SUSQUEHANNA RIVER BASIN COMMISSION Alan J. Summerville, Water Resources Cordinator, Department of Environmental Resources, 105 South Office Building, Harrisburg, Pa. 17120, 717-787-2315. TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY Dr. Francis Gartrell, Director of Environmental Research and Development, 720 Edney Building, Chattanooga, TN. 37401, 615-755-2002. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Herbert F. DeSimone, Assistant Secretary for Environment and Urban Systems, Washington, D.C. 20590, 426-4563. DEPARTMENT OF TREASURY Richard E. Slitor, Assistant Director, Office of Tax Analysis, Washington, D.C. 20220, 964-2797. DEPARTMENT OF STATE Christian Herter, Jr., Special Assistant to the Secretary for Environmental Affairs, Washington, D.C. 20520, 632–7964. [FR Doc. 71-5705 Filed 4-22-71; 8:50 am] APPENDIX IV U.S, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, Subject: National Environmental Policy Act Guidelines for implementation proposed by FHWA. : The enclosed draft copy of the subject guidelines is being furnished to you for review and comment. Please forward comments through channels to the Associate Administrator of the Office of Right-of-way and Environment. We would appreciate receiving the comments by January 1, 1971. In the meantime, the division engineers are to furnish a copy of the draft to State highway departments. The State highway departments should be requested to immediately begin implementation of the draft guidelines. We plan to incorporate instructions for implementing Section 4(f) of the DOT Act in the final implementing-policy guidelines for the Environmental Policy Act to be issued after the receipt of review comments. In the meantime the State highway department (SHD) should prepare Section 4(f) determinations. The determination should be signed by a responsible official of the SHD. The SHD should coordinate the Section 4(f) determination with the U.S. Departments of the Interior, Agriculture (Forest Service) and Housing and Urban Development, and consider their comments in the planning for the highway in question. The point of contact should be the Regional Director of the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation of the Department of the Interior and the Regional Director of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. We suggest the SHD contact representatives of these other agencies and informally discuss procedures for reviewing Section 4(f) proposals. The Section 4(f) determination may be included as a separate section in, or an attachment to an environmental statement, and accompany the environmental statement, it should be clearly identified as the Section 4(f) determination. Section 4(f) statements may be forwarded and processed independently of the environmental statement. In such instances, the SHD should describe the status of the environmental statement (or negative declaration) for the project covered by the 4(f) submittal. Enclosure. JOHN A. SWANSON, Associate Administrator for Right-of-Way and Environment, 68-176-71 DRAFT INSTRUCTIONAL MEMORANDUM Subject: Interim Guidelines for Implementation of Section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. 1. PURPOSE This section outlines the procedures of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) regarding the preparation of detailed environmental statements for projects that significantly affect the quality of the environment as required by Section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (P.L. 91190) (hereafter "the NEP Act”). 2. DEFINITIONS (a) Project as used herein refers to the planning and/or construction of a length of highway (route segment) between logical termini such as major crossroads, population centers, major traffic generators, or similar major highway control elements, that is normally included in a location study. The route segment may be broken into several smaller proposals for design and/or construction purposes. The term project will also refer to demonstration studies and undertakings for planning and research. (b) Negative Declarations-a written statement indicating that the project will have no significant affect upon the quality of human environment. (Appendix G) (c) Environmental Statements-a written statement assessing in detail the potential environmental impact which the project or alternatives thereto may have upon the quality of human environment. 3. BACKGROUND AND AUTHORITY (a) The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 establishes a broad national policy to promote efforts to improve the relationship between man and his environment, and provides for the creation of a Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). The NEP Act sets out certain policies and goals concerning the environment, and requires that, to the fullest extent possible, the policies, regulations, and public laws of the United States shall be interpreted and administered in accordance with those policies and goals. (b) Section 102(2)(C) of the NEP Act is designed to ensure that environmental considerations are given careful attention and appropriate weight in decisions of the Federal Government. This section requires that agencies of the Federal Government shall "Include in every recommendation or report on proposals for legislation and other major Federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment, a detailed statement by the responsible official on "(i) The environmental impact of the proposed action; "(ii) Any adverse environmental effects which cannot be avoided should the proposal be implemented; "(iii) Alternatives to the proposed action; "(iv) The relationship between local short-term uses of man's environment and the maintenance and enhancement of long-term productivity; and "(v) Any irreversible and irretrievable commitments of resources which would be involved in the proposed action should it be implemented. "Prior to making any detailed statement, the responsible Federal officials shall consult with and obtain the comments of any Federal agency which has jurisdiction by law or special expertise with respect to any environmental impact involved. Copies of such statement and the comments and views of the appropriate Federal, State, and local agencies, which are authorized to develop and enforce environmental standards, shall be made available to the President, the Council on Environmental Quality, and the public as provided by section 552 of Title 5. United States Code, and shall accompany the proposal through the existing agency review processes." (c) Interim Guidelines from the President's Council on Environmental Quality, dated April 30, 1970, Vol. 35, Federal Register, 7890, set forth broad guidelines on implementation of the NEP Act. (Appendix A) (d) The DOT Interim Order 5610.1 outlines procedures for the DOT regarding the preparation of detailed environmental statement. (Appendix B) 4. APPLICATION (a) The State highway department (SHD)1 shall evaluate the environmental consequences of all direct Federal, Federal-aid, Public Lands, Regional Development including Appalachia, Defense Access, Forest Highway, planning, research, and demonstration projects except those cited in paragraph 4b and make a determination in consultation with the division engineer (1) that a negative declaration is applicable because the project will have no significant affect upon the quality of human environment, or (2) that an environmental statement is necessary because the project will have or is likely to have a significant affect upon the quality of human environment. (b) The provisions of this memorandum do not apply to projects that received or receive design approval before February 1, 1971. Design approval may be established and documented in one of the following three ways, depending on when such design approvals were or are given. (1) Prior to issuance of revised PPM 20-8 in January of 1969, procedures of the Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) did not require a SHD to receive design approval from the BPR before undertaking preparation of the plans, specifications and estimate (PS&E). Therefore, design approval was that action or series of actions by the BPR which indicated to the SHD that the essential elements of the highway (paragraph 10 of PPM 20-8) were satisfactory or acceptable for preparation of the PS&E. Such actions may have consisted of review and comments upon preliminary plans, schematic drawings, design studies, layouts, or reports. The SHD shall identify those projects (both Federal-aid and non-Federal-aid) in the above category which it anticipates Federal-aid funds will be requested for a subsequent stage and furnish the division engineer for his concurrence a letter similar to Appendix D of this memorandum citing the document(s) which constitute the design approval. The division engineer's concurrence in the State's determination will serve as verification of previous design approval. (2) Written approval by the BPR of the design study report submitted in accordance with paragraph 10 of PPM 20-8 revised January 14, 1969. (3) For those projects which the SHD is presently preparing the construction PS&E and there is not documentary evidence that the BPR indicated its acceptance of the essential design elements prior to the SHD undertaking preparation of the PS&E, the SHD may furnish the FHWA copies of drawings, plans, or other material showing the present status of the plan preparation. The SHD shall submit such material and the FHWA division engineer shall advise the State in writing, prior to February 1, 1971, that the design for a project or for a proposal is approved if he determines that the present status of the design or plan preparation meets the requirements for design approval outlined in paragraph 10 of PPM 20-8. (c) However, the following two types of projects must be reevaluated by the SHD even though such projects received design approval before February 1, 1971: (1) Projects on new location; and (2) Major reconstruction projects which will require additional rightof-way over at least 50 percent or more of its length. The SHD's reassessment, which shall be done in consultation with the division engineer, shall be made to determine if such projects were developed in such a manner as to minimize adverse environmental consequences. Such projects, to the extent practicable, should be modified to incorporate additional elements of features identified and considered prudent to minimize harm. No environmental statement need be submitted, however, unless requested by the division engineer. (d) Statements may be prepared for planning and research projects on the basis of th annual work program. (e) The provisions of this memorandum shall not apply to projects or programs of projects where the Federal Highway Administrator has made a formal determination that the project is urgently needed because of a national emergency. a natural disaster, a catastrophic failure, or for similar reasons of great urgency. (f) In those instances where a highway is being jointly planned by two or more agencies, or is one element of a jointly planned undertaking, only a single 1 The term State highway department means the agency with primary responsibility for initiating and carrying forward the planning and construction of the project. environmental determination and/or statement shall be made. The highway proposal submitted to the FHWA for approval (location, design, etc.) shall include a copy of the statement prepared and processed by another Federal agency or reference to such a statement previously furnished to FHWA. Highway projects in this category could include forest highways (where forest service handles the Environmental Policy Act requirements), defense access roads planned in conjunction with a defense installation and similar joint efforts. 5. PROCEDURES (a) Negative declarations generally will be appropriate for such projects as resurfacing, widening existing lanes, adding auxiliary lanes, replacing existing grade separation structures, signing and marking, sopt safety improvements TOPICS, beautification, and demonstration unless the project requires the acquisition of substantial amounts of additional right-of-way, substantialy increases traffic volumes, or otherwise causes or is likely to cause a significant affect upon the quality of human environment. (b) Negative declarations shall receive the concurrance of the division engi. neer and should be included in the material furnished for comment to clearinghouses and area wide agencies (BOB Circular A-95), and Federal agencies normally contacted during the planning, locations, and design of a proposed project. (c) The negative declaration or final environmental statement and accompaning information, if required by this memorandum, shall be included with the SHD's request for location approval. If location approval was given prior to the date of this memorandum, the negative statement or final environmental statement and accompanying information for the proposed design, if required by this memorandum, shall be included with the SHD's request for design approval. (d) Proposals providing for design, right-of-way acquisition, construction, etc., within a project environmental statement shall make reference to the previous environmental statement (or negative declaration). If a proposal within a project environmental statement processed in accordance within this memorandum is determined to introduce new effects of significance to the quality of human environment or to substantially change the effects as recognized in the previous statement, a statement for that proposal shall be prepared and processed as required by this memorandum. (e) Where a SHD or urban transportation study group prepared an analytical report of the proposed transportation system plan together with a system planning report, the report should include an environmental analysis as a section of that report following the outline of paragraph 6e. 6. PREPARATION AND PROCESSING OF SECTION 102 (2) (C) STATEMENTS (a) The SHD shall prepare a draft statement following the format outlined in paragraph 6f and include the information required by paragraph 6e. (b) The SHD shall furnish a copy of the draft statement clearly marked DRAFT to the appropriate clearinghouses and areawide agencies (Circular BOB A-95) and to those Federal agencies (in all cases to HUD) with jurisdiction by law or special expertise (Appendix E) on an environmental impact for comment. In addition, the SHD shall furnish the division engineer 16 copies. The division engineer shall distribute the copies as follows: Division office_. 1 Regional office.. Washington office [to the Associate Administrator for ROW and Environment] 1 DOT's Office of Environment & Urban Systems [includes 10 copies for the 13 --- The SHD may specify that comments must be received within a specified period of time but not less than 45 days from date of transmittal. (c) The SHD shall prepare a summary of the environmental comments included in the record of the public hearing (s). This summary, together with the comments received on the draft environmental statement, shall be considered by the SHD in preparing the proposed design and in developing the final environ mental statement. The final environmental statement shall be prepared in the format outlined in paragraph 6f and include as a minimum the information re- The SHD shall furnish the division engineer 16 copies of: (1) The final environmental statement, clearly marked FINAL; す (2) The summary of the public hearing environmental comments; (3) The comments received on the draft statements; and (4) The SHD's evaluation and disposition of each comment. The division engineer shall review the environmental statement and attach with his comments and recommendations. He shall forward 15 copies through channels to the Associate Administrator of ROW and Environment. (d) The division engineer may advance the project in a normal manner when so notified by the Associate Administrator of ROW and Environment. (1) A description of the proposed project and its purpose consisting of a narrative description accompanied by a map showing the location of the project. Parks, recreational areas, wildlife, and water fowl refuges, and his- toric sites should be described (size, use, significance, etc.) if a Section 4(f) determination is included. If there are isolated locations where more detail is helpful, sketches and/or pictures may be included. The purposes should identify the reason for building the project. (2) The probable impact of the proposed project on the environment. Both positive and negative impacts should be identified. (3) Any probable adverse environmental effects which cannot be avoided should the proposal be implemented. (4) Alternatives to the proposed project should be described and the prob- able adverse environmental effects identified. The reason for selecting the proposed project rather than the alternatives should be presented. Such reasons need not be addressed strictly to environmental issues if other fac- tors contributed to the selection of the recommended highway location and/or design such as costs, construction problems, traffic services, etc. (5) The relationship between local short-term uses of man's environment and the maintenance and enhancement of long-term productivity. This in essence requires the State to assess the action for cumulative and long-term effects from the perspective that each generation is trustee of the environ- ment for succeeding generations. (6) Any irreversible and irretrievable commitments of resources which would be involved in the proposed action should it be implemented. This requires the State to identify the extent to which the action curtails the range of beneficial uses of the environment. (7) Where appropriate, a discussion of problems and objections raised by other Federal agencies, State, and local entities, and citizens in the review process, and the disposition of the issues involved. (This section may be added at the end of the review process in the final text of the environmental (8) Where unavoidable adverse environmental effects are encountered, steps taken to minimize harm should be identified. (f) Form of Statement: (1) Each Statement will be headed as follows: DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION PURSUANT TO SECTION 102 (2) (C), P.L. 91-190 (2) Each statement will, as a minimum, contain sections corresponding statement and the comments received available to the public pursuant to the provision of the Freedom of Interformation Act (f, U.S.C., Section 552). |