§ 1502.4 - Scoping.

§ 1502.4 Major Federal actions requiring the preparation of environmental impact statementsScoping.

(a) Purpose. Agencies shall define the proposal that is the subject of an environmental impact statement based on the statutory authorities for the proposed action. Agencies shall use the criteria for scope (§ 1501.9(e) of this chapter) to determine which proposal(s) shall be the subject of a particular statement. Agencies shall evaluate in a single environmental impact statement proposals or parts of proposals that are related to each other closely enough to be, in effect, a single course of action.

(b) Environmental impact statements may be prepared for programmatic Federal actions, such as the adoption of new agency programs. When agencies prepare such statements, they should be relevant to the program decision and timed to coincide with meaningful points in agency planning and decision making.

(1) When preparing statements on programmatic actions (including proposals by more than one agency), agencies may find it useful to evaluate the proposal(s) in one of the following ways:

(i) Geographically, including actions occurring in the same general location, such as body of water, region, or metropolitan area.

(ii) Generically, including actions that have relevant similarities, such as common timing, impacts, alternatives, methods of implementation, media, or subject matter.

(iii) By stage of technological development including Federal or federally assisted research, development or demonstration programs for new technologies that, if applied, could significantly affect the quality of the human environment. Statements on such programs should be available before the program has reached a stage of investment or commitment to implementation likely to determine subsequent development or restrict later alternatives.

(2) Agencies shall as appropriate employ scoping (§ 1501.9 of this chapter), tiering (§ 1501.11 of this chapter), and other methods listed in §§ 1500.4 and 1500.5 of this chapter to relate programmatic and narrow actions and to avoid duplication and delay. Agencies may tier their environmental analyses to defer detailed analysis of environmental impacts of specific program elements until such program elements are ripe for final agency action

use scoping, an early and open process consistent with § 1501.9 of this subchapter, to determine the scope of issues for analysis in an environmental impact statement, including identifying the important issues and eliminating from further study unimportant issues. Scoping should begin as soon as practicable after the proposal for action is sufficiently developed for agency consideration. Scoping may include appropriate pre-application procedures or work conducted prior to publication of the notice of intent (see §§ 1501.3 and 1501.9 of this subchapter).

(b) Scoping outreach. When preparing an environmental impact statement, agencies shall facilitate notification to persons and agencies who may be interested or affected by an agency's proposed action, consistent with § 1501.9 of this subchapter. As part of the scoping process, the lead agency may hold a scoping meeting or meetings, publish scoping information, or use other means to communicate with those persons or agencies who may be interested or affected, which the agency may integrate with any other early planning meeting.

(c) Inviting participation. As part of the scoping process, and consistent with § 1501.9 of this subchapter, the lead agency shall invite the participation of likely affected Federal, State, Tribal, and local agencies and governments as cooperating or participating agencies, as appropriate; any applicant; and other likely affected or interested persons (including those who might not be in accord with the action), unless there is a limited exception under § 1507.3(d)(3) of this subchapter.

(d) Additional scoping responsibilities. As part of the scoping process, the lead agency shall:

(1) Identify and eliminate from detailed study the issues that are not important or have been covered by prior environmental review(s) (§§ 1501.12 and 1506.3 of this subchapter), narrowing the discussion of these issues in the environmental impact statement to a brief presentation of why they will not be important or providing a reference to their coverage elsewhere.

(2) Allocate assignments for preparation of the environmental impact statement among the lead and cooperating agencies, with the lead agency retaining responsibility for the statement.

(3) Indicate any publicly available environmental assessments and other environmental impact statements that are being or will be prepared and are related to but are not part of the scope of the environmental impact statement under consideration.

(4) Identify other environmental review, authorization, and consultation requirements so the lead and cooperating agencies may prepare other required analyses and studies concurrently and integrated with the environmental impact statement, as provided in § 1502.24.

(5) Indicate the relationship between the timing of the preparation of environmental analyses and the agencies' tentative planning and decision-making schedule.

(e) Notice of intent. As soon as practicable after determining that a proposal is sufficiently developed to allow for meaningful public comment and requires an environmental impact statement, the lead agency shall publish a notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement in the Federal Register. In addition to the Federal Register notice, an agency also may publish notification in accordance with § 1501.9 of this subchapter. The notice shall include, as appropriate:

(1) The purpose and need for the proposed agency action;

(2) A preliminary description of the proposed action and alternatives the environmental impact statement will consider;

(3) A brief summary of expected effects;

(4) Anticipated permits and other authorizations;

(5) A schedule for the decision-making process;

(6) A description of the public scoping process, including any scoping meeting(s);

(7) A request for comment on alternatives and effects, as well as on relevant information, studies, or analyses with respect to the proposed action;

(8) Contact information for a person within the agency who can answer questions about the proposed action and the environmental impact statement;

(9) Identification of any cooperating and participating agencies, and any information that such agencies require in the notice to facilitate their decisions or authorizations that will rely upon the resulting environmental impact statement; and

(10) A unique identification number for tracking purposes, which the agency shall reference on all environmental documents prepared for the proposed action and in any database or tracking system for such documents.

(f) Notices of withdrawal or cancellation. If an agency withdraws, cancels, or otherwise ceases the consideration of a proposed action before completing a final environmental impact statement, the agency shall publish a notice in the Federal Register.

(g) Revisions. An agency shall revise the determinations made under paragraphs (b), (c), and (d) of this section if substantial changes are made later in the proposed action, or if important new circumstances or information arise that bear on the proposal or its effects.