[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 118 (Wednesday, June 23, 2021)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 32857-32859]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-13290]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

50 CFR Part 17

[Docket No. FWS-R1-ES-2020-0079; FF09E22000 FXES11130900000 212]
RIN 1018-BE02


Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Reclassification 
of the Hawaiian Stilt From Endangered to Threatened With a Section 4(d) 
Rule

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Proposed rule; reopening of comment period, and announcement of 
a public informational meeting and public hearing.

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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), recently 
proposed to reclassify the Hawaiian stilt (Himantopus mexicanus 
knudseni) from an endangered species to a threatened

[[Page 32858]]

species with a rule issued under section 4(d) of the Endangered Species 
Act of 1973 (Act), as amended. We are reopening the proposed rule 
comment period to give all interested parties an additional opportunity 
to comment on the proposed rule. We also announce a public 
informational meeting and public hearing on the proposed rule. Comments 
previously submitted need not be resubmitted as they are already 
incorporated into the public record and will be fully considered in the 
final rule.

DATES: Comment submission: The comment period on the proposed rule that 
published March 25, 2021 (86 FR 15855), is reopened. We will accept 
comments received or postmarked on or before July 23, 2021. Comments 
submitted electronically using the Federal eRulemaking Portal (see 
ADDRESSES, below) must be received by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the 
closing date.
    Public informational meeting and public hearing: On July 7, 2021, 
we will hold a public informational meeting from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. 
Hawaii Time, followed by a public hearing from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Hawaii 
Time.

ADDRESSES: Availability of documents: You may obtain copies of the 
March 25, 2021, proposed rule and associated documents on the internet 
at http://www.regulations.gov under Docket No. FWS-R1-ES-2020-0079.
    Comment submission: You may submit comments by one of the following 
methods:
    (1) Electronically: Go to the Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. In the Search box, enter FWS-R1-ES-2020-0079, 
which is the docket number for the March 25, 2021, proposed rule. Then 
click on the Search button. On the resulting page, in the Search panel 
on the left side of the screen, under the Document Type heading, click 
on the Proposed Rule box to locate this document. You may submit a 
comment by clicking on ``Comment Now!''
    (2) By hard copy: Submit by U.S. mail to: Public Comments 
Processing, Attn: Docket No. FWS-R1-ES-2020-0079, U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service, MS: PRB/3W, 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 
22041-3803.
    We request that you send comments only by the methods described 
above. We will post all comments on http://www.regulations.gov. This 
generally means that we will post any personal information you provide 
us (see Public Comments, below, for more information).
    Public informational meeting and public hearing: The public 
informational meeting and the public hearing will be held virtually 
using the Zoom platform. See Public Hearing, below, for more 
information.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Greg Koob, Deputy Field Supervisor for 
Programmatic Operations, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Pacific 
Islands Fish and Wildlife Office, 300 Ala Moana Boulevard, Room 3-123, 
Honolulu, HI 96850; telephone 808-792-9449. Persons who use a 
telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal Relay 
Service at 800-877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On March 25, 2021, we published a proposed rule (86 FR 15855) to 
reclassify the Hawaiian stilt from endangered to threatened (i.e., to 
``downlist'' the species) with a rule issued under section 4(d) of the 
Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). The proposed rule opened a 60-day public 
comment period, ending May 24, 2021. During the open comment period, we 
received a request for a public hearing from the Center for Biological 
Diversity. Therefore, we are reopening the comment period on the March 
25, 2021, proposed rule and announcing a public informational meeting 
and a public hearing to allow the public an additional opportunity to 
provide comments on the proposed rule.
    For a description of previous Federal actions concerning the 
Hawaiian stilt and information on the types of comments that would be 
helpful to us in promulgating this rulemaking action, please refer to 
the March 25, 2021, proposed rule (86 FR 15855).

Public Comments

    If you submit information via http://www.regulations.gov, your 
entire submission--including any personal identifying information--will 
be posted on the website. If your submission is made via hard copy 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 submissions on http://www.regulations.gov. Comments 
and materials we receive, as well as supporting documentation we used 
in preparing the proposed rule, will be available for public inspection 
on http://www.regulations.gov.

Public Hearing

    We have scheduled a public informational meeting and public hearing 
on our March 25, 2021, proposed rule to downlist the Hawaiian stilt 
with a rule issued under section 4(d) of the Act (86 FR 15855). We will 
hold the public informational meeting and public hearing on the date 
and at the times listed above under Public informational meeting and 
public hearing in DATES. We are holding the public informational 
meeting and public hearing via the Zoom online video platform and via 
teleconference so that participants can attend remotely. For security 
purposes, registration is required. To listen and view the meeting and 
hearing via Zoom, listen to the meeting and hearing by telephone, or 
provide oral public comments at the public hearing via Zoom or by 
telephone, you must register. For information on how to register, or if 
you encounter problems joining Zoom the day of the meeting, visit 
https://www.fws.gov/pacificislands. Registrants will receive the Zoom 
link and the telephone number for the public informational meeting and 
public hearing. If applicable, interested members of the public not 
familiar with the Zoom platform should view the Zoom video tutorials 
(https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/206618765-Zoom-video-tutorials) prior to the public informational meeting and public 
hearing.
    The public hearing will provide interested parties an opportunity 
to present verbal testimony (formal, oral comments) regarding the March 
25, 2021, proposed rule to downlist the Hawaiian stilt with a rule 
issued under section 4(d) of the Act (86 FR 15855). While the public 
informational meeting will be an opportunity for dialogue with the 
Service, the public hearing is not. The purpose of the public hearing 
is to provide a forum for accepting formal verbal testimony, which will 
then become part of the record for the proposed rule. In the event 
there is a large attendance, the time allotted for verbal testimony may 
be limited. Therefore, anyone wishing to provide verbal testimony at 
the public hearing is encouraged to provide a prepared written copy of 
their statement to us through the Federal eRulemaking Portal or by U.S. 
mail (see ADDRESSES, above). There are no limits on the length of 
written comments submitted to us. Anyone wishing to provide verbal 
testimony at the public hearing must register before the hearing 
(https://www.fws.gov/pacificislands). The use of a virtual public 
hearing is consistent with our regulations in title 50 of the Code of 
Federal Regulations (CFR) at Sec.  424.16(c)(3) (50 CFR 424.16(c)(3)).

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Reasonable Accommodation

    The Service is committed to providing access to the public 
informational meeting and public hearing for all participants. Closed 
captioning will be available during the public informational meeting 
and public hearing. Further, a full audio and video recording and 
transcript of the public hearing will be posted online at https://www.fws.gov/pacificislands after the hearing. Participants will also 
have access to live audio during the public informational meeting and 
public hearing via their telephone or computer speakers. Persons with 
disabilities requiring reasonable accommodations to participate in the 
meeting and/or hearing should contact the person listed under FOR 
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT at least 5 business days prior to the date 
of the meeting and hearing to help ensure availability. An accessible 
version of the Service's public informational meeting presentation will 
also be posted online at https://www.fws.gov/pacificislands prior to 
the meeting and hearing (see DATES, above). See https://www.fws.gov/pacificislands for more information about reasonable accommodation.

Authors

    The primary author of this document is Ecological Services staff of 
the Interior-Region 9/12 Regional Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service, Portland, Oregon.

Authority

    The authority for this action is the Endangered Species Act of 
1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).

Signing Authority

    The Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, approved this 
document and authorized the undersigned to sign and submit the document 
to the Office of the Federal Register for publication electronically as 
an official document of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Martha 
Williams, Principal Deputy Director Exercising the Delegated Authority 
of the Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, approved this document 
on June 21, 2021, for publication.

Anissa Craghead,
Acting Regulations and Policy Chief, Division of Policy, Economics, 
Risk Management, and Analytics, Joint Administrative Operations, U.S. 
Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 2021-13290 Filed 6-22-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333-15-P