Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 209 / Tuesday, October 29, 2024 / Notices 85981 

anonymous comment in response to that 

notice which did not address the 

information collection requirements; 

therefore, no response is required. 

We are especially interested in public 

comment addressing the following: 

(1) Whether or not the collection of 

information is necessary for the proper 

performance of the functions of the 

agency, including whether or not the 

information will have practical utility; 

(2) The accuracy of our estimate of the 

burden for this collection of 

information, including the validity of 

the methodology and assumptions used; 

(3) Ways to enhance the quality, 

utility, and clarity of the information to 

be collected; and 

(4) How might the agency minimize 

the burden of the collection of 

information on those who are to 

respond, including through the use of 

appropriate automated, electronic, 

mechanical, or other technological 

collection techniques or other forms of 

information technology, e.g., permitting 

electronic submission of response. 

Comments that you submit in 

response to this notice are a matter of 

public record. We will include or 

summarize each comment in our request 

to OMB to approve this ICR. 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 your comment 

to withhold your personal identifying 

information from public review, we 

cannot guarantee that we will be able to 

do so. 

Abstract: The Migratory Bird Treaty 

Act (MBTA; 16 U.S.C. 703 et seq.) 

prohibits the unauthorized take of 

migratory birds and authorizes the 

Secretary of the Interior to regulate take 

of migratory birds in the United States. 

Under this authority, we control the 

hunting of migratory game birds through 

regulations in 50 CFR part 20. On 

January 1, 1991, we banned lead shot for 

hunting waterfowl and coots in the 

United States. 

This is a non-form collection. 

Regulations at 50 CFR 20.134 outline 

the application and approval process for 

new types of nontoxic shot. When 

considering approval of a candidate 

material as nontoxic, we must ensure 

that it is not hazardous in the 

environment and that secondary 

exposure (ingestion of spent shot or its 

components) is not a hazard to 

migratory birds. To make that decision, 

we require each applicant to provide 

information about the solubility and 

toxicity of the candidate material. 

Additionally, for law enforcement 

purposes, a noninvasive field detection 

device must be available to distinguish 

candidate shot from lead shot. This 

information constitutes the bulk of an 

application for approval of nontoxic 

shot. The Director uses the data in the 

application to decide whether to 

approve a material as nontoxic. 

Title of Collection: Approval 

Procedures for Nontoxic Shot and Shot 

Coatings (50 CFR 20.134). 

OMB Control Number: 1018–0067. 

Form Number: None. 

Type of Review: Extension of a 

currently approved collection. 

Respondents/Affected Public: 

Businesses that produce and/or market 

approved nontoxic shot types or 

nontoxic shot coatings. 

Total Estimated Number of Annual 

Respondents: 1. 

Total Estimated Number of Annual 

Responses: 1. 

Estimated Completion Time per 

Response: 3,200 hours. 

Total Estimated Number of Annual 

Burden Hours: 3,200 hours. 

Respondent’s Obligation: Required to 

obtain or retain a benefit. 

Frequency of Collection: On occasion. 

Total Estimated Annual Nonhour 

Burden Cost: $26,630 ($1,630 

application processing fee and $25,000 

for solubility testing). 

An agency may not conduct or 

sponsor and a person is not required to 

respond to a collection of information 

unless it displays a currently valid OMB 

control number. 

The authority for this action is the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 

U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). 

Madonna Baucum, 

Information Collection Clearance Officer, U.S. 

Fish and Wildlife Service. 

[FR Doc. 2024–25112 Filed 10–28–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4333–15–P 

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. 

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 longeared 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: 

• Online: https://

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments 

on Docket No. FWS–R5–ES–2024–0039. 

• 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-ofcontact 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, 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES
85982 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 209 / Tuesday, October 29, 2024 / Notices 

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

Common name Scientific name Federal listing status 

Indiana bat ........................................................................ Myotis sodalis .................................................................. Endangered. 

Northern long-eared bat ................................................... Myotis septentrionalis ...................................................... Endangered. 

Tricolored bat ................................................................... Perimyotis subflavus ........................................................ Proposed endangered. 

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 


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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 209 / Tuesday, October 29, 2024 / Notices 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] 

BILLING CODE 4333–15–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Land Management 

[BLM_NV_FRN_4500183156] 

Notice of Availability of the Record of 

Decision for the Rhyolite Ridge 

Lithium-Boron Project, Esmeralda 

County, NV 

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of availability. 

SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land 

Management (BLM) announces the 

availability of the Record of Decision 

(ROD) for the Final Environmental 

Impact Statement (EIS) for the Rhyolite 

Ridge Lithium-Boron Project (Project) 

located in Esmeralda County, Nevada. 

The ROD constitutes the decision of the 

BLM to approve the plan of operations 

for the Project. 

DATES: The Acting Deputy Secretary of 

the Interior signed the ROD on October 

24, 2024. 

ADDRESSES: The ROD is available online 

at https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanningui/project/2012309/510. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Scott Distel, Project Manager, telephone 

(775) 635–4000; address 50 Bastian 

Road, Battle Mountain, NV 89820; email 

BLM_NV_BMDO_P&EC_NEPA@blm.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 for 

contacting Mr. Distel. 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: The 

authorized officer for this action has 

reviewed the environmental analysis in 

the Final EIS and has selected the North 

and South Overburden Storage Facility 

Alternative (Preferred Alternative/ 

Selected Alternative), along with the 

applicable Applicant-Committed 

Environmental Protection Measures 

(ACEPMs) specified in Sections 2.1.13 

and 2.2.2 of the Final EIS. The BLM’s 

selection is based on the environmental 

analysis in the Final EIS, which was 

published on September 20, 2024. There 

were no substantial changes to the Final 

EIS during the 30-day public availability 

period following publication. An errata 

sheet was issued following the Final EIS 

correcting Final EIS Page 4–41, fifth 

paragraph, line 8, from ‘‘approximately 

100 feet’’ to ‘‘approximately 25 feet.’’ 

The ROD approves the plan of 

operations for the Project 

(NVNV106205338) submitted to the 

BLM pursuant to 43 CFR 3809 and 3715, 

and the analysis in the Final EIS. The 

BLM has considered the analysis of the 

effectiveness of the mitigation measures, 

and has determined that 

implementation of the ROD, with the 

identified mitigation measures, will not 

cause unnecessary or undue degradation 

of the public lands and is consistent 

with applicable legal requirements. 

In accordance with 40 CFR 1505.2(c), 

the mitigation measures and ACEPMs 

represent practicable means to avoid or 

minimize environmental harm from the 

BLM’s Selected Alternative. The 

ACEPMs, which were developed to 

avoid or minimize environmental 

impacts resulting from the Selected 

Alternative, are part of the Plan. All 

ACEPMs were designed to avoid or 

minimize environmental impacts to 

resources affected by the Plan. All 

mitigation within the BLM’s authority 

will be implemented and enforced. 

The ROD is conditioned on 

compliance with the Biological Opinion 

issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service (USFWS) provided in Appendix 

A of the ROD and all other necessary 

local, State, and Federal approvals, 

authorizations, and permits. Other 

agencies, including but not limited to 

Esmeralda County and USFWS, are 

responsible for issuing and enforcing 

their own decisions and applicable 

authorizations for the Project. 

Approval of the Project constitutes the 

final decision of the Department of the 

Interior (DOI) and, in accordance with 

the regulations at 43 CFR 4.410(a)(3) 

and Blue Star, Inc., 41 IBLA 333 (1979), 

is not subject to administrative appeal 

under DOI regulations at 43 CFR part 4. 

(Authority: 40 CFR 1501.9) 

Laura Daniel-Davis, 

Acting Deputy Secretary of the Interior. 

[FR Doc. 2024–25096 Filed 10–28–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4331–21–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

National Park Service 

[NPS–WASO–NRNHL–DTS#-38984; 

PPWOCRADI0, PCU00RP14.R50000] 

National Register of Historic Places; 

Notification of Pending Nominations 

and Related Actions 

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The National Park Service is 

soliciting electronic comments on the 

significance of properties nominated 

before October 19, 2024, for listing or 

related actions in the National Register 

of Historic Places. 

DATES: Comments should be submitted 

electronically by November 13, 2024. 

ADDRESSES: Comments are encouraged 

to be submitted electronically to 

National_Register_Submissions@

nps.gov with the subject line ‘‘Public 

Comment on <property or proposed 

district name, (County) State>.’’ If you 

have no access to email, you may send 

them via U.S. Postal Service and all 

other carriers to the National Register of 

Historic Places, National Park Service, 

1849 C Street NW, MS 7228, 

Washington, DC 20240. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Sherry A. Frear, Chief, National Register 

of Historic Places/National Historic 

Landmarks Program, 1849 C Street NW, 


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