[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: 7CFR650.4]

[Page 508-510]
 
                          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. 650.4  Definition of terms.

    Definitions of the following terms or phrases appear in 40 CFR part 
1508, CEQ regulations. These terms are important in the understanding 
and implementation of this rule. These definitions are not repeated in 
the interest of reducing duplication:

Categorical exclusion. (40 CFR 1508.4)
Cooperating agency. (40 CFR 1508.5)
Cumulative impact. (40 CFR 1508.7)
Environmental impact statement (EIS). (40 CFR 1508.11)
Human environment. (40 CFR 1508.14)
Lead agency. (40 CFR 1508.16)
Major Federal action. (40 CFR 1508.18)
Mitigation. (40 CFR 1508.20)
NEPA process. (40 CFR 1508.21)
Scope. (40 CFR 1508.25)
Scoping. (40 CFR 1501.7)
Tiering. (40 CFR 1508.28)

    (a) Channel realignment. Channel realignment includes the 
construction of a new channel or a new alignment and may include the 
clearing, snagging, widening, and/or deepening of the existing channel. 
(Channel Modification Guidelines, 43 FR 8276).
    (b) Environmental assessment (EA). (40 CFR 1508.9)
    (1) An environmental assessment is a concise public document for 
which a Federal agency is responsible that--
    (i) Briefly provides sufficient evidence and analysis for 
determining whether to prepare an environmental impact statement or a 
finding of no significant impact.
    (ii) Aids an agency's compliance with the Act when no environmental 
impact statement is necessary.
    (iii) Facilitates preparation of an environmental impact statement 
when one is necessary.
    (2) An environmental assessment includes brief discussions of the 
need for the proposal, alternatives as required by section of the 
environmental impacts of the proposed action and alternatives, and a 
list of agencies and persons consulted.
    (c) Environmental evaluation. The environmental evaluation (EE) 
(formerly referred to by NRCS as an environmental assessment) is the 
part of planning that inventories and estimates the potential effects on 
the human environment of alternative solutions to resource problems. A 
wide range of environmental data together with social and economic 
information is considered in determining whether a proposed action is a 
major Federal action significantly affecting the human environment. The 
environmental evaluation for a program, regulation, or individual action 
is used to determine the need for an environmental assessment or an 
environmental impact statement. It also aids in the consideration of 
alternatives and in the identification of available resources.
    (d) Federally-assisted actions. These actions are planned and 
carried out by individuals, groups, or local units of government largely 
on nonfederal land with technical and/or financial assistance provided 
by NRCS.
    (e) Interdisciplinary planning. NRCS uses an interdisciplinary 
environmental evaluation and planning approach in which specialists and 
groups having different technical expertise act as a team to jointly 
evaluate existing and future environmental quality. The 
interdisciplinary group considers structure and function of natural 
resource systems, complexity of problems, and the economic, social, and 
environmental effects of alternative actions. Public participation is an 
essential part of effective interdisciplinary planning. Even if an NRCS 
employee provides direct assistance to an individual land user, the 
basic data used is a result of interdisciplinary development of guide 
and planning criteria.

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    (f) Nonproject actions. Nonproject actions consist of technical and/
or financial assistance provided to an individual, group, or local unit 
of government by NRCS primarily through a cooperative agreement with a 
local conservation district, such as land treatment recommended in the 
Conservation Operations, Great Plains Conservation, Rural Abandoned 
Mine, and Rural Clean Water Programs. These actions may include 
consultations, advice, engineering, and other technical assistance that 
land users usually cannot accomplish by themselves. Nonproject technical 
and/or financial assistance may result in the land user installing field 
terraces, waterways, field leveling, onfarm drainage systems, farm 
ponds, pasture management, conservation tillage, critical area 
stablization and other conservation practices.
    (g) Notice of intent (NOI) (40 CFR 1508.22). A notice of intent is a 
brief statement inviting public reaction to the decision by the 
responsible Federal official to prepare an EIS for a major Federal 
action. The notice of intent is to be published in the Federal Register, 
circulated to interested agencies, groups, individuals, and published in 
one or more newspapers serving the area of the proposed action.
    (h) Project actions. A project action is a formally planned 
undertaking that is carried out within a specified area by sponsors for 
the benefit of the general public. Project sponsors are units of 
government having the legal authority and resources to install, operate, 
and/or maintain works of improvement.
    (i) Record of Decision. (ROD) (40 CFR 1505.2). A record of decision 
is a concise written rationale by the RFO regarding implementation of a 
proposed action requiring an environmental impact statement. This was 
previously defined by NRCS as a Statement of Findings (SOF).
    (j) Responsible Federal official (RFO). The NRCS Administrator is 
the responsible Federal official (RFO) for compliance with NEPA 
regarding proposed legislation, programs, legislative reports, 
regulations, and program EIS's. NRCS state conservationists (STC's) are 
the RFO's for compliance with the provisions of NEPA in other NRCS-
assisted actions.
    (k) Significantly. (40 CFR 1508.27) ``Significantly'' as used in 
NEPA requires considerations of both context and intensity:
    (1) Context. This means that the significance of an action must be 
analyzed in several contexts such as society as a whole (human, 
national), the affected region, the affected interests, and the 
locality. Significance varies with the setting of the proposed action. 
For instance, for a site-specific action, significance usually depends 
on the effects in the locale rather than in the world as a whole. Both 
short- and long-term effects are relevant.
    (2) Intensity. This refers to the severity of impact. Responsible 
officials must bear in mind that more than one agency may make decisions 
about partial aspects of a major action.

The following should be considered in evaluating intensity:
    (i) Impacts that may be both beneficial and adverse. A significant 
effect may exist even if the Federal agency believes that on balance the 
effect will be beneficial.
    (ii) The degree to which the proposed action affects public health 
or safety.
    (iii) Unique characteristics of the geographic area such as 
proximity to historic or cultural resources, park lands, prime 
farmlands, wetlands, wild and scenic rivers, or ecologically critical 
areas.
    (iv) The degree to which the effects on the quality of the human 
environment are likely to be highly controversial.
    (v) The degree to which the possible effects on the human 
environment are highly uncertain or involve unique or unknown risks.
    (vi) The degree to which the action may establish a precedent for 
future actions with significant effects or represents a decision in 
principle about a future consideration.
    (vii) Whether the action is related to other actions with 
individually insignificant but cumulatively significant impacts. 
Significance exists if it is reasonable to anticipate a cumulatively 
significant impact on the environment. Significance cannot be avoided by 
terming an action temporary or by

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breaking it down into small component parts.
    (viii) The degree to which the action may adversely affect 
districts, sites, highways, structures, or objects listed in or eligible 
for listing in the National Register of Historic Places or may cause 
loss or destruction of significant scientific, cultural, or historical 
resources.
    (ix) The degree to which the action may adversely affect an 
endangered or threatened species or its habitat that has been determined 
to be critical under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 as amended.
    (x) Whether the action threatens a violation of Federal, State, or 
local law or requirements imposed for the protection of the environment.
    (l) Finding of no significant impact (FNSI). (40 CFR 1508.13) 
``Finding of No Significant Impact'' means a document by a Federal 
agency briefly presenting the reasons why an action not otherwise 
excluded (Sec. 1508.4) will not have a significant effect on the human 
environment, and an environmental impact statement therefore will not be 
prepared. It shall include the environmental assessment or a summary of 
it and shall note any other environmental documents related to it (Sec. 
1501.7(a)(5)). If the assessment is included, the finding need not 
repeat any of the discussion in the assessment but may incorporate it by 
reference.

[44 FR 50579, Aug. 29, 1979; 44 FR 54981, Sept. 24, 1979]