Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Reopening Comment Periods for Three Proposed Rules; Announcement of a Public Hearing for One Proposed Rule

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR <SUBAGY>Fish and Wildlife Service</SUBAGY> <CFR>50 CFR Part 17</CFR> <DEPDOC>[Docket Nos. FWS-R3-ES-2024-0137, FWS-R8-ES-2024-0041, and FWS-R7-ES-2024-0117; FXES1111090FEDR-256-FF09E21000]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RINs 1018-BE30; 1018-BH49; 1018-BI15</RIN> <SUBJECT>Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Reopening Comment Periods for Three Proposed Rules; Announcement of a Public Hearing for One Proposed Rule</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior. <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Proposed rules; reopening of the comment periods, announcement of public hearing. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, announce that we are reopening the comment periods for proposed rules pertaining to three insect species: monarch butterfly ( <E T="03">Danaus plexippus</E> ), bleached sandhill skipper ( <E T="03">Polites sabuleti sinemaculata</E> ), and Suckley's cuckoo bumble bee ( <E T="03">Bombus suckleyi</E> ). We also announce a public hearing for the bleached sandhill skipper. Comments previously submitted on these proposed rules need not be resubmitted as they are already incorporated into the public records for these rulemaking actions and will be fully considered in our development of the final rules. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> <E T="03">Comment periods:</E> The comment periods on the proposed rules that published on December 12, 2024, at 89 FR 100662, on December 17, 2024, at 89 FR 102074, and on January 8, 2025, at 90 FR 1421 are reopened until May 19, 2025. Comments submitted electronically using the Federal eRulemaking Portal (see <E T="02">ADDRESSES</E> , below) must be received by 11:59 p.m. eastern time on the closing date. <E T="03">Public hearing:</E> On April 16, 2025, we will hold a public hearing on the proposed rule for the bleached sandhill skipper from 5 to 7 p.m., Pacific time, using the Zoom online platform (for more information, see Public Hearing, below). </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> <E T="03">Availability of documents:</E> You may obtain copies of the proposed rules and associated documents on the internet at <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov</E> under the appropriate docket number (see table 1, below). <E T="03">Comment submission:</E> You may submit written comments by one of the following methods: (1) <E T="03">Electronically:</E> Go to the Federal eRulemaking Portal: <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov.</E> In the Search box, enter the appropriate docket number (see table 1, below). Then, click on the Search button. On the resulting page, in the panel on the left side of the screen, under the Document Type heading, check the Proposed Rule box to locate the correct document. You may submit a comment by clicking on “Comment.” (2) <E T="03">By hard copy:</E> Submit by U.S. mail to: Public Comments Processing, Attn: [Insert appropriate docket number; see table 1, below], U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, MS: PRB/3W, 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803. <E T="03">Public hearing:</E> Interested parties may present verbal testimony (formal, oral comments) at a public hearing, which will be held virtually using the Zoom platform. See Public Hearing, below, for more information. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> For information related to the monarch butterfly, bleached sandhill skipper, or Suckley's cuckoo bumble bee, contact John Tirpak, Manager of the Division of Conservation and Classification, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Headquarters Office; telephone 703-358-2163. Individuals in the United States who are deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability may dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to access telecommunications relay services. Individuals outside the United States should use the relay services offered within their country to make international calls to the point-of-contact in the United States. </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Background</HD> Under the authority of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act; 16 U.S.C. 1531 <E T="03">et seq.</E> ), we, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, published the following proposed rules: • On December 12, 2024, we published a proposed rule to list the monarch butterfly as a threatened species with protective regulations under section 4(d) of the Act and to designate critical habitat for the species (89 FR 100662). The proposed rule opened a 90-day comment period, which ended March 12, 2025. • On December 17, 2024, we published a proposed rule to list the Suckley's cuckoo bumble bee as an endangered species (89 FR 102074). The proposed rule opened a 60-day comment period, which ended February 18, 2025. • On January 8, 2025, we published a proposed rule to list the bleached sandhill skipper as an endangered species (90 FR 1421). The proposed rule opened a 60-day comment period, which ended March 10, 2025. To give all interested parties an additional opportunity to comment on all of these proposed rules, we are reopening the comment periods for each of the proposed rules described above for a period of 60 days. In response to a formal request from the Humboldt County Manager's Office received on January 24, 2025, we also announce a public hearing for the proposed rule pertaining to the bleached sandhill skipper as described above in <E T="02">DATES</E> and <E T="02">ADDRESSES</E> . Please refer to the proposed rules for more information on our proposed actions and the specific information we seek. Additional information about the proposed rules, including supplementary materials and the comments received, is available in their respective dockets on <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov.</E> We request that you send written comments only by the methods described above. We will post all comments on <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov.</E> This generally means that we will post any personal information you provide us (see Public Comments, below, for more information). <GPOTABLE COLS="3" OPTS="L2,nj,i1" CDEF="s100,r50,r50"> <TTITLE>Table 1—Proposed Rules With Reopened Public Comment Periods</TTITLE> <CHED H="1">Proposed rule title</CHED> <CHED H="1"> <E T="02">Federal Register</E> citation </CHED> <CHED H="1">Docket No.</CHED> <ROW> <ENT I="01">Threatened Species Status With Section 4(d) Rule for Monarch Butterfly and Designation of Critical Habitat</ENT> <ENT>89 FR 100662; December 12, 2024</ENT> <ENT>FWS-R3-ES-2024-0137.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">Endangered Species Status for Suckley's Cuckoo Bumble Bee</ENT> <ENT>89 FR 102074; December 17, 2024</ENT> <ENT>FWS-R7-ES-2024-0117.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">Endangered Species Status for the Bleached Sandhill Skipper</ENT> <ENT>90 FR 1421; January 8, 2025</ENT> <ENT>FWS-R8-ES-2024-0041.</ENT> </ROW> </GPOTABLE> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Public Hearing</HD> We are holding a public hearing to accept comments on the proposed rule to list the bleached sandhill skipper on the date and at the time listed in <E T="02">DATES</E> . We are holding the public hearing via the Zoom online video platform and via teleconference so that participants can attend remotely. For security purposes, registration is required. All participants must register in order to listen and view the hearing via Zoom, listen to the hearing by telephone, or provide oral public comments at the public hearing by Zoom or telephone. For information on how to register, or if you encounter problems joining Zoom the day of the meeting, visit <E T="03">https://www.fws.gov/office/reno-fish-and-wildlife.</E> Registrants will receive the Zoom link and the telephone number for the public hearing. If applicable, interested members of the public not familiar with the Zoom platform should view the Zoom video tutorials ( <E T="03">https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/categories/200101697-Getting-Started-with-Zoom</E> ) prior to the public hearing. The public hearing will provide interested parties an opportunity to present verbal testimony (formal, oral comments) regarding the January 8, 2025, proposed rule to list the bleached sandhill skipper as an endangered species (90 FR 1421). 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 U.S. mail (see <E T="02">ADDRESSES</E> , 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. For information on how to register, visit <E T="03">https://www.fws.gov/office/reno-fish-and-wildlife.</E> The use of a virtual public hearing is consistent with our regulations at 50 CFR 424.16(c)(3). <HD SOURCE="HD2">Reasonable Accommodations</HD> The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is committed to providing access to the public hearing for all participants. Closed captioning will be available during the public hearing. Further, a full audio and video recording and transcript of the public hearing will be posted online at <E T="03">https://www.fws.gov/office/reno-fish-and-wildlife</E> after the hearing. Participants will also have access to live audio during the public hearing via their telephone or computer speakers. Persons with disabilities requiring reasonable accommodations to participate in the hearing should contact the person listed under <E T="02">FOR FURTHER IN ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 13k characters. 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