[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: 40CFR1508.18]

[Page 771]
 
                   TITLE 40--PROTECTION OF ENVIRONMENT
 
               CHAPTER V--COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
 
PART 1508_TERMINOLOGY AND INDEX--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 1508.18  Major Federal action.

    Major Federal action includes actions with effects that may be major 
and which are potentially subject to Federal control and responsibility. 
Major reinforces but does not have a meaning independent of 
significantly (Sec. 1508.27). Actions include the circumstance where 
the responsible officials fail to act and that failure to act is 
reviewable by courts or administrative tribunals under the 
Administrative Procedure Act or other applicable law as agency action.
    (a) Actions include new and continuing activities, including 
projects and programs entirely or partly financed, assisted, conducted, 
regulated, or approved by federal agencies; new or revised agency rules, 
regulations, plans, policies, or procedures; and legislative proposals 
(Sec. Sec. 1506.8, 1508.17). Actions do not include funding assistance 
solely in the form of general revenue sharing funds, distributed under 
the State and Local Fiscal Assistance Act of 1972, 31 U.S.C. 1221 et 
seq., with no Federal agency control over the subsequent use of such 
funds. Actions do not include bringing judicial or administrative civil 
or criminal enforcement actions.
    (b) Federal actions tend to fall within one of the following 
categories:
    (1) Adoption of official policy, such as rules, regulations, and 
interpretations adopted pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 
U.S.C. 551 et seq.; treaties and international conventions or 
agreements; formal documents establishing an agency's policies which 
will result in or substantially alter agency programs.
    (2) Adoption of formal plans, such as official documents prepared or 
approved by federal agencies which guide or prescribe alternative uses 
of Federal resources, upon which future agency actions will be based.
    (3) Adoption of programs, such as a group of concerted actions to 
implement a specific policy or plan; systematic and connected agency 
decisions allocating agency resources to implement a specific statutory 
program or executive directive.
    (4) Approval of specific projects, such as construction or 
management activities located in a defined geographic area. Projects 
include actions approved by permit or other regulatory decision as well 
as federal and federally assisted activities.