 as being subject to micrositing instead of removal. In publishing this errata, BOEM is conforming the specific description of the selected alternative to the final EIS and making clear that a total of 3 WTG locations will be removed from the Project. Specific locations for WTG removal and micrositing are clarified in a footnote in the ROD errata.