[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 7, Volume 6]
[Revised as of January 1, 2008]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 7CFR650.1]

[Page 506]
 
                          TITLE 7--AGRICULTURE
 
   CHAPTER VI--NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF 
                               AGRICULTURE
 
PART 650_COMPLIANCE WITH NEPA--Table of Contents
 
             Subpart A_Procedures for NRCS-Assisted Programs
 
Sec. 650.1  Purpose.




             Subpart A_Procedures for NRCS-Assisted Programs

Sec.
650.1 Purpose.
650.2 Applicability.
650.3 Policy.
650.4 Definition of terms.
650.5 Environmental evaluation in planning.
650.6 Categorical exclusions.
650.7 When to prepare an EIS.
650.8 When to prepare an environmental assessment (EA).
650.9 NEPA and interagency planning.
650.10 Adoption of an EIS prepared by a cooperating agency.
650.11 Environmental documents.
650.12 NRCS decisionmaking.
650.13 Review and comment.

                Subpart B_Related Environmental Concerns

650.20 Reviewing and commenting on EIS's prepared by other agencies.
650.21 Working relations with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 
          (EPA) and related State environmental agencies.
650.22 Rare, threatened, and endangered species of plants and animals.
650.23 Natural areas.
650.24 Scenic beauty (visual resource).
650.25 Flood-plain management.


    Authority: 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.; Executive Order 11514 (Rev.); 16 
U.S.C. 1001-1008; 7 U.S.C. 1010-1011; 16 U.S.C. 590 a-f, q.; 7 CFR 2.62, 
unless otherwise noted.

    Source: 44 FR 50579, Aug. 29, 1979, unless otherwise noted.


    (a) This rule prescribes procedures by which NRCS is to implement 
the provisions of NEPA. The Natural Resources Conservation Service 
recognizes NEPA as the national charter for protection, restoration, and 
enhancement of the human environment. NEPA establishes policy, sets 
goals (Section 101), and provides means (Section 102) for carrying out 
this policy.
    (b) The procedures included in this rule supplement CEQ's NEPA 
regulations, 40 CFR parts 1500-1508. CEQ regulations that need no 
additional elaboration to address NRCS-assisted actions are not repeated 
in this rule, although the regulations are cited as references. The 
procedures include some overlap with CEQ regulations. This is done to 
highlight items of importance for NRCS. This does not supersede the 
existing body of NEPA regulations.
    (c) These procedures provide that--
    (1) Environmental information is to be available to citizens before 
decisions are made about actions that significantly affect the human 
environment;
    (2) NRCS-assisted actions are to be supported to the extent possible 
by accurate scientific analyses that are technically acceptable to NRCS;
    (3) NRCS-prepared NEPA documents are to be available for public 
scrutiny; and
    (4) Documents are to concentrate on the issues that are timely and 
significant to the action in question rather than amassing needless 
detail.
    (d) Procedures for implementing NEPA are designed to ensure that 
environmental consequences are considered in decisionmaking. They allow 
NRCS to assist individuals and nonfederal public entities to take 
actions that protect, enhance, and restore environmental quality.
    (e) These procedures make possible the early identification of 
actions that have significant effects on the human environment to avoid 
delays in decisionmaking.