49C.F.R. 520 app Attachment 1 to Part 520 Form and Content of Statement

• Library: Code of Federal Regulations
• Edition: 2019
• Currency: Current through December 31, 2019
• Citation: 49C.F.R. 520 app Attachment 1 to Part 520
• Year: 2019

1. Form. a. Each statement will be headed as follows:

department of transportation national highway traffic safety administration

(Draft) Environmental Impact Statement Pursuant to section 102(2)(C), Pub. L. 91-190; 83 Stat. 853; 42 U.S.C. 42undefined4332(2)(C).

b. The heading specified above shall be modified to indicate that the statement also covers sections 4(f) of the DOT Act or 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, when appropriate.

c. Each statement will, as a minimum, contain sections corresponding to paragraph 3 herein, supplemented as necessary to cover other matters provided in this Attachment.

d. The format for the summary to accompany draft and final environmental statements is as follows:

summary

(Check one) ( ) Draft ( ) Final; Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Name, address, and telephone number of individual who can be contacted for additional information about the proposed action or the statement. (Note: DOT Order 2100.2 prescribes procedures for reporting public contacts in rulemaking.)

(1) Name of Action. (Check one) ( ) Administrative Action. ( ) Legislative Action.

(2) Brief description of action indicating what States (and counties) are particularly affected.

(3) Summary of environmental impact and adverse environmental effects.

(4) List alternatives considered.

(5)(a) (For draft statements) List all Federal, State, and local agencies from which comments have been requested.

(b) (For final statements) List all Federal, State, and local agencies and other sources from which written comments have been received.

(6) Dates the draft statement and the final statement if issued were made available to the Council on Environmental Quality and the public.

2. Guidance as to content of statement. The following paragraphs of this Attachment are intended to be considered, where relevant, as guidance regarding the content of environmental statements. This guidance is expected to be supplemented by research reports, guidance on methodology, and other material from the literature as may be pertinent to evaluation of relevant environmental factors.

3. General content. The following points are to be covered:

a. A description of the proposed Federal action (e.g., "The proposed Federal action is approval of a grant application to construct * * *"), a statement of its purpose, and a description of the environment affected, including information, summary technical data, and maps and diagrams where relevant, adequate to permit an assessment of potential environmental impact by commenting offices and the public.

(1) Highly technical and specialized analyses and data should generally be avoided in the body of the draft impact statement. Such materials should be appropriately summarized in the body of the environmental statement and attached as appendices or footnoted with adequate bibliographic references.

(2) The statement should succinctly describe the environment of the area affected as it exists prior to a proposed action, including other related Federal activities in the area, their interrelationships, and cumulative environmental impact. The amount of detail provided in such descriptions should be commensurate with the extent and expected impact of the action, and with the amount of information required at the particular level of decision making (planning, feasibility, design, etc.). In order to insure accurate descriptions and environmental considerations, site visits should be made where appropriate.

(3) The statement should identify, as appropriate, population and growth characteristics of the affected area and any population and growth assumptions used to justify the project or program or to determine secondary population and growth impacts resulting from the proposed action and its alternatives (see paragraph 3c(2)). In discussing these population aspects, the statement should give consideration to using the rates of growth in the region of the project contained in the projection compiled for the Water Resources Council by the Bureau of Economic Analysis of the Department of Commerce and the Economic Research Service of the Department of Agriculture (the OBERS projection).

(4) The sources of data used to identify, quantify, or evaluate any or all environmental consequences must be expressly noted.

b. The relationship of the proposed action and how it may conform to or conflict with adopted or proposed land use plans, policies, controls, and goals and objectives as have been promulgated by affected communities. Where a conflict or inconsistency exists, the statement should describe the extent of reconciliation and the reasons for proceeding notwithstanding the absence of full reconciliation.

c. The probable impact of the proposed action on the environment. (1) This requires assessment of the positive and negative effects of the proposed action is it affects both national and international human environment. The attention given to different environmental factors will vary according to the nature, scale, and location of proposed actions. Among factors to be considered should be the potential effect of the action on such aspects of the environment as those listed in Attachment 2, and in section 520.5(b), supra. Primary attention should be given in the statement to discussing those factors most evidently impacted by the proposed action.

(2) Secondary and other foreseeable effects, as well as primary consequences for the environment, should be included in the analyses. Secondary effects, such as the impact on fuel consumption, emissions, or noise levels of automobiles or in the use of toxic or scarce materials, may be more substantial than the primary effects of the original action.

d. Alternatives to the proposed action, including, where relevant, those not within the existing authority of the responsible preparing office. Section 102(2)(D) of NEPA requires the responsible agency to "study, develop, and describe appropriate alternatives to recommended courses of action in any proposal which involves unresolved conflicts concerning alternative uses of available resources." A rigorous exploration and an objective evaluation of the environmental impacts of all reasonable alternative actions, particularly those that might enhance environmental quality or avoid some or all of the adverse environmental effects, are essential. Sufficient analysis of such alternatives and...