[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 32, Volume 4]
[Revised as of July 1, 2002]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 32CFR651.50]

[Page 427-428]
 
                       TITLE 32--NATIONAL DEFENSE
 
              CHAPTER V--DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY (CONTINUED)
 
PART 651--ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS OF ARMY ACTIONS (AR 200-2)--Table of Contents
 
          Subpart G--Public Involvement and the Scoping Process
 
Sec. 651.50  Public interaction phase.

    (a) During this portion of the process, the proponent will invite 
comments from all affected parties and respondents to the NOI to assist 
in developing issues for detailed discussion in the EIS. Assistance in 
identifying possible participants is available from the ODEP.
    (b) In addition to the affected parties identified in paragraph (a) 
of this section, participants should include the following:
    (1) Technical representatives of the proponent. Such persons must be 
able to describe the technical aspects of the proposed action and 
alternatives to other participants.
    (2) One or more representatives of any Army-contracted consulting 
firm, if one has been retained to participate in writing the EIS or 
providing reports that the Army will use to create substantial portions 
of the EIS.
    (3) Experts in various environmental disciplines, in any technical 
area where foreseen impacts are not already represented among the other 
scoping participants.
    (c) In all cases, the participants will be provided with information 
developed during the preliminary phase and with as much of the following 
information that may be available:
    (1) A brief description of the environment at the affected location. 
When descriptions for a specific location are not available, general 
descriptions of the probable environmental effects will be provided. 
This will also address the extent to which the environment has been 
modified or affected in the past.
    (2) A description of the proposed alternatives. The description will 
be sufficiently detailed to enable evaluation of the range of impacts 
that may be caused by the proposed action and alternatives. The amount 
of detail that is sufficient will depend on the stage of the development 
of the proposal, its magnitude, and its similarity to other actions with 
which participants may be familiar.
    (3) A tentative identification of ``any public environmental 
assessments and other environmental impact statements that are being or 
will be prepared that are related to but are not part of the scope of 
the impact statement under consideration'' (40 CFR 1501.7(a)(5)).
    (4) Any additional scoping issues or limitations on the EIS, if not 
already described during the preliminary phase.
    (d) The public involvement should begin with the NOI to publish an 
EIS. The NOI may indicate when and where a scoping meeting will take 
place and who to contact to receive preliminary information. The scoping 
meeting is an informal public meeting, and initiates a continuous 
scoping process, allowing the Army to scope the action and the impacts 
of alternatives. It is a working session where the gathering and 
evaluation of information relating to potential environmental impacts 
can be initiated.
    (e) Starting with this information (paragraph (d) of this section), 
the person conducting the scoping process will use input from any of the 
involved or affected parties. This will aid in developing the 
conclusions. The proponent determines the final scope of the EIS. If the 
proponent chooses not to require detailed treatment of significant 
issues or factors in the EIS, in spite of relevant technical or 
scientific objections by any participant, the proponent will

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clearly identify (in the environmental consequences section of the EIS) 
the criteria that were used to eliminate such factors.