§216.2. Applicability of procedures. — Inbound Citations

(1) Except as otherwise provided, an Initial Environmental Examination is not required for activities identified in § 216.2(b)(1), (c) (2), and (d). For all other A.I.D. activities described in § 216.2(a) an Initial Environmental Examination will be prepared by the originator of an action. Except as indicated in this section, it should be prepared with the PID or PAIP. For projects including the procurement or use of pesticides, the procedures set forth in paragraph (b) of this section will be followed, in addition to the procedures in this paragraph. Activities which cannot be identified in sufficient detail to permit the completion of an Initial Environmental Examination with the PID or PAIP, shall be described by including with the PID or PAIP: (i) An explanation indicating why the Initial Environmental Examination cannot be completed; (ii) an estimate of the amount of time required to complete the Initial Environmental Examination; and (iii) a recommendation that a Threshold Decision be deferred until the Initial Environmental Examination is completed. The responsible Assistant Administrator will act on the request for deferral concurrently with action on the PID or PAIP and will designate a time for completion of the Initial Environmental Examination. In all instances, except as provided in paragraph (a)(7) of this section, this completion date will be in sufficient time to allow for the completion of an Environmental Assessment or Environmental Impact Statement, if required, before a final decision is made to provide A.I.D. funding for the action.

(a) Except as provided in § 216.2(b), these procedures apply to all new projects, programs or activities authorized or approved by A.I.D. and to substantive amendments or extensions of ongoing projects, programs, or activities.

Programs, projects or activities for which financing from A.I.D. is sought by private applicants, such as PVOs and educational and research institutions, are subject to these procedures. Except as provided in § 216.2 (b), (c) or (d), preliminary proposals for financing submitted by private applicants shall be accompanied by an Initial Environmental Examination or adequate information to permit preparation of an Initial Environmental Examination. The Threshold Decision shall be made by the Mission Director for the country to which the proposal relates, if the preliminary proposal is submitted to the A.I.D. Mission, or shall be made by the officer in A.I.D. who approves the preliminary proposal. In either case, the concurrence of the Bureau Environmental Officer is required in the same manner as in § 216.3(a)(2), except for PVO projects approved in A.I.D. Missions with total life of project costs less than $500,000. Thereafter, the same procedures set forth in § 216.3 including as appropriate scoping and Environmental Assessments or Environmental Impact Statements, shall be applicable to programs, projects or activities submitted by private applicants. The final proposal submitted for financing shall be treated, for purposes of these procedures, as a Project Paper. The Bureau Environmental Officer shall advise private applicants of studies or other information foreseeably required for action by A.I.D.

(1) Except as otherwise provided, an Initial Environmental Examination is not required for activities identified in § 216.2(b)(1), (c) (2), and (d). For all other A.I.D. activities described in § 216.2(a) an Initial Environmental Examination will be prepared by the originator of an action. Except as indicated in this section, it should be prepared with the PID or PAIP. For projects including the procurement or use of pesticides, the procedures set forth in paragraph (b) of this section will be followed, in addition to the procedures in this paragraph. Activities which cannot be identified in sufficient detail to permit the completion of an Initial Environmental Examination with the PID or PAIP, shall be described by including with the PID or PAIP: (i) An explanation indicating why the Initial Environmental Examination cannot be completed; (ii) an estimate of the amount of time required to complete the Initial Environmental Examination; and (iii) a recommendation that a Threshold Decision be deferred until the Initial Environmental Examination is completed. The responsible Assistant Administrator will act on the request for deferral concurrently with action on the PID or PAIP and will designate a time for completion of the Initial Environmental Examination. In all instances, except as provided in paragraph (a)(7) of this section, this completion date will be in sufficient time to allow for the completion of an Environmental Assessment or Environmental Impact Statement, if required, before a final decision is made to provide A.I.D. funding for the action.

(1) Except as otherwise provided, an Initial Environmental Examination is not required for activities identified in § 216.2(b)(1), (c) (2), and (d). For all other A.I.D. activities described in § 216.2(a) an Initial Environmental Examination will be prepared by the originator of an action. Except as indicated in this section, it should be prepared with the PID or PAIP. For projects including the procurement or use of pesticides, the procedures set forth in paragraph (b) of this section will be followed, in addition to the procedures in this paragraph. Activities which cannot be identified in sufficient detail to permit the completion of an Initial Environmental Examination with the PID or PAIP, shall be described by including with the PID or PAIP: (i) An explanation indicating why the Initial Environmental Examination cannot be completed; (ii) an estimate of the amount of time required to complete the Initial Environmental Examination; and (iii) a recommendation that a Threshold Decision be deferred until the Initial Environmental Examination is completed. The responsible Assistant Administrator will act on the request for deferral concurrently with action on the PID or PAIP and will designate a time for completion of the Initial Environmental Examination. In all instances, except as provided in paragraph (a)(7) of this section, this completion date will be in sufficient time to allow for the completion of an Environmental Assessment or Environmental Impact Statement, if required, before a final decision is made to provide A.I.D. funding for the action.

Programs, projects or activities for which financing from A.I.D. is sought by private applicants, such as PVOs and educational and research institutions, are subject to these procedures. Except as provided in § 216.2 (b), (c) or (d), preliminary proposals for financing submitted by private applicants shall be accompanied by an Initial Environmental Examination or adequate information to permit preparation of an Initial Environmental Examination. The Threshold Decision shall be made by the Mission Director for the country to which the proposal relates, if the preliminary proposal is submitted to the A.I.D. Mission, or shall be made by the officer in A.I.D. who approves the preliminary proposal. In either case, the concurrence of the Bureau Environmental Officer is required in the same manner as in § 216.3(a)(2), except for PVO projects approved in A.I.D. Missions with total life of project costs less than $500,000. Thereafter, the same procedures set forth in § 216.3 including as appropriate scoping and Environmental Assessments or Environmental Impact Statements, shall be applicable to programs, projects or activities submitted by private applicants. The final proposal submitted for financing shall be treated, for purposes of these procedures, as a Project Paper. The Bureau Environmental Officer shall advise private applicants of studies or other information foreseeably required for action by A.I.D.

(d) Program Assessments may be appropriate in order to assess the environmental effects of a number of individual actions and their cumulative environmental impact in a given country or geographic area, or the environmental impacts that are generic or common to a class of agency actions, or other activities which are not country-specific. In these cases, a single, programmatic assessment will be prepared in A.I.D./Washington and circulated to appropriate overseas Missions, host governments, and to interested parties within the United States. To the extent practicable, the form and content of the programmatic Environmental Assessment will be the same as for project Assessments. Subsequent Environmental Assessments on major individual actions will only be necessary where such follow-on or subsequent activities may have significant environmental impacts on specific countries where such impacts have not been adequately evaluated in the programmatic Environmental Assessment. Other programmatic evaluations of classes of actions may be conducted in an effort to establish additional categorical exclusions or design standards or criteria for such classes that will eliminate or minimize adverse effects of such actions, enhance the environmental effect of such action or reduce the amount of paperwork or time involved in these procedures. Programmatic evaluations conducted for the purpose of establishing additional categorical exclusions under § 216.2(c) or design considerations that will eliminate significant effects for classes of actions shall be made available for public comment before the categorical exclusions or design standards or criteria are adopted by A.I.D. Notice of the availability of such document shall be published in the Federal Register. Additional categorical exclusions shall be adopted by A.I.D. upon the approval of the Administrator, and design consideration in accordance with usual agency procedures.

(1) The following criteria have been applied in determining the classes of actions including in § 216.2(c)(2) for which an Initial Environmental Examination, Environmental Assessment and Environmental Impact Statement generally are not required;

(i) The action does not have an effect on the natural or physicial environment;

(ii) A.I.D. does not have knowledge of or control over, and the objective of A.I.D. in furnishing assistance does not require, either prior to approval of financing or prior to implementation of specific activities, knowledge of or control over, the details of the specific activities that have an effect on the physicial and natural environment for which financing is provided by A.I.D.;

(iii) Research activities which may have an affect on the physicial and natural environment but will not have a significant effect as a result of limited scope, carefully controlled nature and effective monitoring.

(2) An Initial Environmental Examination normally will not be necessary for activities within the classes described in § 216.2(d), except when the originator of the project believes that the project will not have a significant effect on the environment. In such cases, the activity may be subjected to the procedures set forth in § 216.3.

(i) After a Positive Threshold Decision has been made, or a determination is made under the pesticide procedures set forth in paragraph (b) of this section that an Environmental Assessment or Environmental Impact Statement is required, the originator of the action shall commence the process of identifying the significant issues relating to the proposed action and of determining the scope of the issues to be addressed in the Environmental Assessment or Environmental Impact Statement. The originator of an action within the classes of actions described in § 216.2(d) shall commence this scoping process as soon as practicable. Persons having expertise relevant to the environmental aspects of the proposed action shall also participate in this scoping process. (Participants may include but are not limited to representatives of host governments, public and private institutions, the A.I.D. Mission staff and contractors.) This process shall result in a written statement which shall include the following matters:

(a) A determination of the scope and significance of issues to be analyzed in the Environmental Assessment or Impact Statement, including direct and indirect effects of the project on the environment.

(b) Identification and elimination from detailed study of the issues that are not significant or have been covered by earlier environmental review, or approved design considerations, narrowing the discussion of these issues to a brief presentation of why they will not have a significant effect on the environment.

(c) A description of (1) the timing of the preparation of environmental analyses, including phasing if appropriate, (2) variations required in the format of the Environmental Assessment, and (3) the tentative planning and decision making schedule; and

(d) A description of how the analysis will be conducted and the disciplines that will participate in the analysis.

Programs, projects or activities for which financing from A.I.D. is sought by private applicants, such as PVOs and educational and research institutions, are subject to these procedures. Except as provided in § 216.2 (b), (c) or (d), preliminary proposals for financing submitted by private applicants shall be accompanied by an Initial Environmental Examination or adequate information to permit preparation of an Initial Environmental Examination. The Threshold Decision shall be made by the Mission Director for the country to which the proposal relates, if the preliminary proposal is submitted to the A.I.D. Mission, or shall be made by the officer in A.I.D. who approves the preliminary proposal. In either case, the concurrence of the Bureau Environmental Officer is required in the same manner as in § 216.3(a)(2), except for PVO projects approved in A.I.D. Missions with total life of project costs less than $500,000. Thereafter, the same procedures set forth in § 216.3 including as appropriate scoping and Environmental Assessments or Environmental Impact Statements, shall be applicable to programs, projects or activities submitted by private applicants. The final proposal submitted for financing shall be treated, for purposes of these procedures, as a Project Paper. The Bureau Environmental Officer shall advise private applicants of studies or other information foreseeably required for action by A.I.D.

(iv) If it becomes evident that the action will not have a significant effect on the environment (i.e., will not cause significant harm to the environment), the Positive Threshold Decision may be withdrawn with the concurrence of the Bureau Environmental Officer. In the case of an action included in § 216.2(d)(2), the request for withdrawal shall be made to the Bureau Environmental Officer.