[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 135 (Thursday, July 15, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42447-42449]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-16095]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
Environmental Review of Proposed Incidental Take Permit and
Habitat Conservation Plan for the Kaua'i Island Utility Cooperative,
Hawai'i
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of intent; notice of scoping meeting.
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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) is advising the public that we
intend to gather information necessary to prepare, in coordination with
the Hawai'i Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), a joint
Federal/State environmental document (Environmental Assessment or
Environmental Impact Statement) for a proposed habitat conservation
plan (HCP) that is being prepared by the Kaua'i Island Utility
Cooperative (KIUC). The proposed HCP is being prepared under section
10(a) of the Federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) and section 195D-21
of the Hawai'i Revised Statutes (HRS). The KIUC intends to apply for an
incidental take permit under the ESA and a State section 195D-21
incidental take license to authorize take of the federally endangered
Hawaiian petrel (Pterodroma sandwichensis), the federally threatened
Newell's shearwater (Puffinus auricularis newelli), and the band-rumped
storm-petrel (Oceanodroma castro), a federal candidate that may become
listed under the ESA during the term of the permit. We provide this
notice to advise other Federal and State agencies, affected Tribes, and
the public of our intentions; to announce the initiation of a 30-day
public scoping period; and to request suggestions and information on
the scope of issues and alternatives to be addressed in the
environmental document. We invite oral or written comments from
interested parties to ensure that the full range of issues related to
the permit request is identified.
DATES: Oral and written comments will be accepted at a public scoping
meeting held on Thursday, 16 September 2004 from 7-9 p.m. Written
comments from all interested parties must be postmarked by August 16,
2004.
ADDRESSES: The public meeting will be held in Lihu'e, Kaua'i, at the
Planning Commission Conference Room, Mo'ikeha Building, 4444 Rice
Street, Lihue, Hawai'i. Information, written comments, or questions
related to the NEPA process, or requests to be added to the mailing
list, should be submitted to the Acting Field Supervisor, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, Pacific Islands Fish and Wildlife Office, PO Box
50088, Honolulu, Hawai'i 96850 (facsimile: 808-792-9581)
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Arlene Pangelinan, Conservation
Planning and Permits Program Leader (see ADDRESSES), or at 808-792-
9400.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Reasonable Accommodation
Persons needing reasonable accommodations in order to attend and
participate in the public meeting should contact Jenness McBride, Fish
and Wildlife Biologist, as soon as possible (see ADDRESSES), or at
(808) 792-9400. To allow sufficient time to process requests, please
call no later than 1 week before the public meeting. Information
regarding this proposed action is available in alternative formats upon
request.
Background
Federal agencies are required to conduct National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) analyses of their proposed
actions to determine if the actions may affect the human environment.
The Service anticipates that the KIUC will request an ESA (16 U.S.C.
1531 et seq.) incidental take permit. Therefore, we are seeking public
input on the scope of NEPA analysis required, including the range of
reasonable alternatives and the associated impacts of those
alternatives.
Section 9 of the ESA and its implementing Federal regulations
prohibit the ``take'' of species listed as threatened or endangered.
Take is defined under the ESA to include actions that harass, harm,
pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture or collect listed
animal species, or attempt to engage in such conduct (16 U.S.C. 1538).
Harm includes significant habitat modification or degradation where it
actually kills or injures listed wildlife by significantly impairing
essential behavioral patterns, including breeding, feeding, and
sheltering (50 CFR 17.3(c)). Under limited circumstances the Service
may issue permits to take listed species incidental to, and not the
purpose of, carrying out otherwise lawful activities. Section
10(a)(1)(B) of the ESA and regulations governing permits for threatened
and endangered species at 50 CFR 17.32 contain provisions for issuing
incidental take permits to non-Federal entities for the take of
endangered and threatened species, provided the Service determines the
following criteria are met: (1) The taking will be incidental; (2) the
applicant will, to the maximum extent practicable, minimize and
mitigate the impacts of such taking; (3)
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the applicant will ensure that adequate funding for the HCP will be
provided; (4) the taking will not appreciably reduce the likelihood of
the survival and recovery of the species in the wild; and (5) any other
measures that the Service may require as being necessary or appropriate
for the purposes of the HCP will be met.
The KIUC is a not-for-profit, member-owned utility cooperative that
generates and distributes electricity to the entire island of Kaua'i,
Hawai'i. It intends to apply for a incidental take permit for three
seabird species to be covered under an HCP, the endangered Hawaiian
petrel, the threatened Newell's shearwater, and the band-rumped storm-
petrel, a candidate for Federal listing. Species may be added or
deleted during the course of the HCP's development based on further
analysis, new information, agency consultation, and public comment.
These seabird species breed on the island of Kaua'i and feed on the
open ocean. Thus they spend a large part of the year at sea. Adults
generally return to their colonial nesting grounds in the interior
mountains of Kaua'i beginning in March and April, and depart beginning
in September. Fledglings (i.e., young birds learning how to fly) make
their first journey from nesting colony to the sea in the fall. Both
adults and fledglings are known to occasionally collide with tall
buildings, towers, powerlines, and other structures while flying at
night between their nesting colonies and at-sea foraging areas. These
birds, and particularly fledglings, are also attracted to bright
lights. Disoriented birds are commonly observed circling repeatedly
around exterior light sources until they fall exhausted to the ground
or collide with structures.
The proposed HCP will cover the KIUC activities within all areas on
Kaua'i where their facilities (e.g., generating stations, powerlines,
utility poles, and lights) are located, including operation,
maintenance, and repair of these and other existing facilities, and
construction, operation, maintenance, and repair of new facilities,
during the term of the incidental take permit. Under the proposed HCP,
the effects of covered activities associated with the KIUC facilities
and operations are expected to be minimized and mitigated through a
fully described conservation program. The biological goals of the
proposed HCP are to avoid and minimize the incidental take of listed
seabirds associated with construction, operation, maintenance, and
repair of the KIUC structures and facilities; and to mitigate any
unavoidable incidental take by improving seabird survival and breeding
success. The proposed HCP will analyze minimizing the impacts of
existing and future facilities and operations through a variety of
measures, such as shielding lights (primarily streetlights mounted on
utility poles), installing powerline marker balls, and implementing
certain design features to reduce the risk of seabird collisions, such
as installing powerlines below seabird flight altitudes, modifying
powerline arrays, and placing certain powerline segments underground.
The conservation program also will include efforts to rescue and
rehabilitate birds grounded by collisions or light-attraction effects,
monitor trends in the number and locations of downed seabirds, and
conduct research needed to investigate information gaps that limit
options for minimizing or mitigating incidental take.
Since November 2002, the KIUC has been working with the Service
under a Memorandum of Agreement to implement certain interim
conservation measures to benefit listed seabird species on Kaua'i,
while the proposed HCP is being developed. The KIUC has shielded all
streetlights on their utility poles to reduce light-attraction impacts,
placed powerline marker balls where needed in areas of concentrated
seabird flight paths, contributed funds to partially support the
State's program to rescue and rehabilitate downed seabirds, and is
initiating a nesting colony habitat improvement program in partnership
with a third-party landowner for control of non-native mammalian
predators. These measures and additional off-site mitigation activities
will be included in the conservation program described in the proposed
HCP.
Environmental Review
The Service and the DLNR are proposing to conduct an environmental
review of the proposed issuance of Federal and State incidental take
permits and the associated proposed HCP, and to prepare a joint
Federal/State environmental document to assess potential impacts
related to the ecosystem and the human environment. The KIUC, the
Service, and the DLNR have selected Planning Solutions, Inc., of
Honolulu, Hawai'i, to prepare the draft environmental document. The
joint Federal/State document will be prepared in compliance with NEPA
and the HRS Chapter 343. Although Planning Solutions, Inc., will
prepare the environmental document, the Service will be responsible for
the scope and content of the document for NEPA purposes, and the DLNR
will be responsible for the scope and content of the document for the
HRS Chapter 343 purposes.
The Service's proposed action is the issuance of an incidental take
permit and implementation of the associated HCP, which will include
measures to minimize and mitigate incidental take of the covered
species.
The environmental review will consider the proposed action, no
action (i.e., no permit issuance), a reasonable range of alternatives,
and the associated impacts of each alternative. A detailed description
of the proposed action and alternatives (including no action) will be
included in the environmental document. We anticipate that several
alternatives will be developed, which may vary by the level of impacts
caused by the proposed activities, their specific locations, and the
conservation measures involved. Potential alternatives may include
various methods of minimizing take through modifications of existing
powerlines, structures, and lights; placing powerline segments
underground; implementing design standards for new facilities; and
developing and implementing various approaches for improving seabird
survival and breeding success.
The environmental document also will identify potentially
significant impacts on other biological resources, land use, air
quality, water quality, mineral resources, water resources, cultural
and archeological resources, socio-economic conditions, and other
ecosystem and human environment issues that could result directly or
indirectly from implementation of the proposed action and alternatives.
For potentially significant impacts, the environmental document may
identify mitigation measures to reduce those impacts to a level below
significance. We anticipate the final environmental document will be
completed by spring 2005.
The Service will conduct the proposed environmental review in
accordance with the requirements of NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), its
implementing regulations (40 CFR parts 1500-1508), other appropriate
Federal laws and regulations, and policies and procedures of the
Service for compliance with those regulations. We are publishing this
notice in accordance with Section 1501.7 of the NEPA regulations to
obtain suggestions and information from other agencies and the public
on the scope of issues and alternatives to be addressed in the
environmental document. The primary purpose of the scoping process is
to identify, rather than to debate, significant issues related to the
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proposed action. We invite comments and suggestions from all interested
parties to ensure that a reasonable range of alternatives is addressed
and that all potentially significant issues are identified. All
comments received, including names and addresses, will become part of
the official administrative record and may be made available to the
public. We will fully consider all comments received during the comment
period.
Dated: June 14, 2004.
David J. Wesley,
Deputy Regional Director, Region 1, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 04-16095 Filed 7-14-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-P