(a) During the process of preparing an environmental impact statement, the District Engineer:

(1) Will contact all appropriate Federal agencies to determine their respective role(s), i.e., that of lead agency or cooperating agency consistent with § 333.17 of this part.

(2) Will obtain the comments of:

(i) Any Federal agency that has specific statutory jurisdiction or special expertise identified in statute with respect to any environmental impact involved or is authorized to develop and enforce environmental standards. The District Engineer shall only consider comments directly tied to the commenting Federal agency's specific statutory jurisdiction or special expertise identified in statute and relevant to impacts or issues within the scope of analysis as determined by the District Engineer. The District Engineer shall only include those comments in the permit or 33 U.S.C. 408 permission administrative file and record.

(ii) Appropriate State, Tribal, and local agencies that are authorized to develop and enforce environmental standards.

(3) May request the comments of:

(i) State, Tribal, or local governments that may be affected by the proposed action;

(ii) Any Federal agency that has requested it receive statements on actions of the kind proposed to the extent the comments are directly tied to that agency's statutory jurisdiction or special expertise as identified in statute;

(iii) The applicant, and

(iv) The public, including by affirmatively soliciting comments in a manner designed to inform those persons or organizations who may be interested in or affected by the proposed action.

(b) This process of obtaining and requesting comments pursuant to paragraph (a) of this section may be undertaken at any time that is reasonable in the process of preparing the environmental impact statement. The District Engineer will ensure the process of obtaining and request comments pursuant to paragraph (a) of this part, and the District Engineers' analysis of and response to those comments, does not cause the Corps to violate the congressionally mandated deadline for completion of an environmental impact statement.

(c) The District Engineer will address any substantive and significant comments received consistent with paragraph (a) of this section in the environmental impact statement. Such responses to comments will be documented and may include:

(1) Modifying alternatives, including the proposed activity.

(2) Developing and evaluating alternatives not previously given serious consideration.

(3) Supplementing, improving, or modifying analyses, to include consideration of science or literature not previously considered.

(4) Making factual corrections.

(5) No action needed. The agency may provide a brief rationale for taking no action, such as:

(i) The comment is outside the scope of what is being proposed;

(ii) There is no cause-effect relationship between the actions the agency is proposing and the issue raised and/or recommendation made;

(iii) The commenter misinterpreted the information provided; or

(iv) The recommendation made does not comply with applicable laws or regulations and/or are not feasible to implement (technically or economically), etc.

(d) In those instances in which the District Engineer solicits comments from the public, the request for comments will provide clear instructions on how comments should be submitted, including electronic submission, and the dates during which comments will be accepted. The solicitation of comments should include requests for comments on specific questions or issues or for information that would be helpful in informing the District Engineer's decision.

(e) If the District Engineer determines that an environmental impact statement is not required after a notice of intent has been published, the District Engineer shall terminate the environmental impact statement preparation and withdraw the notice of intent. The District Engineer shall notify in writing the appropriate Division Engineer; Headquarters U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; any appropriate federal agencies; and the public of the determination.