[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 40, Volume 30]
[Revised as of July 1, 2004]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 40CFR1505.1]

[Page 761]
 
                   TITLE 40--PROTECTION OF ENVIRONMENT
 
               CHAPTER V--COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
 
PART 1505_NEPA AND AGENCY DECISIONMAKING--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 1505.1  Agency decisionmaking procedures.




Sec.
1505.1 Agency decisionmaking procedures.
1505.2 Record of decision in cases requiring environmental impact 
          statements.
1505.3 Implementing the decision.

    Authority: NEPA, the Environmental Quality Improvement Act of 1970, 
as amended (42 U.S.C. 4371 et seq.), sec. 309 of the Clean Air Act, as 
amended (42 U.S.C. 7609), and E.O. 11514 (Mar. 5, 1970, as amended by 
E.O. 11991, May 24, 1977).

    Source: 43 FR 55999, Nov. 29, 1978, unless otherwise noted.


    Agencies shall adopt procedures (Sec. 1507.3) to ensure that 
decisions are made in accordance with the policies and purposes of the 
Act. Such procedures shall include but not be limited to:
    (a) Implementing procedures under section 102(2) to achieve the 
requirements of sections 101 and 102(1).
    (b) Designating the major decision points for the agency's principal 
programs likely to have a significant effect on the human environment 
and assuring that the NEPA process corresponds with them.
    (c) Requiring that relevant environmental documents, comments, and 
responses be part of the record in formal rulemaking or adjudicatory 
proceedings.
    (d) Requiring that relevant environmental documents, comments, and 
responses accompany the proposal through existing agency review 
processes so that agency officials use the statement in making 
decisions.
    (e) Requiring that the alternatives considered by the decisionmaker 
are encompassed by the range of alternatives discussed in the relevant 
environmental documents and that the decisionmaker consider the 
alternatives described in the environmental impact statement. If another 
decision document accompanies the relevant environmental documents to 
the decisionmaker, agencies are encouraged to make available to the 
public before the decision is made any part of that document that 
relates to the comparison of alternatives.

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