§ 219.32 - Objections to plan amendments or plan revisions.

(a) Any person may object to a proposed amendment or revision prepared under the provisions of this subpart, except for an amendment or revision proposed by the Chief. The objection must be filed within 30 calendar days from the date that the Environmental Protection Agency publishes the notice of availability of a final environmental impact statement regarding a proposed amendment or revision in theFederal Register,or within 30 calendar days of the publication of a public notice of a proposed amendment not requiring preparation of an environmental impact statement. Within 10 days after the close of the objection period, the Responsible Official shall publish notice of all objections in the local newspaper of record. An objection must be filed with the reviewing officer identified in the notice and contain:

(1) The name, mailing address, and telephone number of the person filing the objection;

(2) A specific statement of the basis for each objection; and

(3) A description of the objector's participation in the planning process for the proposed amendment or revision, including a copy of any relevant documents submitted during the planning process.

(b) Objectors may request meetings with the reviewing officer and the responsible official to discuss the objection, to narrow the issues, agree on facts, and explore opportunities for resolution. The reviewing officer must allow other interested persons to participate in such meetings. An interested person must file a request to participate in an objection within ten days after publication of the notice of objection as described in paragraph (a) of this section.

(c) The reviewing officer must respond, in writing, to an objection within a reasonable period of time and may respond to all objections in one response. The reviewing officer's response regarding an objection is the final decision of the Department of Agriculture.

(d) The responsible official may not approve a proposed amendment or revision until the reviewing officer has responded to all objections. A decision by the responsible official approving an amendment or revision must be consistent with the reviewing officer's response to objections to the proposed amendment or revision.

(e) Where the Forest Service is a participant in a multi-agency decision subject to objection under this subpart, the responsible official and reviewing officer may waive the objection procedures of this subpart to adopt the administrative review procedure of another participating federal agency, if the responsible official and the responsible official of the other agencies agree to provide a joint response to those who have filed for administrative review of the multi-agency decision.

(f) The information collection requirements of this section have been approved by the Office of Management and Budget and assigned control number 0596–0158.