68690 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 222 / Tuesday, November 18, 2014 / Notices 

Claes Fornell International (CFI) Group 

and the ACSI organization to offer the 

methodology to Federal Agencies. 

The CFI Group, a leader in customer 

satisfaction and customer experience 

management, offers a comprehensive 

model that quantifies the effects of 

quality improvements on citizen 

satisfaction. The CFI Group has 

developed the methodology and 

licenses it to the ACSI organization 

which produces the American Customer 

Satisfaction Index (ACSI) for different 

economic sectors and as an annual 

benchmark for customer service in the 

U.S. Government. The ACSI was 

introduced in 1994 by Professor Claes 

Fornell under the auspices of the 

University of Michigan, the American 

Society for Quality (ASQ), and the CFI 

Group. In 2008, the ACSI became an 

independent organization that continues 

to monitor and benchmark customer 

satisfaction across more than 200 

companies and many U.S. Federal 

Agencies. 

The ACSI is the only cross-agency 

methodology for obtaining comparable 

measures of customer satisfaction with 

Federal Government programs and/or 

services. Along with other economic 

objectives—such as employment and 

growth—the quality of output (goods 

and services) is a part of measuring 

living standards. The ACSI’s ultimate 

purpose is to help improve the quality 

of goods and services available to 

American citizens. 

ACSI surveys conducted by the 

Federal Consulting Group are 

completely subject to the Privacy Act 

1074, Public Law 93–579, December 31, 

1974 (5 U.S.C. 522a). The agency 

information collection is an integral part 

of conducting an ACSI survey. The 

contractor will not be authorized to 

release any agency information upon 

completion of the survey without first 

obtaining permission from the Federal 

Consulting Group and the participating 

agency. In no case shall any new system 

of records containing privacy 

information be developed by the Federal 

Consulting Group, participating 

agencies, or the contractor collecting the 

data. In addition, participating Federal 

agencies may only provide information 

used to randomly select respondents 

from among established systems of 

records provided for such routine uses. 

There is no other agency or 

organization which is able to provide 

the information that is accessible 

through the surveying approach used in 

this information collection. Further, the 

information will enable Federal 

Agencies to determine customer 

satisfaction metrics with discrimination 

capability across variables. Thus, this 

information collection will assist 

Federal Agencies in improving their 

customer service in a targeted manner 

which will make best use of resources 

to improve service to the public. 

This survey asks no questions of a 

sensitive nature, such as sexual 

behavior and attitudes, religious beliefs, 

and other matters that are commonly 

considered private. 

Current Actions: Proposed renewal of 

collection of information. 

Type of Review: Renewal. 

Affected Public: Individuals and 

Households, Businesses and 

Organizations, State, Local or Tribal 

Government. 

Estimated Number of Respondents: 

Participation by Federal agencies in the 

ACSI is expected to vary as new 

customer segment measures are added 

or deleted. However, based on historical 

records, projected average estimates for 

the next three years are as follows: 

Average Expected Annual Number of 

Customer Satisfaction Surveys: 100. 

Respondents: 80,000. 

Annual responses: 80,000. 

Frequency of Response: Once per 

survey. 

Average minutes per response: 12.0. 

Burden hours: 16,000 hours. 

Request for Comments: Comments 

submitted in response to this notice will 

be summarized and/or included in the 

request for OMB approval. Comments 

are invited on: (a) Whether the 

collection of information is necessary 

for the proper performance of the 

functions of the agency, including 

whether the information shall have 

practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the 

agency’s estimate of the burden of the 

collection of information; (c) ways to 

enhance the quality, utility, and clarity 

of the information to be collected; (d) 

ways to minimize the burden of the 

collection of information on 

respondents, including through the use 

of automated collection techniques or 

other forms of information technology; 

and (e) estimates of capital or start-up 

costs and costs of operation, 

maintenance, and purchase of services 

to provide information. Burden means 

the total time, effort, or financial 

resources expended by persons to 

generate, maintain, retain, disclose or 

provide information to or for a Federal 

agency. This includes the time needed 

to review instructions; to develop, 

acquire, install and utilize technology 

and systems for the purpose of 

collecting, validating and verifying 

information, processing and 

maintaining information, and disclosing 

and providing information; to train 

personnel and to be able to respond to 

a collection of information, to search 

data sources, to complete and review 

the collection of information; and to 

transmit or otherwise disclose the 

information. 

All written comments will be 

available for public inspection by 

appointment with the Federal 

Consulting Group at the contact 

information given in the Addresses 

section. The comments, with names and 

addresses, will be available for public 

view during regular business hours. If 

you wish us to withhold your personal 

information, you must prominently state 

at the beginning of your comment what 

personal information you want us to 

withhold. We will honor your request to 

extent allowable by law. 

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 

Office of Management and Budget 

control number. 

Dated: November 10, 2014. 

Jessica Reed, 

Director, Federal Consulting Group. 

[FR Doc. 2014–27223 Filed 11–17–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4334–12–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

[FWS–R5–ES–2014–0047; 

FXES11120500000] 

Early Scoping for an Anticipated 

Application for Incidental Take Permit 

and Draft Habitat Conservation Plan; 

North Allegheny Wind Facility 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of initiation of scoping. 

SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Endangered 

Species Act (ESA) and the National 

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), we, 

the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

(Service), announce our intent to 

prepare a NEPA document for an 

anticipated Incidental Take Permit (ITP) 

application and associated draft habitat 

conservation plan (HCP) from the North 

Allegheny Wind, LLC, a wholly owned 

subsidiary of Duke Energy Generating 

Services (or Duke Energy Renewables) 

for operation of their wind facility 

within occupied habitat of the northern 

long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis) 

and the federally listed endangered 

Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis). The 

northern long-eared bat has recently 

been proposed for listing as endangered 

under the ESA. Wind turbine operation 

has the potential to incidentally take 

Indiana bats and northern long-eared 

bats. Therefore, Duke Energy 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 222 / Tuesday, November 18, 2014 / Notices 68691 

Renewables is developing an ITP 

application and HCP to address this 

activity. 

In advance of receiving the ITP 

application for this project, the Service 

is providing this notice to request 

information from other agencies, tribes, 

and the public on the scope of the NEPA 

review and issues to consider in the 

NEPA analysis and in development of 

the HCP. 

DATES: We will accept comments 

received or postmarked on or before 

December 18, 2014. Comments 

submitted electronically using the 

Federal eRulemaking Portal (see 

ADDRESSES) must be received by 11:59 

p.m. Eastern Time on the closing date. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit written 

comments by one of the following 

methods: 

Electronically: Go to http://

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments 

on Docket No. FWS–R5–ES–2014–0047, 

which is the docket number for this 

notice. Click on the appropriate link to 

locate this document and submit a 

comment. 

By hard copy: Submit by U.S. mail or 

hand-delivery to Public Comments 

Processing, Attn: FWS–R5–ES–2014– 

0047; Division of Policy and Directives 

Management; U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service, MS: BPHC; 5275 Leesburg Pike, 

Falls Church, VA 22041–3803. 

We request that you send comments 

by only the methods described above. 

We will post all information received on 

the Web site at: http://

www.regulations.gov. This generally 

means that we will post any personal 

information you provide us (see the 

Public Comments section below for 

more information). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lora 

Zimmerman, by mail at U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service, 315 South Allen 

Street, Suite 322, State College, PA 

16801, or by telephone at 814–234– 

4090, extension 233. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We 

announce our intent to prepare a NEPA 

document for a pending ITP application 

and associated draft HCP from Duke 

Energy Renewables. Duke Energy 

Renewables currently owns and 

operates the North Allegheny Wind 

Project, a utility-scale wind generation 

facility in Blair and Cambria Counties, 

Pennsylvania. A map depicting the 

wind facility on the landscape can be 

viewed on the Service’s Pennsylvania 

Field Office Web page; http://

www.fws.gov/northeast/pafo//pdf/

NAW_LocationMap_100914.pdf . The 

facility consists of 35 2-megawatt 

turbines, a network of electrical 

collector lines, and access roads. The 

facility is situated in predominantly 

forested lands that harbor the federally 

listed endangered Indiana bat and the 

proposed endangered northern longeared bat. Construction of the facility 

was completed in 2008, and commercial 

operation began in September 2009. 

Take of one Indiana bat occurred in 

September 2011. As a result, the 

company has been operating at a cut in 

speed we believe that will avoid further 

take while permit materials are being 

developed and final decisions are made. 

As indicated above, wind turbine 

operation has the potential to 

incidentally take Indiana bats and 

northern long-eared bats. Therefore, 

Duke Energy Renewables is developing 

an ITP application and HCP to address 

these activities. 

In advance of receiving the ITP 

application for this project, the Service 

is providing this notice to request 

information from other agencies, Tribes, 

and the public on the scope of the NEPA 

review and issues to consider in the 

NEPA analysis and in development of 

the HCP. We believe we can proceed 

with an Environmental Assessment 

(EA), with the caveat that we will use 

it to evaluate, in conjunction with the 

public comments, whether any 

significant impacts would require 

further analysis in an Environmental 

Impact Statement. 

Request for Information 

We request data, comments, 

information, and suggestions from the 

public, other concerned governmental 

agencies, the scientific community, 

Tribes, industry, or any other interested 

party on this notice. We will consider 

all comments we receive in complying 

with the requirements of NEPA and in 

the development of the HCP and ITP. 

We seek comments particularly 

related to: 

(1) Information concerning the 

biology, range, distribution, population 

size, and population trends of Indiana 

bats, northern long-eared bats, and other 

federally listed species that occur in 

Pennsylvania that could be affected by 

proposed covered activities; 

(2) Relevant data and information 

concerning wind turbine operation and 

bat interactions; and 

(3) Any other issues relating to the 

human environment and potential 

impacts that we should consider with 

regard to the covered activities and 

potential ITP issuance (e.g., cultural and 

historical resources, migratory birds, 

etc). 

You may submit your comments and 

materials considering this notice by one 

of the methods listed in the ADDRESSES

section. 

Background 

Indiana bats are listed as an 

endangered species under the ESA. The 

population decline of this species has 

historically been attributed to habitat 

loss and degradation of both winter 

hibernation habitat (hibernacula) and 

summer roosting habitat, human 

disturbance during hibernation, and 

possibly pesticides. A more recent 

threat to Indiana bats has been the 

emergence of white-nose syndrome 

(WNS), an infectious fungal disease that 

has led to significant population 

declines in some parts of the species’ 

range, including the northeastern and 

southeastern United States. 

The range of the Indiana bat includes 

much of the eastern United States, 

including Pennsylvania. Winter habitat 

for the Indiana bat includes caves and 

mines that support high humidity and 

cool-but-stable temperatures. In the 

summer, Indiana bats roost in trees 

(dead, dying, or alive) with exfoliating 

bark, cracks, crevices, and/or hollows. 

During summer, males roost alone or in 

small groups, while females and their 

offspring can roost in larger groups. 

Indiana bats forage for insects in and 

along the edges of forested areas and 

wooded stream corridors. 

Northern long-eared bats have 

recently been proposed for listing as 

endangered under the ESA. WNS is the 

predominant threat to the species, 

though other threats may include 

impacts to hibernacula and summer 

habitat, and disturbance of hibernating 

bats. Northern long-eared bats have been 

abundant in the eastern United States 

and are often captured in summer mist 

nets surveys and detected during 

acoustic surveys. Northern long-eared 

bats are known to use forested habitats 

throughout Pennsylvania. Similar to 

Indiana bats, northern long-eared bats 

generally hibernate in caves and mines 

during the winter. During the summer, 

the bats roost in live or dead trees, 

though they are also known to use 

human-made structures such as barns, 

sheds, and bat boxes. 

Bats are known to be killed in 

significant numbers by utility-scale 

wind turbines in the eastern United 

States. Bats have very low reproductive 

rates, with females of most species 

typically producing only one offspring 

per year. Fatalities resulting from wind 

facilities are considered to be additive to 

baseline fatalities, that is, they are 

fatalities above and beyond that which 

would be expected to occur due to 

baseline ecological and biological 

factors, such as old age, predation, and 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
68692 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 222 / Tuesday, November 18, 2014 / Notices 

climatic extremes. Furthermore, with 

respect to Indiana bats and northern 

long-eared bats, the additive mortality 

from wind facilities is expected to 

exacerbate population declines that 

have resulted from WNS. 

The Federal action that will be 

analyzed through NEPA will be the 

potential issuance of an ITP to allow 

incidental take of Indiana bats and 

northern long-eared bats from wind 

turbines that will be described in the 

HCP. The HCP will incorporate 

avoidance, minimization, mitigation, 

monitoring, and reporting measures 

aimed at addressing the impact of the 

covered activities to Indiana bats and 

northern long-eared bats. A description 

of the covered lands is currently under 

development for the HCP, but will likely 

include the 35 turbines, turbine pads, 

electric lines, and access roads. The 

covered activities in the HCP are 

anticipated to include turbine operation, 

maintenance activities, 

decommissioning, and mitigation 

actions that have the potential to result 

in incidental take of Indiana bats and 

northern long-eared bats. Because 

curtailment of operating turbines is the 

only method presently known to 

effectively reduce bat fatalities due to 

wind turbine operation, this will likely 

be the primary minimization measure 

employed. The permit term is under 

development but is likely to be 

coextensive with the predicted 

operating life of the turbines, generally 

between 20–30 years. 

The NEPA analysis will assess the 

direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts 

of the proposed Federal action on the 

human environment, comprehensively 

interpreted to include the natural and 

physical environment and the 

relationship of people with that 

environment. It will also analyze several 

alternatives to the proposed Federal 

action, to include no action, and other 

reasonable courses of action. Relevant 

information provided in response to this 

notice will aid in developing the draft 

HCP and NEPA analysis. 

Next Steps 

In this phase of the project, we are 

seeking information to assist 

development of the NEPA analysis and 

the draft HCP. We will then develop a 

draft NEPA document based on the ITP 

application, Applicant’s draft HCP, any 

associated documents, and public 

comments received through this early 

scoping effort. We will then publish a 

notice of availability for the draft NEPA 

document and draft HCP and seek 

additional public comment before 

completing our final analysis to 

determine whether to issue an ITP. 

Public Comments 

The Service invites the public to 

provide comments that will assist our 

NEPA analysis during this 30-day 

public comment period (see DATES). You 

may submit comments by one of the 

methods shown under ADDRESSES. 

Public Availability of Comments 

We will post all public comments and 

information received electronically or 

via hardcopy at http://regulations.gov. 

All comments received, including 

names and addresses, will become part 

of the administrative record and will be 

available to the public. Before including 

your address, phone number, electronic 

mail address, or other personal 

identifying information in your 

comment, you should be aware that 

your entire comment—including your 

personal identifying information—will 

be publicly available. 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. 

Authority 

This notice is provided pursuant to 

NEPA regulations (40 CFR 1501.7 and 

1508.22). 

Dated: October 27, 2014. 

Paul Phifer, 

Assistant Regional Director, Ecological 

Services, Northeast Region. 

[FR Doc. 2014–27255 Filed 11–17–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–55–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Fish and Wildlife Service 

[FWS–R4–ES–2014–N182; 40120–1112– 

0000–F2] 

Amendment of a Joint Programmatic 

Candidate Conservation Agreement 

With Assurances and Safe Harbor 

Agreement, Upper Little Red River 

Watershed, Arkansas 

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: Under the Endangered 

Species Act, we, the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service, announce the receipt 

and availability of a revised joint Safe 

Harbor Agreement and Candidate 

Conservation Agreement with 

Assurances (revised agreement) and 

accompanying documents for 

establishing a programmatic enrollment 

of willing landowners by the parties to 

the revised agreement: Arkansas Game 

and Fish Commission, Natural 

Resources Conservation Service, The 

Nature Conservancy, and the Fish and 

Wildlife Service, Arkansas Ecological 

Services Field Office (parties). The 

revised agreement analyzes effects of 

conservation measures and certain land 

uses on two endangered species—the 

yellowcheek darter (Etheostoma 

moorei), a fish, and rabbitsfoot 

(Quadrula cylindrica cylindrica), a 

mussel—in the Upper Little Red River 

Watershed, northcentral Arkansas, so 

that these listed species, as well as 19 

candidate and other unlisted species, 

might be added to those already covered 

by the existing enhancement of survival 

permits. We invite public comments on 

these documents. 

DATES: We must receive any written 

comments at our Regional Office (see 

ADDRESSES) on or before December 18, 

2014. 

ADDRESSES: Documents are available for 

public inspection by appointment 

during normal business hours at the 

Fish and Wildlife Service’s Regional 

Office, 1875 Century Boulevard, Suite 

200, Atlanta, GA 30345; or at the 

Arkansas Ecological Services Field 

Office, Fish and Wildlife Service, 1500 

Museum Road, Suite 105, Conway, AR 

72032. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

Michael Harris, At-Risk Species 

Coordinator, at the Regional Office (see 

ADDRESSES), telephone: 404–679–7066; 

or Mr. Chris Davidson, Endangered 

Species Coordinator, at the Arkansas 

Field Office (see ADDRESSES), telephone: 

501–513–4481. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We 

announce the availability of the revised 

Agreement, which incorporates the 

yellowcheek darter, rabbitsfoot, and 19 

State species of concern. The 

yellowcheek darter and rabbitsfoot 

became federally listed after the original 

enhancement of survival permits were 

issued in February 2007. The 

yellowcheek darter was originally 

covered by the Candidate Conservation 

Agreement with Assurances, but would 

now be transferred under the Safe 

Harbor Agreement. The Service 

previously advertised (71 FR 53129), 

and issued enhancement of survival 

permits, TE138910 (Safe Harbor) and 

TE138911 (Candidate Conservation) as 

30-year enhancement of survival 

permits covering the speckled 

pocketbook (Lampsilis streckeri) and 

yellowcheek darter, respectively. 

The parties request amendment of the 

enhancement of survival permits, for 

their remaining terms, under section 

10(a)(1)(A) of the Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES