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$372.7 Consultation.

Prospective applicants are encouraged to contact APHIS program officials to determine what types of environmental analyses or documentation, if any, need to be prepared. NEPA documents will incorporate, to the fullest extent possible, surveys and studies required by other environmental statutes, such as the Endangered Species Act.

[60 FR 6002, Feb. 1, 1995; 60 FR 13212, Mar. 10, 1995]

$372.8 Major planning and decision points and public involvement.

(a) Major planning and decisions points. The NEPA process will be fully coordinated with APHIS planning in cooperation with program personnel. Specific decision points or milestones will be identified and communicated to the public and others in a notice of intent and in the context of the public scoping process.

(b) Public involvement. There will be an early and open process for determining the scope of issues to be addressed in the environmental impact statement process.

(1) A notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement will be published in the FEDERAL REGISTER as soon as it is determined that a proposed major Federal action has the potential to affect significantly the quality of the human environment. The notice may include a preliminary scope of environmental study. All public and other involvement in APHIS' environmental impact statement process, including the scoping process, commenting on draft documents, and participation in the preparation of any supplemental documents, will be pursuant to CEQ's implementing regulations.

(2) Opportunities for public involvement in the environmental assessment process will be announced in the same fashion as the availability of environmental assessments and findings of no significant impact.

(3) Notification of the availability of environmental assessments and findings of no significant impact for proposed activities will be published in the FEDERAL REGISTER, unless it is deter

mined that the effects of the action are primarily of regional or local concern. Where the effects of the action are primarily of regional or local concern, notice will normally be provided through publication in a local or area newspaper of general circulation and/or the procedures implementing Executive Order 12372, "Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs."

(4) All environmental documents, comments received, and any underlying documents, including interagency correspondence where such correspondence transmits comments of Federal agencies on the environmental impact of proposals for which documents were prepared (except for privileged or confidential information (50 FR 38561)), will be made available to the public upon request. Materials to be made available will be provided without charge, to the extent practicable, or at a fee not more than the actual cost of reproducing copies required to be sent to other Federal agencies, including CEQ.

$372.9 Processing and use of environmental documents.

(a) Environmental assessments will be forwarded immediately upon completion to the decisionmaker for a determination of whether the proposed action may have significant effects on the quality of the human environment, and for the execution, as appropriate, of a finding of no significant impact or a notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement.

(1) The availability of environmental assessments will be announced by publishing a notice consistent with the notification provisions of § 372.8.

(2) Comments, if any, will be transmitted, together with any analyses and recommendations, to the APHIS decisionmaker who may then take appropriate action.

(3) Changes to environmental assessments and findings of no significant impact that are prompted by comments, new information, or any other source, will normally be announced in the same manner as the notice of availability (except that all commenters will be mailed copies of changes directly) prior to implementing the proposed action or any alternative.

(b) Environmental impact statements will be processed from inception (publication of the notice of intent) to completion (publication of a final environmental impact statement or a supplement) according to the Council on Environmental Quality implementing regulations.

(c) For rulemaking or adjudicatory proceedings, relevant environmental documents, comments, and responses will be a part of the administrative record.

(d) For all APHIS activity that is subject to the NEPA process, relevant environmental documents, comments, and responses will accompany proposals through the review process.

(e) The APHIS decisionmaker will consider the alternatives discussed in environmental documents in reaching a determination on the merits of proposed actions.

(f) APHIS will implement mitigation and other conditions established in environmental documentation and committed to as part of the decisionmaking process.

$372.10 Supplementing environmental impact statements.

Once a decision to supplement an environmental impact statement is made, a notice of intent will be published. The administrative record will thereafter be open. The supplemental document will then be processed in the same fashion (exclusive of scoping) as a draft and a final statement (unless alternative procedures are approved by CEQ) and will become part of the administrative record.

[blocks in formation]

Stat. 468; sec. 15, 45 Stat. 565; 56 Stat. 40, as amended; secs. 103 and 105, 71 Stat. 32, as amended; sec. 106, 71 Stat. 33; sec. 108, 71 Stat. 34, as amended; sec. 11(a), 87 Stat. 897; sec. 4, 95 Stat. 1074; 7 U.S.C. 149, 150bb 150dd, 150ee, 150gg, 154, 159-164a, 167, 16 U.S.C. 1540(a), 3373 (a) and (b), 7 CFR 2.22, 2.80, 371.2(c).

Subpart A-General

§ 380.1 Scope and applicability of rules of practice.

The Uniform Rules of Practice for the Department of Agriculture promulgated in subpart H of part 1, subtitle A, title 7 CFR are the Rules of Practice applicable to adjudicatory, administrative proceedings under the following statutory provisions:

Act of August 20, 1912, commonly known as the Plant Quarantine Act, section 10, as amended (7 U.S.C. 163, 164),

Act of January 31, 1942, as amended (7 U.S C. 149),

Federal Plant Pest Act, section 108, as amended (7 U.S.C. 150gg),

Endangered Species Act Amendments of 1973, as amended, section 11(a) (16 U.S.C. 1540 (a)), and

Lacey Act Amendments of 1981, section 4 (a) and (b) (16 U.S.C. 3373 (a) and (b)).

In addition, the Supplemental Rules of Practice set forth in subpart B of this part shall be applicable to such proceedings.

[49 FR 22247, May 29, 1984]

Subpart B-Supplemental Rules of Practice

§380.10 Stipulations.

(a) At any time prior to the issuance of a complaint seeking a civil penalty under any of the Acts listed in §380.1, the Administrator, in his discretion, may enter into a stipulation with any person in which:

(1) The Administrator or the Administrator's delegate gives notice of an apparent violation of the applicable Act, or the regulations issued thereunder, by such person and affords such person an opportunity for a hearing regarding the matter as provided by such Act;

(2) Such person expressly waives hearing and agrees to pay a specified penalty within a designated time; and

(3) The Administrator agrees to accept the specified penalty in settlement of the particular matter involved if the penalty is paid within the designated time.

(b) If the specified penalty is not paid within the time designated in such a stipulation, the amount of the stipu

lated penalty shall not be relevant in any respect to the penalty which may be assessed after issuance of a complaint.

[48 FR 33468, July 22, 1983]

PARTS 381-399 [RESERVED]

FINDING AIDS

A list of CFR titles, subtitles, chapters, subchapters and parts and an alphabetical list of agencies publishing in the CFR are included in the CFR Index and Finding Aids volume to the Code of Federal Regulations which is published separately and revised annually.

Material Approved for Incorporation by Reference

Table of CFR Titles and Chapters

Alphabetical List of Agencies Appearing in the CFR
List of CFR Sections Affected

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