[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 7, Volume 5, Parts 200 to 399]
[Revised as of January 1, 2001]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 7CFR372.9]

[Page 478-479]
 
                          TITLE 7--AGRICULTURE
 
 CHAPTER III--ANIMAL AND PLANT HEALTH INSPECTION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF 
                               AGRICULTURE
 
PART 372--NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT IMPLEMENTING PROCEDURES--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 372.9  Processing and use of environmental documents.

    (a) Environmental assessments will be forwarded immediately upon 
completion to the decisionmaker for a determination of whether the 
proposed action may have significant effects on the quality of the human 
environment, and for the execution, as appropriate, of a finding of no 
significant impact or a notice of intent to prepare an environmental 
impact statement.
    (1) The availability of environmental assessments will be announced 
by publishing a notice consistent with the notification provisions of 
Sec. 372.8.
    (2) Comments, if any, will be transmitted, together with any 
analyses and recommendations, to the APHIS decisionmaker who may then 
take appropriate action.
    (3) Changes to environmental assessments and findings of no 
significant impact that are prompted by comments, new information, or 
any other source, will normally be announced in the same manner as the 
notice of availability (except that all commenters will be mailed copies 
of changes directly) prior to implementing the proposed action or any 
alternative.
    (b) Environmental impact statements will be processed from inception 
(publication of the notice of intent) to completion (publication of a 
final environmental impact statement or a supplement) according to the 
Council on Environmental Quality implementing regulations.

[[Page 479]]

    (c) For rulemaking or adjudicatory proceedings, relevant 
environmental documents, comments, and responses will be a part of the 
administrative record.
    (d) For all APHIS activity that is subject to the NEPA process, 
relevant environmental documents, comments, and responses will accompany 
proposals through the review process.
    (e) The APHIS decisionmaker will consider the alternatives discussed 
in environmental documents in reaching a determination on the merits of 
proposed actions.
    (f) APHIS will implement mitigation and other conditions established 
in environmental documentation and committed to as part of the 
decisionmaking process.