PERMFILE47064

• Permit No: M2001001
• IBM Index Class Name: Permit File
• Doc Date: 1/17/2001
• Doc Name: FEDERAL REGISTER
• Section_Exhibit Name: EXHIBIT K 3
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

V

Federal R:gister/Vol. 66, No. 11/!:'ednesday; January 17, 2001/Rules and Regulations 4573
State, local, or Tribal governments or
communities;
(2) Create a serious inconsistency or
otherwise interfere with an action taken
or planned by another agency,
(3) Materially alter the budgetary
impact of entitlements, grants, user Eees,
or loan programs or the rights and
obligations of recipients thereof; or
(4) Raise novel legal or policy issues
arising out of legal mandates, the
President's priorities, or the principles
set forth in the Executive Order.
Pursuant to the terms of Executive
Order 12866, it has been determined
that this rule is a "significant regulatory
action" in light of the provisions of
paragraph (4) above. As such, this action
was submitted to OMH for review.
Changes made in response to OMB
suggestions or recommendations are
documented in the public record.
C. Executive Order 13132 (Federalism)
Executive Order 13132, entitled
"Federalism" (64 FR 43255, August S0,
1999), requires us to develop an
accountable process to ensure
"meaningful and timely input by State
and local officials in the development of
regulatory policies that have federalism
implications." "Policies that have
federalism implications" is defined in
the Executive Order to include
regulations that have "substantial direct
effects on the States, on the relationship
between the national government and
the States, or on the distribution of
power and responsibilities among the
various levels of government."
This rule does not have federalism
implications. As explained in sections Ii
and III of today's preamble, the rule
does not alter or enlarge section 404
program jurisdiction and therefore does
not affect a discharger's (including Slate
dischargers) obligation to obtain a
section 404 permit for any discharge of
dredged material into waters of the U.S.
Rather, the rule identifies what types of
activities are likely to give rise to an
obligation to obtain such a permit under
the definition of "discharge of dredged
material" contained in our existing
regulations. it will not have substantial
direct effects on the States, on the
relationship between the national
government and the States, or on the
distribution of power and
responsibilities among the various
levels of government, as specified in
Executive Order 13132. Thus, Executive
Order 13132 does not apply to this rule.
D. Regulatory Flexibility Act /RFA) as
Amended by the Small Business
Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of
1996 (SBREFAJ, 5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.
The RFA generally requires an agency
to prepare a regulatory flexibility
analysis of any rule subject to notice-
and-comment rulemaking requirements
under the Administrative Procedure Act
or any other statute unless the agency
certifies that the rule will not have a
significant economic impact on a
substantial number of small entities.
Small entities include small businesses,
small organizations and small
governmental jurisdictions.
For purposes of assessing the impacts
of today's rule on small entities, a small
eatity is defined as: (1) A small business
based on SBA size standards; (2) a small
governmental jurisdiction that is a
government of a city, county, town,
school district, or special district with a
population of less than 50,000; and (3)
a small organization that is any not-for-
profitenterprise which is independently
owned and operated and is not
dominant in its field.
Afrer considering the economic
impacts of today's rule on small entities,
we certify that this action wil] not have
a significant economic impact on a
substantial number of small entities. As
explained in sections R and III of
today's preamble, the rule does not alter
or enlarge section 404 program
jurisdiction and therefore does not
change any discharger's obligation to
obtain a section 404 permit for any
discharge of dredged material into
waters of the U.S. Rather, the rule
identifies what types of activities are
likely to give rise to an obligation to
obtain such a permit under the existing
regulatory program. Moreover, we also
do not anticipate that provision of
project-specific information that a
regulable discharge does not occur
would result in significant costs.
E. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act
Title II of the Unfunded Mandates
Reform Act of 1995 (UMRA), Public
Law 104-4, establishes requirements for
Federal agencies to assess the effects of
their regulatory actions on State, local,
and Tribal governments and the private
sector. Under section 202 of the UMRA,
EPA generally must prepare a written
statement, including acost-benefit
analysis, For proposed and final rules
with "Federal mandates" [hat may
result in expenditures to State, local,
and Tribal governments, in the
aggregate, or to the private sector, of
5100 million or more in any one year.
Before promulgating an EPA rule for
which a written statement is needed.
section 205 of the UMRA generally
requires EPA to identify and consider a
reasonable number of regulatory
alternatives and adopt the least costly,
most cost-effective or least burdensome
alternative that achieves the objectives
of the rule. The provisions of section
205 do not apply when they are
inconsistent with applicable law.
Moreover, section 205 allows EPA to
adopt an alternative other than the least
costly, most cost-effective or least
burdensome alternative if the
Administrator publishes with the final
ru]e an explanation why that alternative
was not adopted. Before EPA establishes
any regulatory requirements that may
significantly or uniquely affect small
governments, including Tribal
governments, it must have developed
under section 203 of the UMRA a small
government agency plan. The plan must
provide for notifying potentially
affected small governments, enabling
officials of affected small governments
to have meaningful and timely input in
the development of EPA regulatory
proposals with significant Federal
intergovernmental mandates, and
informing, educating, and advising
small governments on compliance with
the regulatory requirements.
We have determined that this rule
does not contain a Federal mandate that
may result in expenditures of $100
million or more for Stata, local, and
Tribal governments, in the aggregate, or
the private sector in any one year. As
explained in sections R and III of
today's preamble, the rule does not alter
or enlarge section 404 program
jurisdiction and therefore does not affect
a discharger's obligation to obtain a
section 404 permit for any discharge of
dredged material into waters of the U.S.
Rather, the rule identifies what types of
activities are likely to give rise to an
obligation to obtain such a permit under
the definition of "discharge of dredged
material" contained in our existing
regulations. Thus, today's rule is not
subject to the requirements of sections
202 and 205 of the UMRA. For the same
reasons, we have determined that this
rule contains no regulatory
requirements that might significantly or
uniquely affect small governments.
Thus, today's rule is not subject to the
requirements of section 203 of UMRA.
F. National Technology Transfer and
Advancement Act
Section 12(d) of the National
Technology Transfer and Advancement
Act of 1995 (the NT"pAA), Public Law
104-113, section 12(d) (15 U.S.C. 272
note), directs us to use voluntary
consensus standards in our regulatory
activities unless to do so would be