[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 40, Volume 31]

[Revised as of July 1, 2006]

From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access

[CITE: 40CFR1502.4]



[Page 874-875]

 

                   TITLE 40--PROTECTION OF ENVIRONMENT

 

               CHAPTER V--COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY

 

PART 1502_ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT--Table of Contents

 

Sec.  1502.4  Major Federal actions requiring the preparation of 

environmental impact statements.



    (a) Agencies shall make sure the proposal which is the subject of an 

environmental impact statement is properly defined. Agencies shall use 

the criteria for scope (Sec.  1508.25) to determine which proposal(s) 

shall be the subject of a particular statement. Proposals or parts of 

proposals which are related to each other closely enough to be, in 

effect, a single course of action shall be evaluated in a single impact 

statement.

    (b) Environmental impact statements may be prepared, and are 

sometimes required, for broad Federal actions such as the adoption of 

new agency programs or regulations (Sec.  1508.18). Agencies shall 

prepare statements on broad actions so that they are relevant to policy 

and are timed to coincide with meaningful points in agency planning and 

decisionmaking.

    (c) When preparing statements on broad actions (including proposals 

by more than one agency), agencies may find it useful to evaluate the 

proposal(s) in one of the following ways:

    (1) Geographically, including actions occurring in the same general 

location, such as body of water, region, or metropolitan area.

    (2) Generically, including actions which have relevant similarities, 

such



[[Page 875]]



as common timing, impacts, alternatives, methods of implementation, 

media, or subject matter.

    (3) By stage of technological development including federal or 

federally assisted research, development or demonstration programs for 

new technologies which, if applied, could significantly affect the 

quality of the human environment. Statements shall be prepared on such 

programs and shall be available before the program has reached a stage 

of investment or commitment to implementation likely to determine 

subsequent development or restrict later alternatives.

    (d) Agencies shall as appropriate employ scoping (Sec.  1501.7), 

tiering (Sec.  1502.20), and other methods listed in Sec. Sec.  1500.4 

and 1500.5 to relate broad and narrow actions and to avoid duplication 

and delay.