(a) Definitions. As used in this part, terms have the meanings provided in NEPA section 111, 42 U.S.C. 4336(e). The following definitions apply to this part. USDA subcomponents shall use these terms uniformly throughout the Department.

(1) Act or NEPA means the National Environmental Policy Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321-4347).

(2) Action alternative (or alternative) means an alternate means of implementing actions that is different from the agency's proposed action. Alternatives are developed in response to a substantive issue(s) and should demonstrate a clear difference in impacts when compared to the proposed action.

(3) Agency means a subcomponent of the Unites States Department of Agriculture.

(4) Affecting means will or may have an effect on.

(5) Alternative. See action alternative.

(6) Authorization means any license, permit, approval, finding, determination, or other administrative decision issued by an agency that is required or authorized under Federal law in order to implement a proposed action or selected alternative.

(7) Categorical exclusion (CE). See NEPA section 111(1), 42 U.S.C. 4336e(1).

(8) Control agents means biological material or chemicals that are intended to enhance the production efficiency of an agricultural crop or animal such as through elimination of a pest.

(9) Cooperating agency. See NEPA section 111(2), 42 U.S.C. 4336e(2).

(10) Council means the Council on Environmental Quality established by title II of NEPA.

(11) Design criteria (or design elements, design features, or conservation practices etc.) means constraints or requirements proactively added to the proposed action (or action alternatives) or through an iterative interdisciplinary process to avoid or minimize adverse impacts. The need for design criteria is informed by the need to comply with other laws, regulations, or executive orders; interdisciplinary discussions that identify best management practices or other design recommendations; feedback from the public or external parties; or other input provided during proposed action development and preliminary effects analysis phases. When design criteria are added in response to an issue, that issue should no longer be analyzed in detail in the analysis process. Design criteria include:

(i) Avoiding the adverse impact altogether by not taking a certain action or parts of an action;

(ii) Minimizing adverse impacts by limiting the degree or magnitude of the action and its implementation; or

(iii) Reducing or eliminating the adverse impact over time by preservation and maintenance operations during the life of the action.

(12) Effects or impact means changes to the human environment from the proposed action or action alternatives that are reasonably foreseeable and have a reasonably close causal relationship to the proposed action or alternatives.

(i) Effects 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 may also include those resulting from actions that may have both beneficial and detrimental effects, even if on balance the USDA subcomponent believes that the effect will be beneficial.

(ii) A “but for” causal relationship is insufficient to make a USDA subcomponent 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 subcomponent has no ability to prevent due to the limits of its regulatory authority or that would occur regardless of the proposed action or selected alternative, or that would need to be initiated by a third party.

(iii) A USDA subcomponent's analysis of effects shall be consistent with this paragraph.

(13) Emergency means a situation demanding immediate or urgent action, where delaying action to follow standard procedures would be contrary to the public interest, as determined by a responsible official.

(14) Environmental assessment (EA). See NEPA section 111(4), 42 U.S.C. 4336e(4). An EA is also an environmental document. (Refer to the definition for “environmental documents” in subparagraph (15) of this section.)

(15) Environmental document. See NEPA section 111(5), 42 U.S.C. 4336e(5).

(16) Environmental impact statement (EIS). See NEPA section 111(6), 42 U.S.C. 4336e(6). An EIS is also an environmental document. (Refer to the definition for “environmental documents” in paragraph (a)(15) of this section.)

(17) Extraordinary circumstance means a unique situation exists in which actions that normally do not have significant impacts—and are therefore categorically excluded from documentation in an environmental assessment or environmental impact statement—create uncertainty whether the degree of the effect is significant, or certainty that the degree of effect is significant, for the relevant resources considered.

(18) Federal agency means all agencies of the Federal Government. It does not mean the Congress, the Judiciary, or the President, including the performance of staff functions for the President in his Executive Office. For the purposes of these USDA implementing procedures, Federal agency also includes States, units of general local government, and Tribal governments assuming NEPA responsibilities from a Federal agency pursuant to statute.

(19) Finding of applicability and no extraordinary circumstance (FANEC) means a determination by a USDA subcomponent that a category (or categories) fits the proposed actions and extraordinary circumstances (as defined in paragraph (a)(17) of this section) do not exist for a categorically excluded action, and therefore the issuance of an environmental assessment or environmental impact statement is not required.

(20) Finding of no significant impact (FONSI). See NEPA section 111(7), 42 U.S.C. 4336e(7). A FONSI is also an environmental document. (Refer to the definition for “environmental documents” in paragraph (a)(15) of this section.)

(21) Human environment means comprehensively the natural and physical environment and the relationship of present and future generations of Americans with that environment. (See also the definition of “effects” in paragraph (a)(12) of this section.)

(22) Impact. See Effect.

(23) Issue means a logical cause-effect relationship between the actions proposed (cause) and the reasonably foreseeable impacts (effect) on resources found in the affected environment. An issue may be addressed by modifying the proposed action, developing an action alternative, or supplementing, improving, or modifying the analysis to better understand the effects.

(24) Jurisdiction by law (or statutory authority) means Federal agency authority to approve, veto, or finance all or part of the proposal.

(25) Lead agency. See NEPA section 111(9), 42 U.S.C. 4336e(9).

(26) Legislation means a bill or legislative proposal to Congress developed by a Federal agency but does not include requests for appropriations or legislation recommended by the President.

(27) Level of NEPA refers to categorical exclusion, environmental assessment, or environmental impact statement.

(28) Major Federal action: See NEPA section 111(10), 42 U.S.C. 4336e(10).

(29) Mitigation (or mitigation measure) means constraints or requirements that avoid, minimize, or compensate for adverse impacts caused by a proposed action or selected alternative. Mitigations are documented in a finding of no significant impact or record of decision and are determined by the responsible official in reaction to the effects described in an environmental assessment or environmental impact statement. While NEPA requires consideration of mitigation, it does not mandate the form or adoption of any mitigation. Mitigation includes:

(i) Avoiding the adverse impact altogether by not taking a certain action or parts of an action;

(ii) Minimizing adverse impacts by limiting the degree or magnitude of the action and its implementation;

(iii) Rectifying the adverse impact by repairing, rehabilitating, or restoring the affected environment;

(iv) Reducing or eliminating the adverse impact over time by preservation and maintenance operations during the life of the action; or

(v) Compensating for the adverse impact by replacing or providing substitute resources or environments.

(30) NEPA process means all the steps necessary to complete a level of NEPA (categorical exclusion, environmental assessment, or environmental impact statement) and issue the associated finding or decision document (finding of applicability and no extraordinary circumstance when NEPA documentation is required for a categorical exclusion, finding of no significant impact, or record of decision) to conclude the process.

(31) Notice of availability means a public announcement in the Federal Register that a document, generally an environmental impact statement (EIS), is available for review.

(32) Notice of intent means a public notice in the Federal Register that an agency will prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS), is pausing or resuming preparation of an EIS, or is withdrawing an EIS. In limited situations it can mean a public notice in the Federal Register that an agency will prepare an environmental assessment.

(33) Page means 8.5 by 11 inches paper 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. When an item of graphical material is larger than 8.5 by 11 inches, each such item shall count as one page.

(34) Participating agency means a Federal, State, Tribal, or local agency participating in an environmental review or authorization of an action.

(35) Potentially affected environment means the condition of the physical, biological, social, and economic factors that may be impacted by a proposed action (or action alternative).

(36) Programmatic environmental document. See NEPA section 111(11), 42 U.S.C. 4336e(11).

(37) Proposal (or Project). See NEPA section 111(12), 42 U.S.C. 4336e(12).

(38) Proposal record (or project record) means all relevant documentation and records, including all environmental analysis documents and comment submissions, that contain information the responsible official relies on to make iterative decisions throughout the NEPA process or to determine if and how the action will be approved.

(39) Proposed action means the set of actions, to include design criteria when applicable, that is submitted for final interdisciplinary environmental review and effects analysis.

(40) Publish and publication mean methods found by the agency to efficiently and effectively make environmental documents and information available for review by interested persons, including electronic publication.

(41) Purpose and need means the reason action is needed in a location at this time. The purpose and need should generally be based on the USDA subcomponent's statutory authority. When a subcomponent's statutory duty is to review an application for authorization, the subcomponent may base the purpose and need on the goals of the applicant and the subcomponent's authority.

(42) Reasonable alternatives means a reasonable range of alternatives that are technically and economically feasible, meet the purpose and need for the proposal, and, where applicable, meet the goals of the applicant.

(43) Reasonably foreseeable means sufficiently likely to occur such that a person of ordinary prudence would take it into account in reaching a decision.

(44) Record of decision is a determination by the responsible official on how to proceed with respect to a proposed action and action alternatives that have reasonably foreseeable significant impacts on the quality of the human environment, as described in an environmental impact statement.

(45) Related action means an action undertaken by an agency, such as a permitting action, some other type of authorization action, an analysis required by statute, or the like, that bears a relationship to other actions undertaken by other agencies relevant to NEPA, whereas the set of related actions are all related to one overarching proposal.

(46) Responsible official means the USDA subcomponent employee who has the authority to determine: when NEPA applies, what level of NEPA review is appropriate, the extent of environmental review; the final NEPA finding and compliance with other applicable laws, regulations, and executive orders; and, how to proceed for a proposed action or action alternative(s).

(47) Scale refers to the spatial extent or magnitude of the actions being proposed.

(48) Scope consists of the range of actions and alternatives developed for a proposal or the issues and impacts to be considered in an environmental analysis.

(49) Senior agency official means an official of assistant secretary rank or higher (or equivalent) that is designated for overall agency NEPA compliance, including resolving implementation issues.

(50) Significance means considering whether the reasonably foreseeable impacts of the proposed action are significant and analyzing the potentially affected environment and degree of the effects of the action.

(i) Potentially affected environment means the condition of the physical, biological, social, and economic factors that may be impacted by an action.

(ii) In considering the degree of effects, USDA subcomponents should consider the following, as appropriate to the specific action and in the context of the potentially affected environment:

(A) Both short- and long-term effects.

(B) Both beneficial and adverse effects.

(C) Effects on public health and safety.

(D) Economic effects.

(E) Effects on the quality of life of the American people.

(iii) In providing rationale for whether the degree of effect is significant, responsible officials shall consider:

(A) How the unavoidable short- and long-term adverse impacts of implementing the action compares to the short- and long-term adverse or beneficial consequences of not implementing the action as it relates to effects on public health and safety, economics, and the quality of life of the American people; and

(B) How the irreversible or irretrievable commitment of a resource, as part of the action, contributes to a loss of long-term productivity for the human environment.

(51) Special expertise means statutory responsibility, agency mission, or related program experience.

(52) Subcomponent means a mission area, agency, or staff office of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

(53) Substantive means information that meaningfully informs the consideration of reasonably foreseeable impacts on the human environment and the resulting significance determination or decisions on how to proceed (i.e., alternatives to be considered or analyzed or the alternative selected for implementation).

(54) USDA Senior Agency Official means the Under Secretary of Natural Resources and Environment.

(b) Acronyms. The following acronyms may appear throughout this part or may be used when applying this part during the applicable NEPA process:

(1) APHIS—Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (2) CE—Categorical Exclusion (3) CEQ—Council on Environmental Quality (4) CFR—Code of Federal Regulations (5) EA—Environmental Assessment (6) EIS—Environmental Impact Statement (7) FANEC—Finding of Applicability and No Extraordinary Circumstance (8) FONSI—Finding of No Significant Impact (9) FSA—Farm Service Agency (10) NEPA—National Environmental Policy Act (11) NRCS—Natural Resources Conservation Service (12) RD—Rural Development (13) ROD—Record of Decision (14) OSEC—Office of the Secretary (15) USDA—U.S. Department of Agriculture (16) USFS—U.S. Forest Service