Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 11 / Wednesday, January 17, 2024 / Notices 2971 

enhance the propagation or survival of 

the affected species. Service regulations 

regarding prohibited activities with 

endangered species, captive-bred 

wildlife registrations, and permits for 

any activity otherwise prohibited by the 

ESA with respect to any endangered 

species are available in title 50 of the 

Code of Federal Regulations in part 17. 

III. Permit Applications 

We invite comments on the following 

applications. 

Applicant: Duke University, Durham, 

NC; Permit No. PER0056306 

The applicant requests authorization 

to import biological samples derived 

from E. rufous mouse lemur 

[Microcebus rufus; synonym Goodman’s 

mouse lemur (Microcebus 

lehilahytsara)] from the Institute of 

Zoology at the University of Veterinary 

Medicine Hannover Foundation (TiHo), 

Germany, for the purpose of scientific 

research. This notification is for a single 

import. 

Applicant: Duke University Lemur 

Center, Durham, NC; Permit No. 

PER6238013 

The applicant requests a permit to 

export two captive-bred Coquerel’s 

sifakas (Propithecus coquereli) to 

Tierpark Berlin Zoo in Germany, for the 

purpose of enhancing the propagation or 

survival of the species. This notification 

is for a single export. 

Applicant: Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical 

Garden, Cincinnati, OH; Permit No. 

PER6139919 

The applicant requests a captive-bred 

wildlife registration under 50 CFR 

17.21(g) for the following species, to 

enhance the propagation or survival of 

the species. This notification covers 

activities to be conducted by the 

applicant over a 5-year period. 

Common name Scientific name 

Cheetah .............................................................................................................................................................. Acinonyx jubatus. 

Blue-throated macaw ......................................................................................................................................... Ara glaucogularis. 

Aye-aye .............................................................................................................................................................. Daubentonia madagascariensis. 

Eastern black rhinoceros ................................................................................................................................... Diceros bicornis michaeli. 

Southern rockhopper penguin ............................................................................................................................ Eudyptes chrysocome. 

Black-footed cat ................................................................................................................................................. Felis nigripes. 

Gorilla ................................................................................................................................................................. Gorilla gorilla. 

Japanese crane (Red-crowned crane) .............................................................................................................. Grus japonensis. 

White-handed gibbon (Lar gibbon) .................................................................................................................... Hylobates lar. 

Ring-tailed lemur ................................................................................................................................................ Lemur catta. 

Brazilian ocelot ................................................................................................................................................... Leopardus pardalis mitis. 

Rothschild’s starling (Bali starling) ..................................................................................................................... Leucopsar rothschildi. 

African wild dog (African painted dog) ............................................................................................................... Lycaon pictus. 

Clouded leopard ................................................................................................................................................. Neofelis nebulosa. 

Bonobo ............................................................................................................................................................... Pan paniscus. 

African lion ......................................................................................................................................................... Panthera leo melanochaita. 

Malayan tiger ...................................................................................................................................................... Panthera tigris jacksoni. 

Sumatran orangutan .......................................................................................................................................... Pongo abelii. 

Coquerel’s sifaka ................................................................................................................................................ Propithecus coquereli. 

Indian rhinoceros ................................................................................................................................................ Rhinoceros unicornis. 

African penguin .................................................................................................................................................. Spheniscus demersus. 

Siamang ............................................................................................................................................................. Symphalangus syndactylus. 

Snow leopard ..................................................................................................................................................... Uncia uncia. 

Andean condor ................................................................................................................................................... Vultur gryphus. 

IV. Next Steps 

After the comment period closes, we 

will make decisions regarding permit 

issuance. If we issue permits to any of 

the applicants listed in this notice, we 

will publish a notice in the Federal 

Register. You may locate the notice 

announcing the permit issuance by 

searching https://www.regulations.gov 

for the permit number listed above in 

this document. For example, to find 

information about the potential issuance 

of Permit No. 12345A, you would go to 

regulations.gov and search for 

‘‘12345A’’. 

V. Authority 

We issue this notice under the 

authority of the Endangered Species Act 

of 1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et 

seq.), and its implementing regulations. 

Timothy MacDonald, 

Government Information Specialist, Branch 

of Permits, Division of Management 

Authority. 

[FR Doc. 2024–00782 Filed 1–16–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4333–15–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

[Docket No. FWS–R4–ES–2023–0247; 

FXES11140400000–245–FF04EF4000] 

Receipt of Incidental Take Permit 

Application and Proposed Habitat 

Conservation Plan for the Sand Skink 

and Blue-Tailed Mole Skink; Polk 

County, FL; Categorical Exclusion 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of availability; request 

for comments. 

SUMMARY: We, the Fish and Wildlife 

Service (Service), announce receipt of 

an application from St. John Methodist 

Church of Sebring Inc. (applicant) for an 

incidental take permit (ITP) under the 

Endangered Species Act. The applicant 

requests the ITP to take the federally 

listed sand skink (Neoseps reynoldsi) 

and blue-tailed mole-skink (Eumeces 

egregius lividus) incidental to the 

construction of a residential 

development in Highlands County, 

Florida. We request public comment on 

the application, which includes the 

applicant’s proposed habitat 

conservation plan (HCP), and on the 

Service’s preliminary determination that 

the proposed permitting action may be 

eligible for a categorical exclusion 

pursuant to the Council on 

Environmental Quality’s National 


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2972 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 11 / Wednesday, January 17, 2024 / Notices 

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) 

regulations, the Department of the 

Interior’s (DOI) NEPA regulations, and 

the DOI Departmental Manual. To make 

this preliminary determination, we 

prepared a draft environmental action 

statement and low-effect screening form, 

both of which are also available for 

public review. We invite comment from 

the public and local, State, Tribal, and 

Federal agencies. 

DATES: We must receive your written 

comments on or before February 16, 

2024. 

ADDRESSES: 

Obtaining Documents: The documents 

this notice announces, as well as any 

comments and other materials that we 

receive, will be available for public 

inspection online in Docket No. FWS– 

R4–ES–2023–0247 at https://

www.regulations.gov. 

Submitting Comments: If you wish to 

submit comments on any of the 

documents, you may do so in writing by 

one of the following methods: 

• Online: https://

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments 

on Docket No. FWS–R4–ES–2023–0247. 

• U.S. mail: Public Comments 

Processing, Attn: Docket No. FWS–R4– 

ES–2023–0247; U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service, MS: PRB/3W, 5275 Leesburg 

Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041–3803. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Alfredo Begazo, by telephone at 772– 

469–4234 or via email at alfredo_

begazo@fws.gov. Individuals in the 

United States who are deaf, deafblind, 

hard of hearing, or have a speech 

disability may dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or 

TeleBraille) to access 

telecommunications relay services. 

Individuals outside the United States 

should use the relay services offered 

within their country to make 

international calls to the point-ofcontact in the United States. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We, the 

Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), 

announce receipt of an application from 

St. John Methodist Church of Sebring 

Inc. (applicant) for an incidental take 

permit (ITP) under the Endangered 

Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA; 

16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). The applicant 

requests the ITP to take the federally 

listed sand skink (Neoseps reynoldsi) 

and blue-tailed mole-skink (Eumeces 

egregius lividus) (skinks) incidental to 

the construction and operation of a 

church in Highlands County, Florida. 

We request public comment on the 

application, which includes the 

applicant’s proposed habitat 

conservation plan (HCP), and on the 

Service’s preliminary determination that 

this proposed ITP qualifies as low effect, 

and may qualify for a categorical 

exclusion pursuant to the Council on 

Environmental Quality’s National 

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) 

regulations (40 CFR 1501.4), the 

Department of the Interior’s (DOI) NEPA 

regulations (43 CFR 46), and the DOI’s 

Departmental Manual (516 DM 

8.5(C)(2)). To make this preliminary 

determination, we prepared a draft 

environmental action statement and 

low-effect screening form, both of which 

are also available for public review. 

Proposed Project 

The applicant requests a 5-year ITP to 

take skinks via the conversion of 

approximately 1.33 acres (ac) of 

occupied nesting, foraging, and 

sheltering skink habitat incidental to the 

construction and operation of a church 

on a 16.33-ac parcel in Section 22, 

Township 34 South, Range 28 East, 

Highlands County, Florida. The 

applicant proposes to mitigate for take 

of the skinks by purchasing credits 

equivalent to 2.66 ac of skink-occupied 

habitat from a Service-approved 

conservation bank. The Service would 

require the applicant to purchase the 

credits prior to engaging in any 

construction phase of the project. 

Our Preliminary Determination 

The Service has made a preliminary 

determination that the applicant’s 

project, including the construction of a 

church, driveways, parking spaces, 

green areas, stormwater pond, and 

associated infrastructure (e.g., electric, 

water, and sewer lines), would 

individually and cumulatively have a 

minor effect on the skinks and the 

human environment. Therefore, we 

have preliminarily determined that the 

proposed ESA section 10(a)(1)(B) permit 

would be a ‘‘low-effect’’ ITP that 

individually or cumulatively would 

have a minor effect on the sand skink 

and may qualify for application of a 

categorical exclusion pursuant to the 

Council on Environmental Quality’s 

NEPA regulations, DOI’s NEPA 

regulations, and the DOI Departmental 

Manual. A low-effect incidental take 

permit is one that would result in (1) 

minor or nonsignificant effects on 

species covered in the HCP; (2) 

nonsignificant effects on the human 

environment; and (3) impacts that, 

when added together with the impacts 

of other past, present, and reasonably 

foreseeable actions, would not result in 

significant cumulative effects to the 

human environment. 

Next Steps 

The Service will evaluate the 

application and the comments to 

determine whether to issue the 

requested permit. We will also conduct 

an intra-Service consultation pursuant 

to section 7 of the ESA to evaluate the 

effects of the proposed take. After 

considering the preceding and other 

matters, we will determine whether the 

permit issuance criteria of section 

10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA have been met. If 

met, the Service will issue ITP number 

PER5348829 to St. John Methodist 

Church of Sebring Inc. 

Public Availability of Comments 

Before including your address, phone 

number, email address, or other 

personal identifying information in your 

comment, be aware that your entire 

comment, including your personal 

identifying information, may be made 

available to the public. While you may 

request that we withhold your personal 

identifying information, we cannot 

guarantee that we will be able to do so. 

Authority 

The Service provides this notice 

under section 10(c) of the Endangered 

Species Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) and 

its implementing regulations (50 CFR 

17.32) and the National Environmental 

Policy Act (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and 

its implementing regulations (40 CFR 

1500–1508 and 43 CFR 46). 

Robert L. Carey, 

Division Manager, Environmental Review, 

Florida Ecological Services Office. 

[FR Doc. 2024–00751 Filed 1–16–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4333–15–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

[Docket No. FWS–R8–ES–2023–0055; 

FF08ESMF00–FXES11140800000–234] 

Receipt of Incidental Take Permit 

Application and Proposed Habitat 

Conservation Plan for the Aramis Solar 

Energy Generation and Storage 

Project, Alameda County, CA; 

Availability of Draft Environmental 

Assessment 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of availability of permit 

application; request for comment. 

SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service, announce the 

availability of a draft environmental 

assessment under the National 

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for an 


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