Availability of an Environmental Assessment and Receipt of Applications for Incidental Take Permits for the Operation of Pacific Gas and Electric Company's Pittsburg and Contra Costa Power Plants Circulating Water Systems, Sacramento-San Joaquin Estuary, California

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This notice advises the public that Pacific Gas and Electric Company has applied to the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for incidental take permits pursuant to the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended. The proposed permit issued by the Service would authorize the incidental take of the threatened delta smelt (Hypomesus transpacificus), the endangered California clapper rail (Rallus longirostris obsoletus), the endangered California least tern (Sterna antillarum (=albifrons) browni), and the endangered salt marsh harvest mouse (Reithrodontomys raviventris) during the implementation of Pacific Gas and Electric Company's Multispecies Habitat Conservation Plan (Conservation Plan). The proposed Service-issued permit also would authorize future incidental take of Sacramento splittail (Pogonichthys macrolepidotus), currently proposed for listing as threatened, should it become listed under the Endangered Species Act. The proposed permit issued by NMFS would authorize the incidental take of the endangered winter-run chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and threatened Central Valley steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) during the im