22278 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 72 / Friday, April 13, 2012 / Proposed Rules 

Type of permit CFR 

citation 

Permit 

application 

fee 

Administration 

fee 1

Amendment 

fee 

Marine Mammal Protection Ac 

Marine Mammal Public Display ............................................................................. 50 CFR 18 300 ........................ 150 

Marine Mammal Scientific Research/Enhancement/Registered Agent or Tannery.50 CFR 18 150 ........................ 75 

—Renewal of Marine Mammal Scientific Research/Enhancement/Registered 

Agent or Tannery.

50 CFR 18 75 ........................ ........................

1Assessed when a permit is issued. 

2Each. 

3Per animal. 

4Per species. 

* * * * * 

3. Amend § 13.24 by revising 

paragraph (c) to read as follows: 

§ 13.24 Right of succession by certain 

persons. 

* * * * * 

(c) In the case of permits issued under 

§ 17.22(b) through (d) or § 17.32(b) 

through (d) or permits issued under 

§ 22.26 of this subchapter B, the 

successor’s authorization under the 

permit is also subject to our 

determination that: 

(1) The successor meets all of the 

qualifications under this part for 

holding a permit; 

(2) The successor has provided 

adequate written assurances that it will 

provide sufficient funding for any 

applicable conservation measures, 

conservation plan, or Agreement and 

will implement the relevant terms and 

conditions of the permit, including any 

outstanding minimization and 

mitigation requirements; and 

(3) The successor has provided such 

other information as we determine is 

relevant to the processing of the request. 

4. Amend § 13.25 by revising 

paragraph (b) and adding a new 

paragraph (f) to read as follows: 

§ 13.25 Transfer of permits and scope of 

permit authorization. 

* * * * * 

(b) Permits issued under § 17.22(b) 

through (d) or § 17.32(b) through (d) or 

permits issued under § 22.26 of this 

subchapter B may be transferred in 

whole or in part through a joint 

submission by the permittee and the 

proposed transferee, or in the case of a 

deceased permittee, the deceased 

permittee’s legal representative and the 

proposed transferee, provided we 

determine that: 

(1) The proposed transferee meets all 

of the qualifications under this part for 

holding a permit; 

(2) The proposed transferee has 

provided adequate written assurances 

that it will provide sufficient funding 

for the conservation measures, 

conservation plan, or Agreement and 

will implement the relevant terms and 

conditions of the permit, including any 

outstanding minimization and 

mitigation requirements; and 

(3) The proposed transferee has 

provided such other information as we 

determine is relevant to the processing 

of the submission. 

* * * * * 

(f) In the case of permits issued under 

§ 22.26 of this subchapter B to a Federal, 

State, tribal, or local governmental 

entity, a person is under the direct 

control of the permittee if the person is 

under the jurisdiction of the permittee, 

provided the permittee has the 

regulatory authority to require the 

person to comply with the terms and 

conditions of the permit and the permit 

provides that such person(s) may carry 

out the authorized activity. 

PART 22—EAGLE PERMITS 

5. The authority for part 22 continues 

to read as follows: 

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 668–668d; 16 U.S.C. 

703–712; 16 U.S.C. 1531–1544. 

6. Amend § 22.26 by revising 

paragraph (h) and adding paragraph (i) 

to read as follows: 

§ 22.26 Permits for eagle take that is 

associated with, but not the purpose of, an 

activity. 

* * * * * 

(h) Permit duration. The duration of 

each permit issued under this section 

will be designated on its face and will 

be based on the duration of the 

proposed activities, the period of time 

for which take will occur, the level of 

impacts to eagles, and the nature and 

extent of mitigation measures 

incorporated into the terms and 

conditions of the permit. Standard 

permits will not exceed 5 years. A 

permit for programmatic take will be 

issued for a term no shorter than 5 years 

and no longer than 30 years. 

(i) Transfer of programmatic permits. 

Programmatic permits may be 

transferred to new owners of facilities, 

provided that the new owners have 

never had a permit issued by the U.S. 

Fish and Wildlife Service suspended or 

revoked, and have not been convicted of 

violating a Federal wildlife law in the 

last 10 years. The transferee must meet 

all of the qualifications under this part 

for holding a permit, as well as the 

requirements of § 13.25(b) of this 

subchapter B. 

Dated: January 19, 2012. 

Rachel Jacobson, 

Acting Assistant Secretary for Fish and 

Wildlife and Parks. 

[FR Doc. 2012–8086 Filed 4–12–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

50 CFR Part 22 

[Docket No. FWS–R9–MB–2011–0094: 

91200–1231–9BPP] 

RIN 1018–AY30 

Eagle Permits; Revisions to 

Regulations Governing Take 

Necessary To Protect Interests in 

Particular Localities 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Advance notice of proposed 

rulemaking. 

SUMMARY: We solicit public comment on 

possible revisions to regulations under 

the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection 

Act for permits to take eagles where the 

take is associated with, but not the 

purpose of, otherwise lawful activities. 

During the 2 years that the regulations 

have been in effect, some stakeholders 

have expressed concerns with some 

provisions of the rule. We are giving 

interested members of the public the 

opportunity to review the regulations 

and recommend revisions that would 

create a more efficient permit process 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS
Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 72 / Friday, April 13, 2012 / Proposed Rules 22279 

while continuing to adequately protect 

eagles. 

DATES: We will accept comments 

received or postmarked by the end of 

the day on July 12, 2012. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by either one of the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments 

on Docket No. FWS–R9–MB–2011– 

0094. 

• U.S. mail or hand delivery: Public 

Comments Processing, Attention: FWS– 

R9–MB–2011–0094; Division of Policy 

and Directives Management; U.S. Fish 

and Wildlife Service; 4401 North Fairfax 

Drive, MS 2042–PDM; Arlington, VA 

22203–1610. 

We will not accept email or faxes. We 

will not consider comments submitted 

after the due date. We will post all 

comments on http:// 

www.regulations.gov. This generally 

means that we will post any personal 

information that you provide. See the 

Public Comments section below for 

more information. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Chief, Division of Migratory Bird 

Management, at 703–358–1714. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Public Comments 

We request comments and suggestions 

and encourage the submission of new 

ideas, materials, recommendations, and 

arguments from the public; 

ornithological organizations; 

environmental organizations; 

corporations; local, State, tribal, and 

Federal agencies; and any other 

interested party. Please ensure that the 

comments pertain only to the issues 

presented in this advance notice of 

proposed rulemaking. 

You may submit your comments and 

supporting materials only by one of the 

methods listed in ADDRESSES. We will 

not consider comments sent by email or 

fax, or written comments sent to an 

address other than the one listed in 

ADDRESSES. 

If you submit a comment via http:// 

www.regulations.gov, your entire 

comment—including any personal 

identifying information—will be posted 

on the Web site. If you submit a 

hardcopy comment that includes 

personal identifying information, you 

may request that we withhold this 

information from public review, but we 

cannot guarantee that we will be able to 

do so. We will post all hardcopy 

comments on http:// 

www.regulations.gov. 

Comments and materials we receive 

will be available for public inspection at 

http://www.regulations.gov, or by 

appointment, during normal business 

hours, at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT). 

Background 

The Bald and Golden Eagle Protection 

Act (16 U.S.C. 668–668d) (Eagle Act) 

prohibits take of bald eagles and golden 

eagles except pursuant to Federal 

regulations. The Eagle Act regulations at 

title 50, part 22, of the Code of Federal 

Regulations (CFR), define the ‘‘take’’ of 

an eagle to include the following broad 

range of actions: ‘‘pursue, shoot, shoot 

at, poison, wound, kill, capture, trap, 

collect, destroy, molest, or disturb’’ (50 

CFR 22.3). The Eagle Act allows the 

Secretary of the Interior to authorize 

certain otherwise prohibited activities 

through regulations. The Secretary is 

authorized to prescribe regulations 

permitting the ‘‘taking, possession, and 

transportation of [bald eagles or golden 

eagles] * * * for the scientific or 

exhibition purposes of public museums, 

scientific societies, and zoological 

parks, or for the religious purposes of 

Indian tribes, or * * * for the protection 

of wildlife or of agricultural or other 

interests in any particular locality,’’ 

provided such permits are ‘‘compatible 

with the preservation of the bald eagle 

or the golden eagle’’ (16 U.S.C. 668a). 

On September 11, 2009, we published 

a final rule that established new permit 

regulations under the Bald and Golden 

Eagle Protection Act for nonpurposeful 

take of eagles (74 FR 46836). Those 

regulations at 50 CFR 22.26 provide for 

permits to take bald eagles and golden 

eagles where the taking is associated 

with, but not the purpose of, an activity. 

The regulations provide for both 

standard permits and programmatic 

permits. Standard permits authorize 

individual instances of take that cannot 

practicably be avoided. Programmatic 

permits authorize recurring take that is 

unavoidable even after implementation 

of advanced conservation practices. 

‘‘Programmatic take’’ is defined at 50 

CFR 22.3 as ‘‘take that is recurring, is 

not caused solely by indirect effects, 

and that occurs over the long term or in 

a location or locations that cannot be 

specifically identified.’’ This definition 

distinguishes programmatic take from 

any other take that has indirect effects 

that continue to cause take after the 

initial action. We can issue 

programmatic permits for disturbance, 

as well as take resulting in mortalities, 

based on implementation of ‘‘advanced 

conservation practices’’ developed in 

coordination with the Service. 

‘‘Advanced conservation practices’’ 

(ACPs) are defined at 50 CFR 22.3 as 

‘‘scientifically supportable measures 

that are approved by the Service and 

represent the best available techniques 

to reduce eagle disturbance and ongoing 

mortalities to a level where remaining 

take is unavoidable.’’ Most take 

authorized under § 22.26 has been in the 

form of disturbance; however, permits 

may authorize lethal take that is 

incidental to an otherwise lawful 

activity, such as mortalities caused by 

collisions with rotating wind turbines. 

Since publication of the 2009 final rule, 

the Service has issued approximately 50 

permits under the new regulations. 

However, we have not yet issued any 

programmatic permits. 

In a separate action, [Docket No. 

FWS–R9–MB–2011–0054] we are 

proposing revisions to the regulations to 

extend the maximum term for 

programmatic permits up to 30 years, 

incorporating additional adaptive 

conservation measures if necessary to 

ensure the preservation of eagles. As 

part of that action, we are also 

proposing to modify the application fee 

structure for programmatic permits. 

Because those proposed regulations are 

a separate action from this notice, we 

are not soliciting, and will not consider, 

any comments submitted in response to 

this notice that are related to the issues 

addressed in the proposed regulations 

(the maximum term of programmatic 

permits and the programmatic permit 

application fee structure). Through this 

notice, we solicit public input on any 

other aspects of the permit program 

governed by 50 CFR 22.26 that may be 

improved by revision of the regulations. 

We are particularly interested in public 

input on the following three issues: 

(1) Clarifying the criteria for issuance 

of programmatic and standard permits. 

Under the criteria, ‘‘take that cannot 

practicably be avoided’’ can be 

authorized with a standard permit; 

however, a programmatic permit 

requires that the take be ‘‘unavoidable.’’ 

The preamble accompanying the 2009 

rule states, however, that ‘‘applicants for 

both types of permits must take all 

practicable steps to avoid and minimize 

take’’ (74 FR 46838). Should the 

regulations be revised so that the 

issuance criterion for programmatic 

permits is the same as for standard 

permits: That the project proponent has 

reduced take to the maximum degree 

practicable? 

(2) Compensatory mitigation. Under 

what circumstances should permittees 

be required to provide compensatory 

mitigation? To what degree should any 

required mitigation offset the 

detrimental impacts to eagles? We also 

welcome input regarding what types of 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS
22280 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 72 / Friday, April 13, 2012 / Proposed Rules 

specific compensatory mitigation 

measures may be appropriate. 

(3) Eagle Act preservation standard. 

The Eagle Act requires the Service to 

determine that any take of eagles it 

authorizes is ‘‘compatible with the 

preservation of bald eagles or golden 

eagles.’’ In the preamble to the final 

regulations for eagle nonpurposeful take 

permits, and in the Final Environmental 

Assessment of the regulations, we 

defined that standard to mean 

‘‘consistent with the goal of stable or 

increasing breeding populations.’’ We 

seek public input as to whether this 

standard is appropriate or whether it 

should be further refined or otherwise 

modified. 

Authority: The authorities for this notice 

are the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, as 

amended (16 U.S.C. 703–712), and the Bald 

and Golden Eagle Protection Act (16 U.S.C. 

668a). 

Dated: December 20, 2011. 

Rachel Jacobson, 

Acting Assistant Secretary for Fish and 

Wildlife and Parks. 

Editorial Note: This document was 

received in the Office of the Federal Register 

on March 30, 2012. 

[FR Doc. 2012–8087 Filed 4–12–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS