40 CFR 1501.1 - Purpose.
The purposes of this part include:
(a) Integrating the NEPA process into early planning to insure appropriate consideration of NEPA's policies and to eliminate delay.
(b) Emphasizing cooperative consultation among agencies before the environmental impact statement is prepared rather than submission of adversary comments on a completed document.
(c) Providing for the swift and fair resolution of lead agency disputes.
(d) Identifying at an early stage the significant environmental issues deserving of study and deemphasizing insignificant issues, narrowing the scope of the environmental impact statement accordingly.
(e) Providing a mechanism for putting appropriate time limits on the environmental impact statement process.
Title 40 published on 09-Mar-2018 05:19
The following are ALL rules, proposed rules, and notices (chronologically) published in the Federal Register relating to 40 CFR Part 1501 after this date.
GPO FDSys XML | Text type regulations.gov FR Doc. 2014-20199 RIN COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY Notice of Availability, Request for Public Comments on Draft Guidance on Effective Use of Programmatic National Environmental Policy Act Reviews. Submit comments on or before October 9, 2014. 40 CFR Parts 1500, 1501, 1502, 1503, 1505, 1506, 1507, and 1508 The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) is publishing draft guidance on when and how Federal agencies can effectively use National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) programmatic reviews. Guidance on programmatic NEPA reviews has been requested by the agencies and attention on programmatic NEPA reviews has increased as agencies are increasingly undertaking broad landscape scale analyses for proposals that affect the resources they manage. This guidance is designed to assist agency decision-makers and the public in understanding the environmental impacts from proposed large-scope Federal actions and activities and to facilitate agency compliance with NEPA by clarifying the different planning scenarios under which an agency may prepare a programmatic, broad-scale, review. The guidance also addresses how agencies can prepare such reviews to ensure they are timely, informative, and useful for advancing decision-making. The goal of this guidance is to encourage a more consistent approach to programmatic NEPA reviews so that the analyses and documentation will allow for the expeditious and efficient completion of any necessary tiered reviews. It builds on guidance issued since 1981 that explained the use of tiering and its place in the NEPA process.
GPO FDSys XML | Text type regulations.gov FR Doc. 2012-5812 RIN COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY Notice of availability, final guidance. The guidance is effective March 12, 2012. 40 CFR Parts 1500, 1501, 1502, 1503, 1505, 1506, 1507, and 1508 The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) is issuing its final guidance on Improving the Process for Preparing Efficient and Timely Environmental Reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and CEQ Regulations implementing NEPA provide numerous techniques for preparing efficient and timely environmental reviews. CEQ is issuing this guidance for Federal departments and agencies to emphasize and clarify that these techniques are available for all NEPA Environmental Assessments and Environmental Impact Statements. These techniques are consistent with a thorough and meaningful environmental review and agencies using these techniques should keep in mind the following basic principles: NEPA encourages straightforward and concise reviews and documentation that are proportionate to potential impacts and effectively convey the relevant considerations in a timely manner to the public and decision makers, while rigorously addressing the issues presented; NEPA shall be integrated into project planning to ensure planning and decisions reflect environmental considerations, avoid delays later in the process, and anticipate and attempt to resolve issues, rather than be an after-the-fact process that justifies decisions already made; NEPA reviews should coordinate and take appropriate advantage of existing documents and studies, including through adoption and incorporation by reference; early and well-defined scoping can assist in focusing environmental reviews on appropriate issues that would be meaningful to a decision on the proposed action; agencies are encouraged to develop meaningful, predictable, and expeditious timelines for environmental reviews; and agencies should respond to comments in proportion to the scope and scale of the environmental issues raised. This guidance applies equally to the preparation of an Environmental Assessment or an Environmental Impact Statement consistent with legal precedent and agency NEPA experience and practice. This guidance does not change or substitute for any law, regulations, or any other legally binding requirement. It does provide CEQ's interpretation of existing regulations promulgated under NEPA.