53242 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 172 / Wednesday, September 7, 2005 / Notices 

statutory maximum interest rate for the 

period beginning July 1, 2005, is 41⁄2

percent; and (2) has approved the 

establishment of the debenture interest 

rate by the Secretary of HUD at 41⁄2

percent for the 6-month period 

beginning July 1, 2005. This interest rate 

will be the rate borne by debentures 

issued with respect to any insured loan 

or mortgage (except for debentures 

issued pursuant to section 221(g)(4)) 

with insurance commitment or 

endorsement date (as applicable) within 

the latter 6 months of 2005. 

For convenience of reference, HUD is 

publishing the following chart of 

debenture interest rates applicable to 

mortgages committed or endorsed since 

January 1, 1980: 

Effective 

interest 

rate 

On or after Prior to 

91⁄2 ............... Jan. 1, 1980 July 1, 1980. 

97⁄8 ............... July 1, 1980 Jan. 1, 1981. 

113⁄4 ............. Jan. 1, 1981 July 1, 1981. 

127⁄8 ............. July 1, 1981 Jan. 1, 1982. 

123⁄4 ............. Jan. 1, 1982 Jan. 1, 1983. 

101⁄4 ............. Jan. 1, 1983 July 1, 1983. 

103⁄8 ............. July 1, 1983 Jan. 1, 1984. 

111⁄2 ............. Jan. 1, 1984 July 1, 1984. 

133⁄8 ............. July 1, 1984 Jan. 1, 1985. 

115⁄8 ............. Jan. 1, 1985 July 1, 1985. 

111⁄8 ............. July 1, 1985 Jan. 1, 1986. 

101⁄4 ............. Jan. 1, 1986 July 1, 1986. 

81⁄4 ............... July 1, 1986 Jan. 1. 1987. 

8 ................... Jan. 1, 1987 July 1, 1987. 

9 ................... July 1, 1987 Jan. 1, 1988. 

91⁄8 ............... Jan. 1, 1988 July 1, 1988. 

93⁄8 ............... July 1, 1988 Jan. 1, 1989. 

91⁄4 ............... Jan. 1, 1989 July 1, 1989. 

9 ................... July 1, 1989 Jan. 1, 1990. 

81⁄8 ............... Jan. 1, 1990 July 1, 1990. 

9 ................... July 1, 1990 Jan. 1, 1991. 

83⁄4 ............... Jan. 1, 1991 July 1, 1991. 

81⁄2 ............... July 1, 1991 Jan. 1, 1992. 

8 ................... Jan. 1, 1992 July 1, 1992. 

8 ................... July 1, 1992 Jan. 1, 1993. 

73⁄4 ............... Jan. 1, 1993 July 1, 1993. 

7 ................... July 1, 1993 Jan. 1, 1994. 

65⁄8 ............... Jan. 1, 1994 July 1, 1994. 

73⁄4 ............... July 1, 1994 Jan. 1, 1995. 

83⁄8 ............... Jan. 1, 1995 July 1, 1995. 

71⁄4 ............... July 1, 1995 Jan. 1, 1996. 

61⁄2 ............... Jan. 1, 1996 July 1, 1996. 

71⁄4 ............... July 1, 1996 Jan. 1, 1997. 

63⁄4 ............... Jan. 1, 1997 July 1, 1997. 

71⁄8 ............... July 1, 1997 Jan. 1, 1998. 

63⁄8 ............... Jan. 1, 1998 July 1, 1998. 

61⁄8 ............... July 1, 1998 Jan. 1, 1999. 

51⁄2 ............... Jan. 1, 1999 July 1, 1999. 

61⁄8 ............... July 1, 1999 Jan. 1, 2000. 

61⁄2 ............... Jan. 1, 2000 July 1, 2000. 

61⁄2 ............... July 1, 2000 Jan. 1, 2001. 

6 ................... Jan. 1, 2001 July 1, 2001. 

57⁄8 ............... July 1, 2001 Jan. 1, 2002. 

51⁄4 ............... Jan. 1, 2002 July 1, 2002. 

53⁄4 ............... July 1, 2002 Jan. 1, 2003. 

5 ................... Jan. 1, 2003 July 1, 2003. 

41⁄2 ............... July 1, 2003 Jan. 1, 2004. 

51⁄8 ............... Jan. 1, 2004 July 1, 2004. 

51⁄2 ............... July 1, 2004 Jan. 1, 2005. 

47⁄8 ............... Jan. 1, 2005 July 1, 2005. 

Effective 

interest 

rate 

On or after Prior to 

41⁄2 ............... July 1, 2005 Jan. 1, 2006. 

Section 215 of Title II of Division G 

of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 

2004 (Pub. L. 108–199, approved 

January 23, 2004) amended section 224 

of the Act, to change the debenture 

interest rate for purposes of calculating 

certain insurance claim payments made 

in cash. Therefore, effective 

immediately, for all claims paid in cash 

on mortgages insured under section 203 

or 234 of the National Housing Act and 

endorsed for insurance after January 23, 

2004, the debenture interest rate will be 

the monthly average yield, for the 

month in which the default on the 

mortgage occurred, on United States 

Treasury Securities adjusted to a 

constant maturity of 10 years, as found 

in Federal Reserve Statistical Release H–

15. The FHA is in the process of making 

conforming amendments to applicable 

regulations to fully implement this 

recent change to section 224 of the Act. 

Section 221(g)(4) of the Act provides 

that debentures issued pursuant to that 

paragraph (with respect to the 

assignment of an insured mortgage to 

the Secretary) will bear interest at the 

‘‘going Federal rate’’ in effect at the time 

the debentures are issued. The term 

‘‘going Federal rate’’ is defined to mean 

the interest rate that the Secretary of the 

Treasury determines, pursuant to a 

statutory formula based on the average 

yield on all outstanding marketable 

Treasury obligations of 8- to 12-year 

maturities, for the 6-month periods of 

January through June and July through 

December of each year. Section 221(g)(4) 

is implemented in the HUD regulations 

at 24 CFR 221.255 and 24 CFR 221.790. 

The Secretary of the Treasury has 

determined that the interest rate to be 

borne by debentures issued pursuant to 

section 221(g)(4) during the 6-month 

period beginning July 1, 2005, is 47⁄8

percent. 

HUD expects to publish its next 

notice of change in debenture interest 

rates in January 2006. 

The subject matter of this notice falls 

within the categorical exemption from 

HUD’s environmental clearance 

procedures set forth in 24 CFR 

50.19(c)(6). For that reason, no 

environmental finding has been 

prepared for this notice. 

(Authority: Sections 211, 221, 224, National 

Housing Act, 12 U.S.C. 1715b, 1715l, 1715o; 

Section 7(d), Department of HUD Act, 42 

U.S.C. 3535(d)). 

Dated: August 26, 2005. 

Brian D. Montgomery, 

Assistant Secretary for Housing—Federal 

Housing Commissioner. 

[FR Doc. 05–17729 Filed 9–6–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4210–27–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

Safe Harbor Agreement and Receipt of 

Application for an Enhancement of 

Survival Permit Associated With the 

Restoration of Habitat and 

Reintroduction of Utah Prairie Dogs on 

Private Land in Sevier County, UT 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of availability. 

SUMMARY: Mr. Mitchel Pace (Applicant/ 

Cooperator) has applied to the Fish and 

Wildlife Service (Service) for an 

Enhancement of Survival Permit (ESP) 

for the Utah prairie dog pursuant to 

section 10(a)1(A) of the Endangered 

Species Act of 1973 (U.S.C. 1531 et 

seq.), as amended (Act). This permit 

application includes a proposed Safe 

Harbor Agreement (SHA) between the 

Applicant and the Service. The 

proposed SHA and permit would 

become effective upon signature of the 

SHA and would remain in effect for 25 

years. This notice is provided pursuant 

to the National Environmental Policy 

Act (NEPA), section 10 of the Act, and 

the Service’s Safe Harbor Policy (64 FR 

32717). The Service requests 

information, views, and opinions from 

the public via this notice. Further, the 

Service is soliciting information 

regarding the adequacy of the SHA as 

measured against the Service’s Safe 

Harbor Policy and the regulations that 

implement it. 

DATES: Written comments on the permit 

application must be received on or 

before October 7, 2005. 

ADDRESSES: Persons wishing to review 

the proposed SHA and the permit 

application may obtain copies by 

writing the Service’s Mountain-Prairie 

Regional Office, Denver, Colorado. 

Documents also will be available for 

public inspection during normal 

business hours at the Regional Office, 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 134 

Union Boulevard, Lakewood, Colorado 

80228–1807, or the Utah Field Office, 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2369 

West Orton Circle, West Valley City, 

Utah 84119. Written data or comments 

concerning the proposed SHA and/or 

permit application must be submitted to 

the Regional Office and must be in 

Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 172 / Wednesday, September 7, 2005 / Notices 53243 

writing to be processed. Comments must 

be submitted in writing to be adequately 

considered in the Service’s decisionmaking process. Please reference permit 

number TE–106063 in your comments, 

or in the request for the documents 

discussed herein. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Pat 

Mehlhop, Regional Safe Harbor 

Coordinator (see ADDRESSES), telephone 

(303) 236–4215, or Henry Maddux, Utah 

Field Supervisor (see ADDRESSES), 

telephone (801) 975–3330. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Utah 

prairie dog is the westernmost member 

of the genus Cynomys. The species’

range, which is limited to the 

southwestern quarter of Utah, is the 

most restricted of all prairie dog species 

in the United States. Distribution of the 

Utah prairie dog has been greatly 

reduced due to disease (plague), 

poisoning, drought, and human-related 

habitat alteration. Protection of this 

species and enhancement of its habitat 

on private land will benefit recovery 

efforts. 

The primary objective of this 

proposed SHA is to implement 

voluntary conservation measures to 

benefit the species and the landowner. 

Through this agreement, the landowner 

will receive relief from any section 9 

liability under the Act beyond that 

which exists at the time the agreement 

is signed (‘‘regulatory baseline’’). The 

private land immediately to the south of 

the property contains an active Utah 

prairie dog colony approximately 2 

hectares (5 acres) in size. This colony 

abuts the fence line, but does not extend 

onto the property to be addressed in the 

proposed SHA due to unsuitable 

habitat. To benefit the Utah prairie dog, 

foraging and visual surveillance habitat 

will be enhanced by thinning decadent 

stands of brush and by increasing forage 

quantity and quality using mechanical 

and herbicidal treatments and reseeding 

native grasses and forbs. The habitat 

improvements will be maintained 

throughout the term of the permit 

through managed grazing, additional 

brush treatments if necessary, and to 

some degree by the Utah prairie dogs 

themselves. The Cooperator will receive 

an ESP that authorizes incidental take of 

the covered species above the 

Cooperator’s baseline responsibilities, as 

defined in the SHA. 

The Service has evaluated the impacts 

of this action under the NEPA and 

determined that it warrants categorical 

exclusion as described 516 DM 6, 

Appendix 1, section 1.4 C.(1). The 

Service will evaluate whether the 

issuance of the ESP complies with 

section 7 of the Act by conducting an 

intra-Service section 7 consultation on 

the issuance of the permit. The result of 

the biological opinion, in combination 

with the above finding and any public 

comments will be used in the final 

analysis to determine whether or not to 

issue the requested ESP, pursuant to the 

regulations that guide issuance of the 

type of permit. 

Authority: The authority for this action is 

the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as 

amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), and the 

National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, 

as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.). 

Dated: July 26, 2005. 

Elliott N. Sutta, 

Regional Director, Denver, Colorado. 

[FR Doc. 05–17668 Filed 9–6–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

Receipt of Four Applications for 

Incidental Take Permits for 

Construction of Single-Family Homes 

in Brevard County, FL 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: Eugene T. Butler, Carlos E. 

Gauthier, Robert Moren, and Kheino A. 

Phidd (Applicants) individually request 

an incidental take permit (ITP) pursuant 

to section 10(a)(1)(B) of the Endangered 

Species Act of 1973 (U.S.C. 1531 et 

seq.), as amended (Act). The Applicants 

anticipate taking a combined total of 

about 1.03 acres of Florida scrub-jay 

(Aphelocoma coerulescens) (scrub-jay) 

foraging, sheltering, and possibly 

nesting habitat incidental to lot 

preparation for the construction of 

single-family homes and supporting 

infrastructure in Brevard County, 

Florida (Projects). Requested permit 

duration is one year for all applicants, 

except for Moren, who requests a 10- 

year permit term. The destruction of 

1.03 acre of foraging, sheltering, and 

possibly nesting habitat is expected to 

result in the take of three families of 

scrub-jays. 

Each of the Applicants’ Habitat 

Conservation Plans (HCPs) describe the 

mitigation and minimization measures 

proposed to address the effects of the 

proposed Project to the Florida scrubjay. These measures are outlined in the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section 

below. We have determined that each 

Applicant’s proposal, including the 

proposed mitigation and minimization 

measures, will individually and 

cumulatively have a minor or negligible 

effect on the species covered in the 

HCPs. Therefore, the ITPs are ‘‘loweffect’’ projects and qualify as 

categorical exclusions under the 

National Environmental Policy Act 

(NEPA), as provided by the Department 

of Interior Manual (516 DM 2, Appendix 

1 and 516 DM 6, Appendix 1). We 

announce the availability of the HCPs 

for the incidental take applications. 

Copies of the HCPs may be obtained by 

making a request to the Regional Office 

(see ADDRESSES). Requests must be in 

writing to be processed. This notice is 

provided pursuant to Section 10 of the 

Endangered Species Act and NEPA 

regulations (40 CFR 1506.6). 

DATES: Written comments on the ITP 

applications and HCPs should be sent to 

the Service’s Regional Office (see 

ADDRESSES) and should be received on 

or before October 7, 2005. 

ADDRESSES: Persons wishing to review 

the applications and HCPs may obtain a 

copy by writing the Service’s Southeast 

Regional Office, Atlanta, Georgia. Please 

reference permit number TE099682–0, 

for Butler, number TE099683–0, for 

Gauthier, number TE099684–0, for 

Moren, and number TE099685–0, for 

Phidd, in such requests. Documents will 

also be available for public inspection 

by appointment during normal business 

hours at the Regional Office, 1875 

Century Boulevard, Suite 200, Atlanta, 

Georgia 30345 (Attn: Endangered 

Species Permits), or Field Supervisor, 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 6620 

Southpoint Drive South, Suite 310, 

Jacksonville, Florida 32216–0912. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

David Dell, Regional HCP Coordinator, 

(see ADDRESSES above), telephone: 404/ 

679–7313, facsimile: 404/679–7081; or 

Ms. Paula Sisson, General Biologist, 

Jacksonville Field Office, Jacksonville, 

Florida (see ADDRESSES above), 

telephone: 904/232–2580, ext. 126. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: If you 

wish to comment, you may submit 

comments by any one of several 

methods. Please reference permit 

number TE099682–0, for Butler, number 

TE099683–0, for Gauthier, number 

TE099684–0, for Moren, and number 

TE099685–0, for Phidd, in such 

comments. You may mail comments to 

the Service’s Regional Office (see 

ADDRESSES). You may also comment via 

the Internet to 

http://www.david_dell@fws.gov. Please 

submit comments over the internet as an 

ASCII file, avoiding the use of special 

characters and any form of encryption. 

Please also include your name and 

return address in your internet message. 

If you do not receive a confirmation 

from us that we have received your