[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: 40CFR1508.4] [Page 769] TITLE 40--PROTECTION OF ENVIRONMENT CHAPTER V--COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY PART 1508_TERMINOLOGY AND INDEX--Table of Contents Sec. 1508.4 Categorical exclusion. Categorical exclusion means a category of actions which do not individually or cumulatively have a significant effect on the human environment and which have been found to have no such effect in procedures adopted by a Federal agency in implementation of these regulations (Sec. 1507.3) and for which, therefore, neither an environmental assessment nor an environmental impact statement is required. An agency may decide in its procedures or otherwise, to prepare environmental assessments for the reasons stated in Sec. 1508.9 even though it is not required to do so. Any procedures under this section shall provide for extraordinary circumstances in which a normally excluded action may have a significant environmental effect.