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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course of action shall be evaluated in a single impact statement.
(b) Environmental impact statements may be prepared, and are sometimes required, for
broad Federal actions such as the adoption of new agency programs or regulations (SS
1508.18). Agencies shall prepare statements on broad actions so that they are relevant to
policy and are timed to coincide with meaningful points in agency planning and deci-
sionmaking.
(c) When preparing statements on broad actions (including proposals by more than one
agency), agencies may find it useful to evaluate the proposal(s) in one of the following ways:
(1) Geographically, including actions occurring in the same general location, such as
body of water, region, or metropolitan area.
(2) Generically, including actions which have relevant similarities, such as common
timing, impacts, alternatives, methods of implementation, media, or subject matter.
(3) By stage of technological development including federal or federally assisted
research, development or demonstration programs for new technologies which, if applied,
could significantly affect the quality of the human environment. Statements shall be prepared
on such programs and shall be available before the program has reached a stage of in-
vestment or commitment to implementation likely to determine subsequent development or
restrict later alternatives.
(d) Agencies shall as appropriate employ scoping (SS 1501.7), tiering (SS 1502.20), and
other methods listed in SS 1500.4 and 1500.5 to relate broad and narrow actions and to avoid
duplication and delay.
1502.5 Timing.
An agency shall commence preparation of an environmental impact statement as close as
possible to the time the agency is developing or is presented with a proposal (SS 1508.23) so
that preparation can be completed in time for the final statement to be included in any
recommendation or report on the proposal. The statement shall be prepared early enough so
that it can serve practically as an important contribution to the decisiomm~aking process and
will not be used to rationalize or justify decisions already made (SS 1500.2(c), 1501.2, and
1502.2). For instance:
(a) For projects directly undertaken by Federal agencies the environmental impact
statement shall be prepared at the feasibility analysis (go-no go) stage and may be supple-
mented at a later stage if necessary.
(b) For applications to the agency appropriate environmental assessments or statements
shall be commenced no later than immediately after the application is received. Federal
agencies are encouraged to begin preparation of such assessments or statements earlier,
preferably jointly with applicable State or local agencies.
(c) For adjudication, the final environmental impact statement shall normally precede the
fmal staff recommendation and that portion of the public hearing related to the impact study.
In appropriate circumstances the statement may follow preliminary hearings designed to
gather information for use in the statements.
(d) For informal rulemaking the draft environmental impact statement shall normally
accompany the proposed rule.