9629

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 9629
• Author: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
• Title: Selected NEPA Documents.
• USFW Year: 1993.
• USFW - Doc Type: \
• Copyright Material: NO

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(a) Integrating the NEPA process into early planning to insure appropriate consideration
of NEPA's policies and to eliminate delay.
(b) Emphasizing cooperative consultation among agencies before the environmental
impact statement is prepared rather than submission of adversary comments on a completed
document.
(c) Providing for the swift and fair resolution of lead agency disputes.
(d) Identifying at an early stage the significant environmental issues deserving of study
and deemphasizing insignificant issues, narrowing the scope of the environmental impact
statement accordingly.
(e) Providing a mechanism for putting appropriate time limits on the environmental
impact statement process.
1501.2 Apply NEPA early in the process.
Agencies shall integrate the NEPA process with other planning at the earliest possible
time to insure that planning and decisions reflect environmental values, to avoid delays later
in the process, and to head off potential conflicts. Each agency shall:
(a) Comply with the mandate of section 102(2)(A) to "utilize a systematic,
interdisciplinary approach which will insure the integrated use of the natural and social
sciences and the environmental design arts in planning and in decisionmaking which may
have an impact on man's environment," as specified by SS 1507.2.
(b) Identify environmental effects and values in adequate detail so they can be compared
to economic and technical analyses. Environmental documents and appropriate analyses shall
be circulated and reviewed at the same time as other planning documents.
(c) Study, develop, and describe appropriate alternatives to recommended courses of
action in any proposal which involves unresolved conflicts concerning alterative uses of
available resources as provided by section 102(2)(E) of the Act.
(d) Provide for cases where actions are planned by private applicants or other
non-Federal entities before Federal involvement so that:
(1) Policies or designated staff are available to advise potential applicants of studies or
other information foreseeably required for later Federal action.
(2) The Federal agency consults early with appropriate State and local agencies and
Indian tribes and with interested private persons and organizations when its own involvement
is reasonably foreseeable.
(3) The Federal agency commences its NEPA process at the earliest possible time.
1501.3 When to prepare an environmental assessment.
(a) Agencies shall prepare an environmental assessment (SS 1508.9) when necessary
under the procedures adopted by individual agencies to supplement these regulations as
described in SS 1507.3. An assessment is not necessary if the agency has decided to prepare
an environmental impact statement.
(b) Agencies may prepare an environmental assessment on any action at any time in order
to assist agency planning and decisionmaking.