§ 1500.4 - Concise and informative environmental documents.

§ 1500.4 Reducing paperworkConcise and informative environmental documents.

Agencies shall reduce excessive paperwork prepare analytical, concise, and informative environmental documents by:

(a) Using categorical exclusions to define categories of actions that normally do not have a significant effect on the human environment and therefore do not require preparation of an environmental impact statement (§ 1501.4 of this chapter).

(b) Using a finding of no significant impact when an action not otherwise excluded will not have a significant effect on the human environment and therefore does not require preparation of an environmental impact statement (§ 1501.6 of this chapter).

(c) Reducing the length of environmental documents by means such as meeting

Meeting appropriate page limits (§§ 1501.5(

f

g) and 1502.7 of this

chapter

subchapter).

(

d) Preparing analytic and concise environmental impact statements (§ 1502.2 of this chapter).(e)

b) Discussing only briefly issues other than

significant

important ones (e.g., § 1502.2(b) of this

chapter

subchapter).

(

f

c) Writing environmental

impact statements

documents in plain language (e.g., § 1502.8 of this

chapter

subchapter).

(

g

d) Following a clear format for environmental impact statements (§ 1502.10 of this

chapter

subchapter).

(

h

e) Emphasizing the portions of the environmental

impact statement

document that are most useful to decision makers and the public (e.g., §§ 1502.14, 1502.15, and 1502.

15

16 of this

chapter

subchapter) and reducing emphasis on background material (e.g., § 1502.1 of this

chapter

subchapter).

(

i

f) Using the scoping process

, not only

to identify

significant

important environmental issues deserving of study

, but also

and to deemphasize

insignificant

unimportant issues, narrowing the scope of the environmental impact statement process (or, where an agency elects to do so, the environmental assessment process) accordingly (

§

§§ 1501.9 and 1502.4 of this

chapter

subchapter).

(

j

g) Summarizing the environmental impact statement (§ 1502.12 of this

chapter

subchapter).

(

k

h) Using programmatic

, policy, or plan environmental impact statements

environmental documents and tiering from

statements

documents of broad scope to those of narrower scope, to eliminate repetitive discussions of the same issues (

§§

§ 1501.11

and 1502.4

of this

chapter

subchapter).

(

l

i) Incorporating by reference (§ 1501.12 of this

chapter

subchapter).

(

m

j) Integrating NEPA requirements with other environmental review and consultation requirements (§ 1502.24 of this

chapter

subchapter).

(

n

k) Requiring that comments

to

be as specific as possible (§ 1503.3 of this

chapter

subchapter).

(

o) Attaching

l) When changes are minor, attaching and publishing only changes to the draft environmental impact statement

,

rather than rewriting and publishing the entire statement

when changes are minor

(§ 1503.4(c) of this

chapter

subchapter).

(

p

m) Eliminating duplication with State, Tribal, and local procedures, by providing for joint preparation of environmental documents where practicable (§ 1506.2 of this

chapter

subchapter), and with other Federal procedures, by providing that an agency may adopt appropriate environmental documents prepared by another Federal agency (§ 1506.3 of this

chapter

subchapter).

(

q

n) Combining environmental documents with other documents (§ 1506.4 of this

chapter

subchapter).