Fish and Wildlife Service July 16, 2020 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, intend to prepare an environmental assessment (EA) on a proposed candidate conservation agreement with assurances (CCAA) that will support an application for an enhancement of survival permit under the Endangered Species Act. The potential permit would cover the dunes sagebrush lizard (Sceloporus arenicolus) in six Texas counties. The CCAA would cover oil and gas exploration and development, sand mining, renewable energy development and operations, pipeline construction and operations, agricultural activities, general construction activities, and the conservation, research, and monitoring activities that are integral to meeting the CCAA net conservation benefit standard. The intended effect of this notice is to gather information from the public to develop and analyze the effects of the potential issuance of the permit, which would facilitate economic activities in the planning area, while providing a net conservation benefit to the dunes sagebrush lizard. We provide this notice to describe the proposed action, advise other Federal and State agencies, potentially affected tribal interests, and the public of our intent to prepare an EA, announce the initiation of a 30-day public scoping period, and obtain suggestions and information on the scope of issues and possible alternatives to be included in the EA.