WSP00396

• File Number: 8065
• Description: Section D General Statewide Issues - Endangered Species Act - Fisheries
• State: CO
• Basin: Statewide
• Date: 6/3/1986
• Author: Unknown
• Title: Fish and Wildlife Service-NOAA - Interagency Cooperation - Endangered Species Act of 1973 - As Amended - Final Rule - Federal Register - Volume 51-Number 106 - Rules and Regulations
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Publication

u02396
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of th. oplnJon. In thi. rul.. con..rv.tlon
recomm.nd.tlona [W.Hun....
cII.cuII.d ..p.r.taly from blologlc.1
opinion. (402.H(b)). ^ ..nt.nce h..
be.n .dd.d .t th. conclu.lon of
p&f&8l'.ph OJ 10 emph..I.. tha .dvl.ory.
non-binding nature of con..rv.tlon
recommendaUon..
P.ragraph (1<) of HaZ.H. which d.al.
with Ineremenl.l .t.p.. I. adopted with
minor. t.chnlcal chana.. !rum propo.ad
1402.15UJ[Z). Paragraph (1<) appU.., al
tho optloo of the Fedaral agency. In
.ltuatloD8 wb.... . .Iatute authori.e. the
Feder.l action 10 be tak.n In
Inerem.ntal .tep.. Such clrcwn.lan"".
ext.ted In North Slop" Borough v.
Anc/ru.. 84Z F.Zd 58Il (D.C. Clr. 1980).
involving d.velopmenl of 011 and g..
.....ource. on the OCS and pOlllble
Impaclt to the bowhead whal.. In vI.w
of thi. deci.lon. the.e ....gula tlon.
provide th.1 a Fedaral agency may
proceed with Incremenlal .tep. loward
completion 01 the entire action If: (1) the
biological opinion doe. nol conclude
thai the Incremenlal .lep would vlolala
.ection 7(.)[Z); (Z) tha Fed.ral agency
conllnu.. coD8u1tatlon with .....pecl to
the entire .ctlon end obtain. biological
. 'opInlOD8." ....qulred, for .ach
,.:",lncrement.l.lep; (3) the F.deral agency
:. ::.~ lit conUnuing obligation to obtain
.'. '"..uflIdlllll data upon whiCh 10 b..e the
, . fInaf biological opinion on the anUre
:..~...ctici~ [4) the lnaemental.lep de.. nol
, . ..vlol.le _lion 7{d) of the Acl
. "c:ion~,rnIn8lrTevenlble or IrTelrlevabl.
.. ,.,' toilimltm.nl of .....OUfCOt; and (5) there
I'.a ....a.onable UkeUhood thai the entire
.ction wlll Dol vlol.le .eclion 7{a)(Z) of
the Act.
In rupoDHI to one cumment. the
Service .cknowledga. thai the
Incremental.lep procell can only be
Invoked .1 the oplion of the F.deral
agency. regardl.1I of the S<lrvice'.
p....ference. If the F.deral egency
chao... nollo Ule the Increm.ntal .tep
procell. the Service mUlt ...nder ilt
biological opinion for the ontlre .ctiOD.
Sever.l commenten thought that thi.
provl.lon .hould be deleted. Some
thoughl tho .ubJect thnuld be handled
through count.rparI..,w.tion. or
Umlled .lrIct1y 10 Outar Continental
Shelf !.and. Act ca.... Anoth.r
comment.. .taled thai the Incremental
.tap .pproach II m..dvlHd becaUH It I.
~cuIllo halt . proJect elllt anal .tago
after IUbtlaDtlal relOW'C8' have be.n
In...ted. P\nal1y. twn commenlen
aiticlud tha .pproach u . vehlcl.
sranlinll tb. s.mce ..10 power .1 any
.tqo of tb. FoderaI.ction.
rua,raph (1<) II retaJned In tb. llnal
ruIa for _oral nuoDI. FIn\, tha
s.m.,. adoplt puqnph (1<] becaUH It
prorideo . vlabJ. conauItatlon .pproach

Ul_ DO)I(OI)()I-1oIA V-M-U<17a1j

..nclion.d by tho couri In North Slop.
Boroll6h .. Andru.. .upra. Th. Service
h.. c1.rlfl.d tho fln.1 rul. 10 .how that II
will not d.priv. . Fede..1 .g.ncy of tho
opportunity 10 COD8ull on Increm.nlal
.t.p. If requ"I.d. Second. tho ri.k of
IIctlon 7(.)[2J end 7(d) noncompU.nce
.hould not be cIIm1nJ.hed b.cauII the
Incremental .lep approach I. ulld.
Monelary Inveltmenl. or oilier acUon.
th.t do nol foreclo.. the adoption of
re..onabl. and pnld.nl.ll.m.livlI do
not vlolal. IIctlon 7(d). If. "j.operdy"
oplnlon I. I..ued .t .ny .Iep of tho
overaU .ctlon. a prompt remedy can be
.oughl through the exemption
procedure. Thin!. cnn.u1l1ng In
Incremantal .t.p. can be a valuable 1001
for dav.loplng Informa tion II an acllon
progre..e..
Oil and g.. developm.nl on the OCS
I. a mulli.lagad. lona larm action thai
provldll a sood .xample of tho utility of
an Incremanlal .t.p ooD8u1tatlon. The
Federal action occun In dJ.crele .tag..:
the lea.. .ale. explnratlon actlvltl...
and d.velopmenl/productlon ectlvltle..
Any analy.l. of tha Impacla of
developm.nl/production would be m.re
.peculation wlthoul knowing whal
uacla wlll be le...d and without tha
Informallon on tho exlenl nf the
petrol.um ra.erv.. cII.co.ered during
tho explorallon ph..e. M the .cope and
location of the ultimate action I. further
refined. tha Federal agency wII1 have tha
opportunity 10 conduct .Iuclle. de'iBned
10 datumlne the .ffecta 01 thai
particular .ctlon In thai particular area.
Th. Service I. .ympath.tlc to the
commanler'. concem that eppUcanl.
mtghl face an ardUOUl .erle. of
coD8u1tatloDl under paragraph (kJ.
wharea. a prompt conaullatlon on the
.ntire action would evold a .eri.. of
review. by tho ServIce. The Service
remlnda appUcanlt that they may. In
appropriate 1n.laDce.. ovall themaelva.
of the .arly coD8u1tatlon procedure 10
obtain a preappUcatlon revl.w of the
remaln\ng .tep. of tho Federal acllnn.
Under paragraph (1<). bIological
oplnlOD8 concluding "no Jeopardy," or
Service COnCW1'8nC8 1.1Ian liDding that
a .lap ''11 nol Uk.ly 10 .d._ly affect"
mUll .ventuaUy c.over ..ch .tap of the
Increm.ntal proce... ThI1 doe. not mean
th.1 IIpar.la OplalODl mual be lI.ued
for ..ch .te_veral .11p' may be
covered In on. opinion (..... 0C8
:u.1ng and .xplor.tlon .ctIvltla.)-but
In,te.d thal..ch ltep mual .ventually
IV.tlaly oec:tIon 7(.)(2) of the Act. A
"leopardy" oplalOllIllued .1 any ltag.
nol only .ppu.. 10 thal.l.p bulto tho
enlln projact II weJJ. Once .
"jeopardy" opinion II 1I.ue<! (unIa.. the
FoderaI .....cy .doplt . "'lOIUlble and
pnulanl altefll&tIv. provIcS.d by tb.

F4701.FMI'... [1D.301_A-1Hl1

Service). p.ragr.ph (1<) I. lnappllcebl. I
.nd tho ordln.ry COD8ult.lIon proce..
.ppll... allowing .eee.. 10 tho
.xemrtlon procell. Th. comm.nt.r that
conl.ndad th.1 thl. .ppro.ch"
,~~,,,. p"","', ,,,,&.,
.gency 'I.tutory luthority Igno..... tho
f.ct that thi. procell I. at tho option of
tho Feder.l .senC)' .nd thai tho nel
.ffecl of tho Service'. action I. to cau.e
the con.u1tatlon 10 revert 10 . lrealInenl
of tho acUon .. a whole. The Federal
agency may dt..gre. with the Servlca'.
"J.opardy" finding. built cannol
continue to con.ult on an Incremental
b..l. on remaining .Iep. In the acllon.
One comment.. lnal.led that an
action can be halt.d only If new
InformaUon thai w.. not p....vlou.ly
known becom.. .vaUable during a later
.tage of the Increm.ntal .Iep
COD8u1tatloD. However. tho S<lrvice'a
re.pon.lblllty to delermlne "jeopardy"
or "no jeopardy" place. no weight on
when. where. nr how dala that II of
compelling force In lit analy.1I ware
d.veloped. The Service cannoliBnore
data and permll a U.led .peeI.. 10
, bacomeleopardlzed becauoe .om.one
"milled" a place of information during
an earUer .tep of tho coDlultatlon. One
of the ait.rla for reinitiation of formal '"
consultatioD 1. whether new information
reveal. effeclt of the aclion thai may
affecl a lI.t.d .ped.. or aitlcal habltal
In a manner or to an extent not '.
pravloUlly con.ldered. Therefore.
Incremenlal .Iep COD8u1tatloDl ere not
tho only con.u1talioDl .ubJected 10 thi.
requlrem.nt.
Finally. one commenler oblected 10
tho requlrem.nl for oblaln\ng .uflIclent
data. noting en alleg.d ab.ence of
.tiitil'toryauthorily. Again. paragraph (1<)
I. nOI e creature of .Iatut.. bullnatead
w.. d.veloped .0 thai coooullatlone
could be laIt1aled and focuaed on a .Iep-
bY-Itep review nf 'esmenled Federal
actlo"......,.peclally thOIl where. In the
aboonce of adclltlonellaformatlon. tho
final delermlnatlon of "Uk.ly leopardy"
for the .nlln action would be hJghly
.peculatlve If CDDlultatlon w.re nol
Umlled 10 tho InIUal .t.p or .Iep.. Th.
developm.nt of .uflIcI.nllnform.tlnn II
czuclaJ In tho ultimata .ueee.. of the
Increm.ntal .t.p proce.., and. th.ref"re.
C8IUIOI be allmln.ted &om the ruI.. Th:
Federal agency mUll h.v. lumdenl
information 10 .how that Ita .ctlon II nol
Ukely 10 jeopardJ.&e tho COIltlnUed
.xt.t.nee of n.ted opacIo. or ralullln
tho da.tructlon or .dveno modlftcatlon
of critical h.bltal.
Sectlon 402.14(1) C<MIn the..
larm1n.atlon of formal COD8u1I.tlOD.
Adopted from propooed 1402.1a(lllZH4).
p&nlIf8ph (1) w.. retalaod In tha oec:tInn