[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 209 (Tuesday, October 29, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 85981-85983]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-25089]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[FWS-R5-ES-2024-0039; FXES11140500000-245-FF05E00000]


Proposed Multi-Bat Species General Conservation Plan for Routine 
Development Projects in New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia; 
Draft Environmental Assessment

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the 
availability for public comment of a proposed general conservation plan 
(GCP), as well as an associated draft environmental assessment, for 
routine development projects in New York, Pennsylvania, and West 
Virginia that impact the federally listed Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) 
and/or northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis), and/or the 
proposed to be listed tricolored bat (Perimyotis subflavus). We invite 
comments from the public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal 
agencies.

DATES: We will accept comments received or postmarked on or before 
November 29, 2024. Comments submitted online at https://www.regulations.gov (see ADDRESSES) must be received by 11:59 p.m. 
eastern time on November 29, 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-R5-ES-2024-0039 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:
    <bullet> Online: https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments on Docket No. FWS-R5-ES-2024-0039.
    <bullet> U.S. Mail: Public Comments Processing; Attn: Docket No. 
FWS-R5-ES-2024-0039; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters, MS: 
PRB/3W; 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803.
    We will post all comments on https://www.regulations.gov. This 
generally means that we will post any personal information you provide 
us (see Public Availability of Comments under SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION 
for more information).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Eric Tattersall, by telephone at 413-
253-8630. 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-of-contact in 
the United States.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 
(Service), announce the availability of a proposed general conservation 
plan (GCP), as well as an associated draft environmental assessment 
(EA), for routine development projects in New York,

[[Page 85982]]

Pennsylvania, and West Virginia that may impact Indiana bat (Myotis 
sodalis), northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis), and/or 
tricolored bat (Perimyotis subflavus). We invite comments from the 
public and local, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies.
    We developed and now make available the GCP to provide a 
streamlined mechanism to assist future individual applicants engaged in 
certain otherwise lawful routine development projects to meet statutory 
and regulatory requirements of a habitat conservation plan for issuance 
of an incidental take permit under section 10(a)(1)(B) of the 
Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et 
seq.), while promoting conservation of the Indiana bat (Myotis 
sodalis), the northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis), and the 
tricolored bat (Perimyotis subflavus). The GCP includes measures to 
minimize and mitigate impacts to the covered species. Permits issued 
under the GCP would authorize incidental take of the covered species 
for up to 15 years after the GCP becomes effective. We developed the 
GCP in accordance with section 10(a)(2)(A) of the ESA (16 U.S.C. 1531 
et seq.).
    We prepared the draft EA in accordance with the National 
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) to 
evaluate the potential effects to the natural and human environment 
resulting from issuing permits under the GCP.

Background

    Section 9 of the ESA and its implementing regulations prohibit the 
``take'' of animal species listed as endangered or threatened. Take is 
defined under the ESA as to ``harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, 
kill, trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such 
conduct'' (16 U.S.C. 1532). However, under section 10(a)(1)(B) of the 
ESA, we may issue permits to authorize take of listed species that is 
incidental to, and not the purpose of, carrying out an otherwise lawful 
activity (i.e., ``incidental taking'' (50 CFR 17.3)). Regulations 
governing permits for the incidental taking of endangered and 
threatened species, respectively, are found in the Code of Federal 
Regulations at 50 CFR 17.22 and 50 CFR 17.32.

Proposed Action

    The proposed action is approval of the GCP that has been prepared 
by the Service in accordance with section 10(a)(2)(A) of the ESA to 
provide a more efficient and standardized mechanism for proponents 
engaged in certain otherwise lawful routine development projects on 
non-Federal lands. The proposed GCP describes the routine development 
activities for which the plan establishes associated conservation 
measures an applicant would agree to undertake first to avoid and then 
to minimize and mitigate for the impacts of the incidental take of the 
listed (and proposed) bat species to the maximum extent practicable, 
and to ensure that incidental take will not appreciably reduce the 
likelihood of the survival and recovery of these species in the wild. 
The GCP would allow private individuals, local and State agencies, and 
other non-Federal entities to meet the statutory and regulatory 
requirements of the ESA by applying for a permit and complying with the 
requirements of the GCP, including all applicable avoidance, 
minimization, and mitigation actions. We propose that applications for 
projects falling within the GCP and which adopt all applicable plan 
requirements would meet the permit issuance criteria as required by 
section 10(a)(2)(B) of the ESA, thereby enabling the establishment of a 
programmatic permitting and conservation process to address a defined 
suite of project types impacting defined listed species within a 
defined planning area. The GCP would be available for adoption and use 
by eligible applicants for a period of 10 years. Individual permits 
issued through the streamlined GCP process may be authorized for a term 
of up to 5 years. Therefore, permittees would have up to 5 years to 
complete their projects, even if the permit is issued in the final year 
(i.e., year 10) of the GCP. If a project proponent is unable to 
complete their covered activities during the duration of their permit, 
they can request a permit renewal (for up to 5 additional years) from 
the Service.

Covered Species

    The proposed GCP would cover the bat species in table 1.

                     Table 1--Bat Species Covered in the Proposed General Conservation Plan
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              Common name                      Scientific name                  Federal listing status
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Indiana bat............................  Myotis sodalis............  Endangered.
Northern long-eared bat................  Myotis septentrionalis....  Endangered.
Tricolored bat.........................  Perimyotis subflavus......  Proposed endangered.
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National Environmental Policy Act Compliance

    The draft EA provides the required NEPA documentation for the 
proposed Federal action (approval of a conservation plan and subsequent 
issuance of permits pursuant to section 10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA), 
providing information on the environmental baseline and a discussion of 
impacts to the human and natural environment that may occur as a result 
of implementation of the GCP. Importantly, the scope of the EA is 
limited to evaluation of the proposed GCP as a mechanism to standardize 
permit issuance for covered activities; this EA neither evaluates nor 
results in approval of the routine development activities. Land use 
approval(s) for individual projects would continue to be the 
responsibility of the local or State agency(ies) that have appropriate 
jurisdiction(s) over individual projects. A section 10(a)(1)(B) 
incidental take permit issued by the Service does not authorize the 
covered activities themselves; rather, it authorizes only the take of 
covered species resulting from those activities.
    We are also considering a no-action alternative to the proposed 
action in the EA. Under this no-action alternative, the Service would 
not approve the proposed GCP as a standardized mechanism for compliance 
with section 10 of the ESA. Project proponents planning to conduct 
otherwise lawful routine development activities involving potential 
impacts to Indiana bat, northern long-eared bat, and/or tricolored bat 
would continue to develop project-specific HCPs in order to apply for 
and obtain permits authorizing those species to be taken.

Public Availability of Comments

    All comments received, including names and addresses, will become 
part of the administrative record associated with this action. If you 
submit a comment via https://www.regulations.gov, your entire comment, 
including any personal

[[Page 85983]]

identifying information such as your address, phone number, and email 
address, will be posted on the website.
    If you submit a hardcopy comment that includes personal identifying 
information, you may request at the top of your document that we 
withhold this information from public review. However, we cannot 
guarantee that we will be able to do so. We will post all hardcopy 
comments on https://www.regulations.gov.

Next Steps

    The Service will evaluate the comments received to determine 
whether the GCP meets the requirements of section 10(a) of the ESA (16 
U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). 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 above findings, we will 
determine whether the permit issuance criteria of section 10(a)(l)(B) 
of the ESA have been met. If met, the Service will implement the GCP 
and issue ITPs to qualified applicants that agree to comply with all 
avoidance, minimization, and mitigation actions that apply to their 
proposed projects.

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 17.32) 
and NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and its implementing regulations (40 
CFR 1500-1508 and 43 CFR 46).

Sharon Marino,
Assistant Regional Director, Ecological Services, Northeast Region.
[FR Doc. 2024-25089 Filed 10-28-24; 8:45 am]
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