The following definitions apply throughout this part. Other applicable terms should be given the same meaning as set forth in section 111 of NEPA unless such a reading would make the terms inconsistent with the context in which they appear.
(a) Authorization means any license, permit, approval, finding, determination, or other decision issued by an agency that is required or authorized under Federal law to implement a proposed action.
(b) Effects or impacts means changes to the human environment from the proposed action or alternatives that are reasonably foreseeable and have a reasonably close causal relationship to the proposed action or alternatives.
(1) Effects may include ecological (such as the effects on natural resources and on the components, structures, and functioning of affected ecosystems), aesthetic, historic, cultural, economic (such as the effects on employment), social, or health effects. Effects appropriate for analysis under NEPA may be either beneficial or adverse, or both, with respect to these values.
(2) A “but for” causal relationship is insufficient to make TVA responsible for a particular effect under NEPA. Effects should generally not be considered if they are remote in time, geographically remote, or the product of a lengthy causal chain. Effects do not include those effects that the agency has no ability to prevent due to the limits of its regulatory authority, or that would occur regardless of the proposed action, or that would need to be initiated by a third party.
(c) Human environment means comprehensively the natural and physical environment and the relationship of Americans with that environment. (See also the definition of “effects” in paragraph (b) of this section.)
(d) Jurisdiction by law means agency authority to approve, veto, or finance all or part of the proposal.
(e) Mitigation means measures that avoid, minimize, or compensate for effects caused by a proposed action or alternatives as described in an environmental document or decision document that have a nexus to those effects. While NEPA requires consideration of mitigation, it does not mandate the form or adoption of any mitigation. Mitigation may include:
(1) Avoiding the impact altogether by not taking a certain action or parts of an action.
(2) Minimizing effects by limiting the degree or magnitude of the action and its implementation.
(3) Rectifying the impact by repairing, rehabilitating, or restoring the affected environment.
(4) Reducing or eliminating the impact over time by preservation and maintenance operations during the life of the action.
(5) Compensating for the impact by replacing or providing substitute resources or environments.
(f) NEPA process means all measures necessary for compliance with the requirements of section 2 and title I of NEPA sec. 102(2), 42 U.S.C. 4332(2).
(g) Notice of intent means a public notice that an agency will prepare and consider an environmental document.
(h) Official responsible for NEPA compliance refers to the TVA official(s) who manages the NEPA compliance staff and is responsible for overall review of TVA NEPA compliance.
(i) Page means an 8.5″ x 11″ page with one-inch margins using a word processor with 12-point proportionally spaced font, single spaced. Footnotes may be in 10-point font. Such size restrictions do not apply to explanatory maps, diagrams, graphs, tables, and other means of graphically displaying quantitative or geospatial information, although pages containing such material do count towards the page limit. When an item of graphical material is larger than 8.5″ x 11″, each such item will count as one page.
(j) Project sponsor refers to a private applicant, individual, or other non-Federal entity that proposes to undertake an action that will require TVA's authorization.
(k) Publish means a method found by TVA to efficiently and effectively make environmental documents and information available for interested persons, including publication on TVA's website.
(l) Reasonable alternatives means a reasonable range of alternatives that are technically and economically feasible and meet the purpose and need for the proposed action.
(m) Reasonably foreseeable means sufficiently likely to occur such that a person of ordinary prudence would take it into account in reaching a decision.
(n) Scope consists of the range of actions, alternatives, and effects to be considered in an environmental document. The scope of an individual statement may depend on its relationships to other statements.
(o) Tiering refers to the coverage of general matters in a broader EIS or EA (such as a regional program or policy statements) with subsequent narrower statements or environmental analyses (such as site-specific statements) incorporating by reference the general discussions and concentrating solely on the issues specific to the statement subsequently prepared.