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Sec.

PART 775-ENVIRONMENTAL

775.1 Purpose.

775.2 Policy.

PROCEDURES

775.3 Responsibilities.

775.4 Typical classes of action.

775.5 Environmental evaluation guidelines. 775.6 Environmental evaluation process. 775.7 Environmental assessments. 775.8 Environmental impact statements. 775.9 Time frames for environmental impact statement actions.

775.10 Public notice and information. 775.11 Hearings.

AUTHORITY: 39 U.S.C. 401, unless otherwise noted.

SOURCE: 44 FR 63525, Nov. 5, 1979, unless otherwise noted.

8775.1 Purpose.

These procedures implement the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Regulations (43 FR 55978) issued by the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). These procedures are adopted pursuant to the Postal Reorganization Act rather than the NEPA insofar as the NEPA and its -Regulations do not apply to the Postal Service under 39 U.S.C. 410(a).

$775.2 Policy.

It is the policy of the Postal Service to:

(a) Interpret and administer applicable policies, regulations, and public laws of the United States in accordance with the policies set forth in the National Environmental Policy Act, as amended, and the NEPA Regulations.

(b) Make the NEPA process useful to Postal Service decision makers and the public.

(c) Emphasize environmental issues and alternatives in the consideration of proposed actions.

(d) Encourage and facilitate public involvement in decisions which affect the quality of the human environ

ment.

(e) Use the NEPA process to identify and assess reasonable alternatives to proposed actions in order to avoid or minimize adverse effects on the environment.

(f) Use all practicable means to protect, restore, and enhance the quality of the human environment.

(g) Reduce paperwork. (h) Reduce delay.

§ 775.3 Responsibilities.

(a) The Assistant Postmaster General, Real Estate and Buildings Department, is responsible for overall review of NEPA compliance. Requests for information or status reports on environmental impact statements and other elements of the NEPA process should be addressed to:

Assistant Postmaster General, Real Estate & Buildings Department, U.S. Postal Service, 475 L'Enfant Plaza, West, S.W., Washington, DC 20260.

(b) Heads of affected Headquarters Departments and Regional Postmasters General must designate "Environmental Coordinators" to be specifically responsible for compliance with these procedures.

8775.4 Typical classes of action.

(a) Normally assessed kinds of action. These procedures apply to the following typical classes of actions:

(1) Those which normally require environmental impact statements:

None.

(2) Those which do not normally require environmental impact statements, but do normally require environmental assessment except as excluded by paragraph (b) of this section:

(i) Postal facility actions:

(A) New construction, including lease-construction.

(B) The purchase or lease of an existing building if a new or substantially enlarged occupancy is involved.

(C) The expansion or improvement of an existing facility.

(ii) Real property disposals.

(iii) Postal facility function changes. (iv) Initiation of legislative proposals.

(b) Categorical exclusions. The classes of action in paragraphs (b) (1) through (9) of this section normally do not require either an environmen

tal assessment or an environmental impact statement. However, the responsible official must be alert to unusual conditions that would require an environmental assessment or an environmental impact statement (see § 775.6(a)(1)).

(1) New construction, including lease-construction, of 30,000, or less, net square feet.

(2) Expansion or improvement of an existing building where the gross square footage after expansion does not exceed 5,000 square feet and the site size is not increased substantially, or for larger expansion projects, where the gross square footage is not increased by more than 40 percent and the site size is not increased substantially.

(3) Purchase or lease of an existing building containing 50,000, or less, net square feet of space where a new or substantially enlarged occupancy is not involved and purchase or lease of an existing building of any size that is currently occupied by the Postal Service where a substantially enlarged operation is not involved.

(4) Repair to or replacement in kind of building equipment or components (e.g., electrical distribution or HVAC systems, doors, windows, roofs).

(5) Disposal of unimproved land. (6) Routine actions normally conducted to protect and maintain properties.

(7) Postal facility function changes not involving construction, the relocation of a substantial number of employees, or a substantial increase in the number of motor vehicles at a facility.

(8) Procurement or disposal of motor vehicles not involving a substantial increase in the concentration of vehicles in a geographic impact area.

(9) Postal rate or mail classification actions.

(39 U.S.C. 401; 42 U.S.C. 4331 et seq.; 40 CFR 1500.4(p))

[44 FR 63525, Nov. 5, 1979, as amended at 47 FR 5716, Feb. 8, 1982; 49 FR 23181, June 5, 1984]

EFFECTIVE DATE NOTE: In § 775.4, paragraghs (b)(1) and (2) were revised at 49 FR 23181, June 5, 1984, effective July 5, 1984. For the convenience of the user, the superseded text is set forth below.

§ 775.4 Typical classes of action.

(b)*

(1) New construction, including lease-construction, of 20,000, or less, net square feet.

(2) Expansion or improvement of an existing building where the gross square footage is not increased by more than forty percent, and the site size is not increased substantially.

§ 775.5 Environmental evaluation guidelines.

(a) Approach. When dealing with proposals which may have an impact on the human environment, environmental coordinators, planners, decision makers, and other officials responsible for actions, will, as appropri ate:

(1) Use a systematic approach that integrates natural and social sciences and environmental design in planning and making decisions.

(2) Identify environmental effects and values in detail, and appraise them in conjunction with economic and technical analyses.

(3) Consider environmental documents at all decision points at which other planning documents are considered. (Plans and decisions are to reflect environmental values. Proposed actions should be assessed as soon as their effects can be meaningfully eval uated, to provide the bases for early decision on whether detailed environmental impact statements must be prepared.)

(4) Study, develop, describe, and evaluate at all decision points, reasonable alternatives to recommended ac tions which may have a significant effect on the environment.

(b) Proposal requirements. When an environmental impact statement has been prepared, it must accompany the proposal through and be used in the decision-making process. Any other proposal must refer to applicable envi ronmental documents (e.g., determination of categorical exclusion; finding of no significant impact; notice of intent to prepare an impact statement), and relevant comments and responses.

(c) Lead agency arrangements. If the Postal Service and another Federal

agency become involved in a lead agency arrangement for the preparation of an environmental impact statement, the Service will cooperate fully. § 775.6 Environmental evaluation process.

(a) All actions—(1) Assessment of actions. An environmental assessment must be made of each proposed action, except that an assessment need not be made if a written determination is made that:

(i) The action is one of a class listed in § 775.4(b), Categorical Exclusions, and

(ii) The action is not affected by extraordinary circumstances which may cause it to have a significant environmental effect.

(2) Findings of no significant impact. If an environmental assessment indicates that there is no significant impact of a proposed action on the environment, an environmental impact statement is not required. A "finding of no significant impact" is prepared and published in accordance with 775.10. When the proposed action is approved, it may be accomplished without further environmental consideration. A "finding of no significant impact" document briefly presents the reasons why an action will not have a significant effect on the human environment and states that an environmental impact statement will not be prepared. It must refer to the environmental assessment and any other environmentally pertinent documents related to it. The assessment may be included in the finding if it is short, in which case the discussion in the assessment need not be repeated in the finding.

(3) Impact statement preparation decision and notices. If an environmental assessment indicates that a proposed major action would have a significant impact on the environment, a notice of intent to prepare an impact statement is published (see § 775.10) and an environmental impact statement is prepared.

(4) Role of impact statement in decision making. An environmental impact statement is used, with other analyses and materials, to decide which alternative should be pursued, or whether a proposed action should

be abandoned or other courses of action pursued. See § 775.9 for restrictions on the timing of this decision.

(5) Record of decision. For actions requiring environmental impact statements, a concise public record of decision is prepared when a decision, or a proposal for legislation, is made. The record, which may be integrated into any other record, or notice, including that required by Postal Serivce regulations and procedures governing intergovernmental review of Postal Service facility project actions, must:

(i) State what the decision was.

(ii) Identify all alternatives considered in reaching a decision, specifying alternatives considered to be environmentally preferable; identify and discuss all significant factors, including any essential considerations of national policy, which were weighed in making the decision and state how those considerations entered into the decision.

(iii) State whether all practicable means to avoid or minimize environmental harm from the alternative selected have been or will be adopted, and if not, why not.

(6) Actions prohibited prior to issuance of record of decision. Until a record of decision is issued, no action may be taken on a proposal on which an environmental impact statement is made if the action would:

(i) Have an adverse environmental impact, or

(ii) Limit the choice of reasonable alternatives.

(7) Mitigation measures. Practicable mitigation measures identified in an environmental assessment must be implemented. Mitigation measures described in an environmental impact statement and accepted in a decision must be implemented. Upon request, the Postal Service informs federal, state, and local agencies and the public of the progress in carrying out adopted mitigation measures.

(b) Additional requirements for facility actions. (1) The environmental assessment of any action which involves the choice of a site for a facility must be started early in the planning of the action, and be used, together with other information, in the location of suitable sites. Selected competing sites

may be controlled as necessary to preserve alternatives prior to project approval.

(2) When an environmental assessment indicates that an environmental impact statement may be needed for a proposed facility action, a decision analysis report reflecting the results of the assessment is presented to the Capital Investment Committee, and to the Board of Governors if the Board considers the proposal (see 39 CFR 3.4(f)), so that they may decide if an impact statement is to be prepared.

(3) If the Committee or the Board is requested to authorize the preparation of an environmental impact statement, and an analysis indicates that it would be more cost-effective to proceed immediately with continued control of sites, environmental impact statement preparation, and project designs, the request will include authorization of funds to permit:

(i) The preparation of an impact statement encompassing all reasonable site alternatives,

(ii) The continued control of specified competing sites, chosen to preserve environmental options as well as any others, and

(iii) The development of limited designs of facilities for each competing site.

(4) A completed environmental impact statement will be presented to the Capital Investment Committee, and to the Board of Governors if the Board considers the proposal, for use in deciding whether a proposed project should proceed, be restudied, or be abandoned. If the decision is to proceed with a proposed project, the Committee, or the Board if it considers the proposal, decides which alternative site is to be used for project development, and authorizes the project. [44 FR 63525, Nov. 5, 1979, as amended at 48 FR 29378, June 24, 1983]

ment, the environmental consequences, the mitigation measures, if any, and a comparison to all alternatives considered.

(b) Those preparing an environmental assessment must solicit information and views from Federal, State, and local agencies and, where there is a substantial likelihood of significant effects on the environment, the public. All responsible views and information must be considered.

§ 775.8 Environmental impact statements.

(a) Determining scope. Before an environmental impact statement is prepared, the following procedures must be followed to determine what issues are to be addressed and in what depth:

(1) Affected Federal, State, and local agencies and other interested persons are invited to participate by furnishing written views and information, or at a hearing if appropriate. Notice is given in accordance with § 775.10.

(2) The significance of issues to be analyzed in depth in the environmental impact statement is determined through consideration of:

(i) Actions which are closely related, or similar, or have cumulative significant impacts.

(ii) Alternatives, which must include the "no action" alternative, other reasonable courses of action, and mitigation measures.

(iii) Impacts, which may be direct, indirect, or cumulative.

(3) Issues which are not significant are identified and eliminated.

(4) The determinations made must be revised if substantial changes are made later in the proposed action, or if significant new circumstances or information arise which bear on the proposal or its impacts.

(b) Preparation. (1) Except for proposals for legislation, environmental impact statements are prepared in two stages:

(i) Draft environmental impact statement, prepared in accordance with the scope decided upon under paragraph (a) of this section.

(ii) Final environmental impact statement, responding to comments on the draft statement and discussing and responding to any responsible oppos

(i) Be analytic rather than encyclopedic.

(ii) Contain discussions of impacts in proportion to their significance. Insignificant impacts eliminated during the process under § 775.8(a) to determine the scope of issues must be discussed only to the extent necessary to state why they will not be significant.

(iii) Be concise, and not longer than is necessary to comply with NEPA. They must not contain repeated stateIments of the same basic points.

(iv) Contain discussions of alternatives considered and of how alternatives chosen will meet the requirements of NEPA and other environ- mental laws and policies.

(v) Encompass the range of alternatives to be considered by the decision makers.

(vi) Serve to assess the environmental impact of proposed actions, rather than to justify decisions already made. (3) The text of final environmental impact statements normally should be less than 150 pages. Statements on proposals of unusual scope or complexity normally should be less than 300 pages.

same

(4) Staged or "tiered" environmental impact statements must not contain repetitive discussions of the issues. Each document must state where each earlier document is available.

(5) Material may be incorporated into an environmental impact statement by reference only when the material is reasonably available for inspection by potentially interested persons within the time allowed for comment.

(6) If information relevant to adverse impacts is essential to a reasoned choice among alternatives, but the cost of obtaining it is exorbitant or the means to obtain it are beyond the state of the art, the need for the action must be weighed against the risk and severity of possible adverse impacts if the action were to proceed. There must be included in the statement a "worst-case" analysis and an

indication of the probability or improbability of its occurrence.

(7) If a cost-benefit analysis relevant to the choice among environmentally different alternatives was prepared for the proposed action, it must be incorporated by reference or appended to the statement to aid in evaluating the environmental consequences. The relationship between the cost-benefit analysis and any analysis of unquantified environmental impacts, values, and amenities must be discussed.

(8) Methods used must be identified, and footnote references must be made to scientific and other sources relied on for conclusions. Analytical techniques may be incorporated in appendices.

(9) Permits, licenses, and other authorizations needed to implement a proposal must be listed in the draft environmental impact statement and the prospects for obtaining them must be assessed. Where there is uncertainty as to the need for an authorization it must be indicated.

(10) An environmental impact statement must contain a discussion of any inconsistency between the proposed action and any State or local law, ordinance, or approved plan; and must contain a description of the manner and extent to which the proposed action will be reconciled with the law, ordinance, or approved plan.

(11) Where State laws or local ordinances impose environmental impact statement requirements which are not in conflict with those in NEPA, an environmental impact statement made by the Postal Service should satisfy pertinent State and local requirements to the extent practicable.

(c) Format. The standard format for environmental statements is:

(1) Cover Sheet. The cover sheet, not to exceed one page, must include:

(i) A list of the responsible agencies including the lead agency and any cooperating agencies.

(ii) The title of the proposed action that is the subject of the statement (and if appropriate, the titles of related cooperating agency actions), together with any city, state, and county where the action is to take place.

(iii) The name, address, and telephone number of a person at the