Fish and Wildlife Service August 2, 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The United States, as a Party to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), will attend the eighteenth regular meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES (CoP18) in Geneva, Switzerland, August 17 to 28, 2019. This notice announces the availability of tentative U.S. negotiating positions on proposed resolutions, decisions, and amendments to the CITES Appendices (species proposals), as well as other agenda items that have been submitted by other Parties, the permanent CITES committees, and the CITES Secretariat for consideration at CoP18. With this notice we announce that we will publish a summary of our proposed negotiating positions and the reasons for our proposed positions on or before August 16, 2019, on our website at https:// www.fws.gov/international/cites/cop18/.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the availability of a final programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS), prepared in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act, analyzing the impacts of the issuance of incidental take permits (ITPs) or ITP amendments for the continued operation of four similar wind energy facilities. The permit actions would involve implementation of a new habitat conservation plan (HCP) for the Pakini Nui Wind Farm on the Island of Hawaii and major amendments to three existing HCPs: The Auwahi Wind and Kaheawa Wind Power II projects located on Maui, and the Kawailoa Wind project on Oahu. All four wind energy facilities are already in operation. The four applicants are requesting ITPs covering the take of species listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act likely to be caused by the continued operation of the projects. The HCPs describe the steps each applicant proposes to minimize, mitigate, and monitor incidental take of the covered species.