[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 50, Volume 7]
[Revised as of January 1, 2007]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 50CFR530.3]

[Page 880]
 
                    TITLE 50--WILDLIFE AND FISHERIES
 
                   CHAPTER V--MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION
 
PART 530_COMPLIANCE WITH THE NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT--Table
 
Sec. 530.3  Typical classes of action.

    Section 1507.3(b)(2), in conjunction with Sec. 1508.4, requires 
agencies to identify typical classes of action that warrant similar 
treatment under NEPA with respect to the preparation of EIS's or 
environmental assessments. As a general matter, the Commission's 
activities do not include actions for which EIS's or environmental 
assessments are required. Its activities involve:
    (a) Consultation with and recommendations to other Federal agencies 
for actions relating to marine mammal protection and conservation for 
which an EIS or environmental assessment is either not required by the 
NEPA regulations or for which an EIS or environmental assessment is 
prepared by another Federal agency; and
    (b) Research contracts relating to policy issues, biological-
ecological data needed to make sound management decisions, and better 
methods for collecting and analyzing data. These activities are not, by 
themselves, major Federal actions significantly affecting the quality of 
the human environment and the Commission's activities are therefore 
categorically excluded from the requirement to prepare an EIS or 
environmental assessment except for proposals for legislation which are 
initiated by the Commission, for which the Commission shall develop 
environmental assessments or EIS's, as appropriate, in accordance with 
the NEPA regulations. The Commission shall independently determine 
whether an EIS or an environmental assessment is required where:
    (1) A proposal for agency action is not covered by one of the 
typical classes of action above; or
    (2) For actions which are covered, the presence of extraordinary 
circumstances indicates that some other level of environmental review 
may be appropriate.