See Attached. Specific…

See Attached.

Specific details of any updates to policy and technical guidance is critical to providing regulatory certainty to industry and ensuring meaningful consultation and engagement with the impacted stakeholders.
New guidance will aim to update and replace the existing Endangered Species Act (ESA) policies and technical direction on species and habitat protection; however, the existing documents considered for updates or replacement were not identified.
Key questions not answered by this proposal include the following:
1. What accommodations are available to assist stakeholders with the review of highly technical documents?
2. Habitat guidance/policy for groups of species are proposed (such as turtles, snakes, birds, fish, plants, and bats) and specific guidance for individual protected species may be developed on a prioritized basis to support early implementation of the SCA and related regulations. Clarify which existing policies and technical direction are still valid and can be used for purposes of this proposal (existing policies and technical direction should be leveraged to the extent possible, given stakeholders’ familiarity with such documents) and how will requirements remain consistent across documents.
3. What technical requirements will be addressed by such guidance? Will they include policies, survey protocols, reporting requirements, habitat guidelines, and required forms?
4. Will there be a framework explaining how the policies and technical directions will support compliance with the SCA?
MECP should provide additional direction on the above prior to moving forward with any guidance on section 16.
New or updated policies, protocols, guidelines, templates and forms should be posted to the ERO for a second round of public review and comment to avoid any unintended consequences.
Given the importance of the concerns being raised regarding the Proposal, we respectfully encourage the MECP to release the draft guidance for further public consultation prior to moving forward with any of the proposed guidance.