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Proposed Oil & Gas Coalition Multi-State Habitat Conservation Plan for Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia

A Notice by the Fish and Wildlife Service on 11/25/2016

This document has a comment period that ends in 28 days. (12/27/2016)

Please go to this page for much more detail.

Below is detail from this (another) page:

A coalition of nine oil and gas companies will be requesting a 50-year incidental take permit (ITP) to cover potential effects to five bat species from their oil and gas exploration, production and maintenance activities in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The bat species include the endangered Indiana bat, threatened northern long-eared bat, eastern small-footed bat, little brown bat and tri-colored bat.

Oil and natural gas development involves the construction of drilling pads, access roads, pipelines, holding ponds and various other infrastructure projects, known as the covered activities. As part of the permitting process, the Coalition will develop a habitat conservation plan (HCP) to avoid, minimize and offset (mitigate) for effects to the bat species. The Service will develop an environmental impact statement (EIS) before making a permit issuance decision for the Coalition’s HCP.

On November 25, 2016, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced a 30-day public scoping period during which we invite input regarding development of the draft EIS, which will evaluate the impacts to the human environment associated with issuance of an ITP and implementation of the Coalition’s HCP. We will hold public informational meetings and request comments during this public scoping period. The Federal Register notice announcing the public scoping period is currently available.

More Information:
Press Release
Federal Register Notice
Maps
FAQs
Environmental Overview and Issues
NEPA Process Overview
NEPA Section 10 Timing
Endangered Species Act and Incidental Take Permits
Species List

Public meetings will be held at the following five venues, with a brief presentation about the project at 6 p.m.

Date	Facility and Address
Monday 12/12/2016 5-7pm	Chartiers Township Community Center Banquet Room 2013 Community Center Drive Houston, PA 15342
Tuesday 12/13/2016 5-7pm	Southgate Hotel Banquet Rooms 1 and 2 2248 Southgate Parkway Cambridge, OH 43725
Wednesday 12/14/2016 5-7pm	Beni Kedem Temple Ballroom 100 Quarrier Street Charleston, WV 25301
Thursday 12/15/2016 5-7pm	Village Square Conference Center Ballroom A Rt. 19 South/1489 Milford St. Clarksburg, WV 26301
Friday 12/16/2016 5-7pm	Genetti Hotel Washington Room 200 West Fourth Street Williamsport, PA 17701
Tuesday 12/20/2016 6pm	Webinar Register for the webinar at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/oil-and-gas-hcp-eis-online-public-scoping-meeting-tickets-29626883807