Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 157 / Tuesday, August 14, 2018 / Notices 40325 

• Severe: Greater than $7,500 of FEMA 

inspected personal property damage or 

determined destroyed and/or 6 or more 

feet of flooding on the first floor. 

For rental properties, to meet the statutory 

requirement of ‘‘most impacted’’ in this 

legislative language, homes are determined to 

have a high level of damage if they have 

damage of ‘‘major-low’’ or higher. That is, 

they have a FEMA personal property damage 

assessment of $2,000 or greater or flooding 

over 1 foot. 

Furthermore, landlords are presumed to 

have adequate insurance coverage unless the 

unit is occupied by a renter with income less 

than the greater of the Federal poverty level 

or 50 percent of Area Median Income. Units 

occupied by a tenant with income less than 

the greater of the Federal poverty level or 50 

percent of Area Median Income are used to 

calculate likely unmet needs for affordable 

rental housing. 

The average cost to fully repair a home for 

a specific disaster to code within each of the 

damage categories noted above is calculated 

using the median real property damage repair 

costs determined by the Small Business 

Administration for its disaster loan program 

for the subset of homes inspected by both 

SBA and FEMA for each eligible disaster. 

Because SBA is inspecting for full repair 

costs, it is presumed to reflect the full cost 

to repair the home, which is generally more 

than the FEMA estimates on the cost to make 

the home habitable. 

For each household determined to have 

unmet housing needs (as described above), 

their estimated average unmet housing need 

less assistance from FEMA and SBA 

provided for repair to homes with serious 

unmet needs. No unmet housing need cost 

multiplier can be less than the 25th 

percentile estimate across all disasters of 

2017. Those minimum cost multipliers are: 

$40,323 for major damage (low); $55,812 for 

major damage (high); and $77,252 for severe 

damage. The multipliers used for each 

disaster is shown below. 

Serious Unmet Housing Need Multipliers 

Major-Low Major-High Severe 

California ...................................................................................................................................... $40,323 $55,812 $124,481 

Florida .......................................................................................................................................... $42,837 $56,113 $79,096 

Georgia ........................................................................................................................................ $40,323 $55,812 $77,252 

Missouri ........................................................................................................................................ $40,323 $66,545 $100,947 

Puerto Rico .................................................................................................................................. $40,323 $55,812 $77,252 

Texas ........................................................................................................................................... $56,342 $75,414 $101,390 

Virgin Islands ............................................................................................................................... $80,142 $97,672 $116,351 

Methods for estimating unmet economic 

revitalization needs 

Based on SBA disaster loans to businesses 

as of 3–22–2018, HUD calculates the median 

real estate and content loss by the following 

damage categories for each state: 

• Category 1: real estate + content loss = 

below 12,000 

• Category 2: real estate + content loss = 

12,000–30,000 

• Category 3: real estate + content loss = 

30,000–65,000 

• Category 4: real estate + content loss = 

65,000–150,000 

• Category 5: real estate + content loss = 

above 150,000 

For properties with real estate and content 

loss of $30,000 or more, HUD calculates the 

estimated amount of unmet needs for small 

businesses by multiplying the median 

damage estimates for the categories above by 

the number of small businesses denied an 

SBA loan, including those denied a loan 

prior to inspection due to inadequate credit 

or income (or a decision had not been made), 

under the assumption that damage among 

those denied at pre-inspection have the same 

distribution of damage as those denied after 

inspection. 

Methods for estimating unmet infrastructure 

needs 

To calculate unmet needs for infrastructure 

projects, HUD is using data obtained from 

FEMA as of March 30, 2018, showing the 

amount FEMA estimates will be needed to 

repair the permanent public infrastructure 

(Categories C to G) to their pre-storm 

condition. HUD uses these data to calculate 

two infrastructure unmet needs: 

• The estimated local cost share for Public 

Assistance Category C to G projects. 

• An allocation of $2 billion for Maria 

affected disasters (Puerto Rico and the 

Virgin Islands) for ‘‘enhanced or improved 

electrical power systems.’’ This is allocated 

between Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands 

based on their relative share of total 

estimated Category F Public Assistance 

cost to repair public utilities. 

Allocation Calculation 

Once eligible entities are identified using 

the above criteria, the allocation to 

individual grantees represents their 

proportional share of the estimated unmet 

needs. For the formula allocation, HUD 

calculates total serious unmet recovery needs 

as the aggregate of: 

• Serious unmet housing needs in most 

impacted counties less amounts of CDBG– 

DR previously allocated for serious unmet 

housing needs 

• Serious unmet business needs less 

amounts of CDBG–DR previously allocated 

for serious business needs 

• FEMA Public Assistance Category C to G 

local cost share and the $2 billion 

additional amount for enhanced or 

improved electrical power systems in 

Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands 

Prior allocations for 2017 disasters are 

subtracted from this amount. Because this 

results in less than $11 billion being 

allocated to Maria affected disasters (Puerto 

Rico and the Virgin Islands) from Public Law 

115–123, an additional amount is added to 

those two grantees to reach $11 billion based 

on their relative share of needs as calculated 

under the three bullets above. 

This results in an estimate of unmet needs 

to be allocated from Public Law 115–123 of 

$12.031 billion, allowing $3.935 billion to be 

allocated to mitigation. 

Allocating for mitigation 

The allocation of $15.935 billion in 

mitigation funds (the $12 billion 

appropriated for mitigation plus the $3.935 

billion remaining after allocation of 100% of 

unmet needs) is allocated proportionally 

based on each grantee’s relative share of the 

$22.425 billion of CDBG–DR funds allocated 

for unmet needs to disasters occurring in 

2015, 2016, and 2017. For example, the 

combination of all grants to Puerto Rico for 

unmet needs represents 52 percent of the 

$22.425 billion allocated for unmet needs. As 

a result, Puerto Rico receives 52 percent of 

the $15.935 billion made available for 

mitigation funding. 

[FR Doc. 2018–17365 Filed 8–13–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4210–67–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

[FWS–R3–ES–2018–N044; 

FXES11130300000–189–FF03E00000] 

Draft Environmental Assessment and 

Draft Habitat Conservation Plan; 

Receipt of an Application for an 

Incidental Take Permit, Headwaters 

Wind Farm, Randolph County, Indiana 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of availability; request 

for comments. 

SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service (Service), have received 

an application from Headwaters Wind 

Farm LLC (applicant), for an incidental 

take permit (ITP) under the Endangered 

Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA), 

for its Headwaters Wind Farm 

(Headwaters) (project). If approved, the 

ITP would be for a 27-year period and 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with NOTICES1
40326 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 157 / Tuesday, August 14, 2018 / Notices 

would authorize the incidental take of 

an endangered species, the Indiana bat, 

and a threatened species, the northern 

long-eared bat. The applicant has 

prepared a draft habitat conservation 

plan (HCP) that describes the actions 

and measures that the applicant would 

implement to avoid, minimize, and 

mitigate incidental take of the Indiana 

bat and northern long-eared bat. We also 

announce the availability of a draft 

Environmental Assessment (DEA), 

which has been prepared in response to 

the permit application in accordance 

with the requirements of the National 

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). We 

request public comment on the 

application and associated documents. 

DATES: We will accept comments 

received or postmarked on or before 

September 14, 2018. 

ADDRESSES: Document availability: 

• Internet: You may obtain copies of 

the documents on the internet at https:// 

www.fws.gov/midwest/endangered/ 

permits/hcp/r3hcps.html. 

• U.S. Mail: You can obtain the 

documents by mail from the Indiana 

Ecological Services Field Office (see FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT). 

• In-Person: To view hard copies of 

the documents in person, go to one of 

the Ecological Services Offices (8 a.m. to 

4 p.m.) listed under FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT. 

Comment submission: In your 

comment, please specify whether your 

comment addresses the draft HCP, DEA, 

or any combination of the 

aforementioned documents, or other 

supporting documents. You may submit 

written comments by one of the 

following methods: 

• Electronically: Submit by email to 

IndianaFO@fws.gov. 

• By hard copy: Submit by U.S. mail 

or hand-delivery to U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service, Indiana Ecological 

Services Field Office, 620 S Walker 

Street, Bloomington, IN 47403. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Scott Pruitt, Field Supervisor, 

Bloomington, Indiana, Ecological 

Services Field Office, U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service, 620 South Walker 

Street, Bloomington, IN 47403; 

telephone: 812–334–4261, extension 

214; or Erik Olson, Fish and Wildlife 

Biologist, Ecological Services, Midwest 

Regional Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service, 5600 American Blvd., West, 

Suite 990, Bloomington, MN 55437– 

1458; telephone: 612–713–5488. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We have 

received an application from 

Headwaters Wind Farm LLC (HWF) for 

an incidental take permit under the ESA 

(16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). If approved, the 

ITP would be for a 27-year period and 

would authorize incidental take of the 

endangered Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) 

and the threatened northern long-eared 

bat (Myotis septentrionalis). 

The applicant has prepared a draft 

HCP that covers the operation of the 

Headwaters Wind Farm (Headwaters). 

The project consists of a wind-powered 

electric generation facility located in an 

approximately 53,808-acre area in 

Randolph County, Indiana. The draft 

HCP describes the following: (1) 

Biological goals and objectives of the 

HCP; (2) covered activities; (3) permit 

duration; (4) project area; (5) 

alternatives to the taking that were 

considered; (5) public participation; (6) 

life history of the Indiana bat and 

northern long-eared bat; (6) 

quantification of the take for which 

authorization is requested; (7) 

assessment of direct and indirect effects 

of the taking on the Indiana bat within 

the Midwest Recovery Unit (as 

delineated in the 2007 Indiana Bat Draft 

Recovery Plan, Service) and rangewide; 

(8) assessment of direct and indirect 

effects of the taking on the northern 

long-eared bat within the Service’s 

Midwest region and rangewide; (9) 

conservation program consisting of 

avoidance and minimization measures, 

mitigation, monitoring, and adaptive 

management; (10) funding for the HCP; 

(11) procedures to deal with changed 

and unforeseen circumstances; and (12) 

methods for ITP amendments. 

Under the NEPA (43 U.S.C. 4321 et 

seq.) and the ESA, the Service 

announces that we have gathered the 

information necessary to: 

1. Determine the impacts and 

formulate alternatives for an EA related 

to: 

a. Issuance of an ITP to the applicant 

for the take of the Indiana bat and the 

northern long-eared bat, and 

b. Implementation of the associated 

HCP; and 

2. Evaluate the application for ITP 

issuance, including the HCP, which 

provides measures to minimize and 

mitigate the effects of the proposed 

incidental take of the Indiana bat and 

the northern long-eared bat. 

Background 

The HWF application is unusual in 

that the wind facility has been 

operational since 2014. The project 

includes 100 Vestas V110 2.0 megawatt 

wind turbines and has a total energy 

capacity of 200 MW. The need for the 

proposed action (i.e., issuance of an ITP) 

is based on the potential that operation 

of the Headwaters Wind Farm could 

result in take of Indiana bats and 

northern long-eared bats. 

The HCP provides a detailed 

conservation plan to ensure that the 

incidental take caused by the operation 

of the project will not appreciably 

reduce the likelihood of the survival 

and recovery of the Indiana bat and 

northern long-eared bat, and provides 

mitigation to fully offset the impact of 

the taking. Further, the HCP provides a 

long-term monitoring and adaptive 

management strategy to ensure that the 

ITP terms are satisfied, and to account 

for changed and unforeseen 

circumstances. 

Purpose and Need for Action 

In accordance with NEPA, the Service 

has prepared an EA to analyze the 

impacts to the human environment that 

would occur if the requested ITP were 

issued and the associated HCP were 

implemented. 

Proposed Action 

Section 9 of the ESA prohibits the 

‘‘taking’’ of threatened and endangered 

species. However, provided certain 

criteria are met, the Service is 

authorized to issue permits under 

section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA for take of 

federally listed species when, among 

other things, such a taking is incidental 

to, and not the purpose of, otherwise 

lawful activities. Under the ESA, the 

term ‘‘take’’ means to harass, harm, 

pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, 

capture, or collect endangered and 

threatened species, or to attempt to 

engage in any such conduct. Our 

implementing regulations in title 50 of 

the Code of Federal Regulations define 

‘‘harm’’ as an act which actually kills or 

injures wildlife, and such act may 

include significant habitat modification 

or degradation that results in death or 

injury to listed species by significantly 

impairing essential behavioral patterns, 

including breeding, feeding, or 

sheltering (50 CFR 17.3). Harass, as 

defined in our regulations, means ‘‘an 

intentional or negligent act or omission 

which creates the likelihood of injury to 

wildlife by annoying it to such an extent 

as to significantly disrupt normal 

behavioral patterns which include, but 

are not limited to, breeding, feeding, or 

sheltering’’ (50 CFR 17.3). 

The HCP analyzes, and the ITP would 

cover, take from harassment and harm, 

and killing of bats due to the operation 

of the Headwaters project. If issued, the 

ITP would authorize incidental take 

consistent with the applicant’s HCP and 

the ITP. To issue the ITP, the Service 

must find that the application, 

including its HCP, satisfies the criteria 

of section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA and the 

Service’s implementing regulations at 

50 CFR part 13 and § 17.22. If the ITP 


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Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 157 / Tuesday, August 14, 2018 / Notices 40327 

is issued, the applicant would receive 

assurances under the Service’s No 

Surprises policy, as codified at 50 CFR 

17.22(b)(5). 

The applicant proposes to operate a 

maximum of 100 wind turbines and 

associated facilities (described below) 

for a period of 27 years in Randolph 

County, Indiana. The project consists of 

wind turbines, associated access roads, 

an underground and aboveground 

electrical collector system, one 

substation containing transformers that 

feed electricity into an existing 345- 

kilovolt (kV) electrical tie-in line, a 10- 

mile generator lead line, three 

permanent meteorological towers, and 

an operations and maintenance 

building. Project facilities and 

infrastructure are placed on private land 

via long-term easement agreements 

between the applicant and respective 

landowners. 

The draft HCP describes the impacts 

of take associated with the operation of 

the Headwaters Wind Farm and 

includes measures to avoid, minimize, 

mitigate, and monitor the impacts of 

incidental take on the Indiana bat and 

the northern long-eared bat. The 

applicant will mitigate for take and 

associated impacts through protection 

and restoration of maternity colony 

habitat and/or swarming habitat, and 

gating of an Indiana bat hibernacula. 

Habitat mitigation, including any 

restored habitat, will occur on private 

land and be permanently protected by 

restrictive covenants approved by the 

Service. Chapter 5 of the HCP describes 

the Conservation Program, including 

details of avoidance and minimization 

measures, compensatory mitigation, and 

adaptive management that will limit 

and mitigate for the take of Indiana bats 

and northern long-eared bats. 

The Service is soliciting information 

regarding the adequacy of the HCP to 

avoid, minimize, mitigate, and monitor 

the proposed incidental take of the 

covered species and to provide for 

adaptive management. In compliance 

with section 10(c) of the ESA (16 U.S.C. 

1539(c)), the Service is making the ITP 

application materials available for 

public review and comment as 

described above. 

We invite comments and suggestions 

from all interested parties on the draft 

documents associated with the ITP 

application (HCP and HCP Appendices), 

and request that comments be as 

specific as possible. In particular, we 

request information and comments on 

the following topics: 

1. Whether adaptive management and 

monitoring provisions in the Proposed 

Action alternative are sufficient; 

2. Any threats to the Indiana bat and 

the northern long-eared bat that may 

influence their populations over the life 

of the ITP that are not addressed in the 

draft HCP or draft EA; 

3. Any new information on whitenose syndrome effects on the Indiana 

bat and the northern long-eared bat; and 

4. Any other information pertinent to 

evaluating the effects of the proposed 

action on the Indiana bat and the 

northern long-eared bat. 

Alternatives in the Draft EA 

The DEA contains an analysis of four 

alternatives: (1) No Action alternative, 

in which all 100 turbines would be 

feathered from 1⁄2 hour before sunset to 1⁄2 hour after sunrise up to 5.0 meters 

per second (m/s) from March 15 through 

May 15 and up to 6.9 m/s from August 

1 through October 15. In addition, 10 

turbines within 1,000 feet of suitable 

habitat would be feathered up to 6.9 m/ 

s with the rest of the turbines feathered 

up to manufacturer’s cut-in speed (3.0 

m/s) from May 16 through July 31. This 

curtailment regime would occur each 

year during the operational life (27 

years) of Headwaters; (2) the 5.0 m/s 

Cut-In Speed (feathered) Alternative 

including implementation of the HCP 

and issuance of a 27-year ITP; (3) the 6.5 

m/s Cut-In Speed (feathered) 

Alternative, including implementation 

of the HCP and issuance of a 27-year 

ITP; and (4) the 4.0 m/s Cut-In Speed 

(feathered) Alternative, including 

implementation of the HCP and 

issuance of a 27-year ITP. The DEA 

considers the direct, indirect, and 

cumulative effects of the alternatives, 

including any measures under the 

Proposed Action alternative intended to 

minimize and mitigate such impacts. 

The DEA also identifies two additional 

alternatives that were considered but 

were eliminated from analysis as 

detailed in Section 3.4 of the DEA. 

The Service invites comments and 

suggestions from all interested parties 

on the content of the DEA. In particular, 

information and comments regarding 

the following topics are requested: 

1. The direct, indirect, or cumulative 

effects that implementation of any 

alternative could have on the human 

environment; 

2. Whether or not the significance of 

the impact on various aspects of the 

human environment has been 

adequately analyzed; and 

3. Any other information pertinent to 

evaluating the effects of the proposed 

action on the human environment. 

Public Comments 

You may submit your comments and 

materials related to the draft HCP, DEA, 

or other supporting documents by one 

of the methods listed in ADDRESSES. We 

request that you send comments by only 

one of the methods described in 

ADDRESSES. 

Comments and materials we receive, 

as well as documents associated with 

the notice, will be available for public 

inspection by appointment, during 

normal business hours, at the Indiana 

Ecological Services Field Office in 

Bloomington, Indiana (see FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT). Before including 

your address, phone number, email 

address, or other personal identifying 

information in your comment, you 

should be aware that your entire 

comment—including your personal 

identifying information—may be made 

publicly available at any time. While 

you can ask us in you comment to 

withhold your personal identifying 

information from public review, we 

cannot guarantee that we will be able to 

do so. 

Authority 

We provide this notice under section 

10(c) of the ESA (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) 

and its implementing regulations (50 

CFR 17.22) and the NEPA (42 U.S.C. 

4371 et seq.) and its implementing 

regulations (40 CFR 1506.6; 43 CFR part 

46). 

Dated: April 18, 2018. 

Lori H. Nordstrom, 

Assistant Regional Director, Ecological 

Services, Midwest Region. 

[FR Doc. 2018–17485 Filed 8–13–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4333–15–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

[FWS–R2–ES–2018–N065; 

FXES11140200000–189–FF02ENEH00] 

Incidental Take Permit Applications 

Received To Participate in the 

American Burying-Beetle Amended Oil 

and Gas Industry Conservation Plan in 

Oklahoma 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of availability; request 

for public comments. 

SUMMARY: Under the Endangered 

Species Act (ESA), as amended, we, the 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, invite 

the public to comment on Federallylisted American burying-beetle 

incidental take permit (ITP) 


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