[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 39, Volume 1]
[Revised as of January 1, 2007]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 39CFR775.6]

[Page 198-200]
 
                        TITLE 39--POSTAL SERVICE
 
                 CHAPTER I--UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE
 
PART 775_NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT PROCEDURES--Table of Contents
 
Sec.  775.6  Categorical exclusions.

    (a) The classes of actions in this section are those that the Postal 
Service has determined do not individually or cumulatively have a 
significant impact on the human environment. To be categorically 
excluded, it must be determined that a proposed action fits within a 
class listed and there are no extraordinary circumstances that may 
affect the significance of the proposal. The action must not be 
connected to other actions with potentially significant impacts or is 
not related to other proposed actions with potentially significant 
impacts. Extraordinary circumstances are those unique situations 
presented by specific proposals, such as scientific controversy about 
the environmental impacts of the proposal, uncertain effects or effects 
involving unique or unknown risks.
    (b) Categorical exclusions relating to general agency actions:
    (1) Policy development, planning and implementation that relate to 
routine activities such as personnel, organizational changes or similar 
administrative functions.
    (2) Routine actions, including the management of programs or 
activities necessary to support the normal conduct of agency business, 
such as administrative, financial, operational and personnel action that 
involve no commitment of resources other than manpower and funding 
allocations.
    (3) Award of contracts for technical support services, management 
and operation of a government owned facility, and personal services.
    (4) Research activities and studies and routine data collection when 
such actions are clearly limited in context and intensity.
    (5) Educational and informational programs and activities.

[[Page 199]]

    (6) Reduction in force resulting from workload adjustments, reduced 
personnel or funding levels, skill imbalances or other similar causes 
that do not affect more than 1,000 positions.
    (7) Postal rate or mail classification actions, address information 
system changes, post office name and zip code changes.
    (8) Property protection, law enforcement and other legal activities 
undertaken by the Postal Inspection Service, the Law Department, the 
Judicial Officer, and the Inspector General.
    (9) Activities related to trade representation and market 
development activities abroad.
    (10) Emergency preparedness planning activities, including 
designation of on-site evacuation routes.
    (11) Minor reassignment of motor vehicles and purchase or deployment 
of motor vehicles to new locations that do not adversely impact traffic 
safety, congestion or air quality.
    (12) Procurement or disposal of mail handling or transport 
equipment.
    (13) Acquisition, installation, operation, removal or disposal of 
communication systems, computers and data processing equipment.
    (14) Postal facility function changes not involving construction, 
where there are no substantial relocation of employees, or no 
substantial increase in the number of motor vehicles at a facility.
    (15) Closure or consolidation of post offices under 39 U.S.C. 
404(b).
    (16) Minor operational changes at an existing facility to minimize 
waste generation and for reuse of materials. These changes include but 
are not limited to, adding filtration and recycling systems to allow 
reuse of vehicle or machine oil, setting up sorting areas to improve 
process efficiency, and segregating waste streams previously mingled and 
assigning new identification codes to the two resulting streams.
    (17) Actions which have an insignificant effect upon the environment 
as established in a previously written Environmental Assessment (EA) and 
Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) or Environmental Impact 
Statement (EIS). Such repetitive actions shall be considered ``reference 
actions'' and a record of all decisions concerning these ``reference 
actions'' shall be maintained by the Chief Environmental Officer or 
designee. The proposed action must be essentially the same in context 
and the same or less in intensity or create fewer impacts than the 
``reference action'' previously studied under an EA or EIS in order to 
qualify for this exclusion.
    (18) Rulemakings that are strictly procedural, and interpretations 
and rulings with existing regulations, or modifications or rescissions 
of such interpretations and rulings.
    (c) Categorical exclusions relating to emergency or restoration 
actions:
    (1) Any cleanup, remediation or removal action conducted under the 
provisions of the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and 
Liability Act (CERCLA) or the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act 
(RCRA), any asbestos abatement actions regulated under the provisions of 
the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), or the Clean Air Act or 
any PCB transformer replacement or any lead based paint abatement 
actions regulated under the provisions of the Toxic Substances Control 
Act (TSCA), OSHA or RCRA.
    (2) Testing associated with environmental cleanups or site 
investigations.
    (d) Categorical exclusions relating to maintenance or repair actions 
at existing facilities:
    (1) Siting, construction or operation of temporary support buildings 
or support structures.
    (2) Routine maintenance and minor activities, such as fencing, that 
occur in floodplains or state and local wetlands or pursuant to the 
nationwide, regional or general permitting process of the US Army Corps 
of Engineers.
    (3) Routine actions normally conducted to protect and maintain 
properties and which do not alter the configuration of the building.
    (4) Changes in configuration of buildings required to promote 
handicapped accessibility pursuant to the Architectural Barriers Act.
    (5) Repair to, or replacement in kind or equivalent of building 
equipment or components (e.g., electrical distribution, HVAC systems, 
doors, windows, roofs, etc.).

[[Page 200]]

    (6) Internal modifications or improvements to structure, or 
buildings to accommodate mail processing, computer, communication or 
other similar types of equipment or other actions which do not involve 
modification to the external walls of the facility.
    (7) Joint development and/or joint use projects that only involve 
internal modifications to an existing facility.
    (8) Noise abatement measures, such as construction of noise barriers 
and installation of noise control materials.
    (9) Actions which require concurrence or approval of another federal 
agency where the action is a categorical exclusion under the NEPA 
regulations of that federal agency.
    (e) Categorical exclusions relating to real estate actions.
    (1) Obtaining, granting, disposing, or changing of easements, 
licenses and permits, rights-of-way and similar interests.
    (2) Extension, renewal, renegotiation, or termination of existing 
lease agreements.
    (3) Purchase of Postal Service occupied leased property where the 
planned postal uses do not differ significantly from the past uses of 
the site.
    (4) Acquisition or disposal of existing facilities and real property 
where the planned uses do not differ significantly from past uses of the 
site.
    (5) Acquisition of real property not connected to specific facility 
plans or when necessary to protect the interests of the Postal Service 
in advance of final project approval. This categorical exclusion only 
applies to the acquisition. Any subsequent use of the site for a 
facility project must be considered under this part.
    (6) Disposal through sale or outlease of unimproved real property.
    (7) Disposal through sale, outlease, transfer or exchange of real 
property to other federal or state agencies.
    (8) Acquisition and disposal through sale, lease, transfer or 
exchange of real property that does not involve an increase in volumes, 
concentrations, or discharge rates of wastes, air emissions, or water 
effluents, and that under reasonably foreseeable uses, have generally 
similar environmental impacts as compared to those before the 
acquisition or disposal. A determination that the proposed action is 
categorically excluded can be based upon previous ``reference actions'' 
documented under Sec.  775.6(b)(17).
    (9) Acquisition and disposal through sale, lease, transfer, 
reservation or exchange of real property for nature and habitat 
preservation, conservation, a park or wildlife management.
    (10) New construction, Postal Service owned or leased, or joint 
development and joint use projects, of any facility unless the proposed 
action is listed as requiring an EA in Sec.  775.5.
    (11) Expansion or improvement of an existing facility where the 
expansion is within the boundaries of the site or occurs in a previously 
developed area unless the proposed action is listed as requiring an EA 
in Sec.  775.5.
    (12) Construction and disturbance pursuant to a nationwide, regional 
or general permit issued by the US Army Corps of Engineers.
    (13) Any activity in floodplains being regulated pursuant to Sec.  
775.6 and is not listed as requiring an EA in Sec.  775.5.

[63 FR 45720, Aug. 27, 1998]