Finding of No Significant Impact shall be issued. The finding shall be sent to all persons and organizations who have participated in the proceeding, and be distributed using the procedures in § 312.13.

§ 312.18 Environmental impact statement.

(a) A Notice of Intent to prepare a draft environmental impact statement shall be published in the FEDERAL REGISTER, and distributed as set forth in § 312.13, as soon as practicable after the decision has been made. The Notice of Intent shall include the proposed action and possible alternatives, the procedures to be used to narrow the issues to be covered in the the statement, and the name and address of a contact person for the statement.

(b) The Environmental Impact Statement shall be prepared using 40 CFR Parts 1500, 1501, and 1502 as guidance. Every effort shall be made to reduce paperwork and to reduce delay in the preparation of the statement, using the procedures set forth in 40 CFR §§ 1500.4 and 1500.5 as guidance to the fullest extent possible. The statement shall include an explanation of the right to appeal the Board's final decision on the proposed action.

(c) A supplement to the draft or final statement shall be prepared if there is a substantial change in the proposed action, or if significant new circumstances or information are brought to the Board's attention.

(d) Draft and final statements shall be distributed for review as follows:

(1) The administrative law judge and any party or Rule 14 participant in the proceedings (one copy or as directed by the judge);

(2) Office of Environmental Review, EPA (five copies);

(3) EPA Regional Office, when applicable (five copies);

(4) Federal agencies having a special expertise or jurisdiction pertaining to any environmental impact involved (one copy);

(5) State and local agencies that have environmental jurisdiction (one copy or as agreed) or with their prior agreement, State and areawide clearinghouses under OMB Circular A-95 (Revised); and

(6) The Department of State, where the proposed action involves areas outside of the United States (one copy);

(7) Known national and local private environmental organizations (one copy each); and

(8) Any person participating in the proceeding (one copy each);

(e) Copies of the draft or final Environmental Impact Statement shall be provided upon request to any person, agency, or organization.

312.19

Use of environmental evaluation in Board decisionmaking.,

(a) All Environmental Impact Statements and Findings of No Significant Impact shall:

(1) Be filed in the docket of the proceeding;

(2) Be served upon parties and participants in the proceeding in accordance with the Board's procedural rules in 14 CFR Part 302 or as directed, and if applicable, submitted to the administrative law judge;

(3) Be made part of the record in formal rulemaking or adjudicatory proceedings;

(4) Accompany the proposal through the Board's internal review process; and

(5) Be made available to all parties at least 15 days before the environmental portion of any hearing in a formal proceeding.

(b) Whenever environmental documents include discussion of alternatives to the proposed action, the decision-maker shall consider the range of alternatives presented, and an evaluation of the alternatives shall be included in any action taken on the proposal.

§ 312.20 Board action after environmental review.

(a) All initial, recommended and final decisions in formal rulemaking and adjudicatory proceedings, and all final Board actions in any other proceeding, that included preparation of an environmental assessment or environmental impact statement shall include findings on the environmental impact of the action and its relationship to the decision.

(b) The responsible Board official shall notify the Environmental Protection Agency when a final decision is made in a proceeding for which an environmental impact statement was prepared.

(c) No final action shall be taken in any proceeding for which an environmental impact statement is prepared until at least 90 days after publication in the FEDERAL REGISTER of notice of the filing of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement, and at least 30 days after publication in the FEDERAL REGISTER of notice of filing of the Final Environmental Impact Statement, except when earlier action is required to comply with the Board's statutory mandates.

APPENDIX I

Noise and Screening Test

For purposes of the Civil Aeronautics Board's consideration of the environmental effects of its actions, the Board and all parties to its proceedings may rely on the following Noise Screening Methodology, or any functional equivalent thereof:

Noise Screening Procedures

Step 1. Determine (a) the total number of aircraft operations per day in the base period, (b) the number of those operations conducted during the daytime (0700-2200), and (c) the number of those operations conducted during the nighttime (2200-0700).

Step 2. Determine whether the percentage of operations by four-engine aircraft with low-bypass-ratio engines (i.e., all series of the B-707, B-702, DC-8, CV-880/990, VC-10) during the base period is (a) less than 5% of total operations; (b) between 5% and less than 10% of total operations; (c) between 10% and less than 15% of total operations; (d) equal to or greater than 15% of total operations.

Step 3. Determine whether the percentage of operations involving short-haul flights of 1,000 miles or less is (a) 80% or greater; (b) between 50% and less than 80%; (c) below 50%.

Step 4. Calculate the area affected by utilizing the following formula:

[10 log N-16+C]

15

=

-0.5 if between 50 percent and less than 80 percent of aircraft operations have a range of 1,000 miles or less

= 0 if less than 50 percent of aircraft operations have a range of 1,000 miles or less

Step 5. Repeat Steps 1 through 4, using the forecast-period rather than the baseperiod data.

Step 6. Subtract the area affected in the base period from the area affected in the forecast period, and express the difference as a percentage of the area affected during the base period. If the percentage is less than 17%, no further study is required. If the percentage exceeds 17% further study should be undertaken.

NOTE 1: The data base to be used in Steps 1 through 5 may conservatively be limited to scheduled air carrier operations as shown in the Official Airline Guide (using nonstop arrivals doubled), without adding operations of other types of aircraft, inasmuch as this reduces the size of the base and thus magnifies the percentage impact of the new operations being screened for environmental significance. If the percentage difference is less than 17% when using this reduced base, than a fortiori no further study is required; if the percentage difference is 17% or more when using this reduced base, efforts should be made to determine the complete base and to recalculate the impact before concluding that further study is required.

NOTE 2: Perform calculations with the maximum available accuracy and round off only when reporting. This process avoids error associated with rounding off during calculations.

§ 313.1 Purpose, scope, and authority.

(a) The Energy Policy and Conservation Act (42 U.S.C. 6201 et seq., hereinafter "EPCA") authorizes and directs certain actions to conserve energy supplies through energy conservation programs and where necessary, the regulation of certain energy uses, and to provide for improved energy efficiency of motor vehicles, major appliances, and certain other consumer products. In furtherance of these purposes, section 382 of EPCA requires several transportation regulatory agencies, including the Board, to submit a number of reports to the Congress with respect to energy conservation and efficiency, and where practicable and consistent with the exercise of the Board's authority under other law, to include in any major regulatory action a statement of its probable impact on energy efficiency and energy conservation. Section 382(b) of EPCA directs the Board to define the term "major regulatory action" by rule.

(b) Section 204(a) of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958, as amended (hereinafter "Act"), authorizes the Board to establish such rules, regulations, and procedures as are necessary to the exercise of its functions and are consistent with the purposes of the Act.

(c) The purpose of these regulations is to establish procedures and guidelines for the implementation of the Board's responsibility under EPCA to include in any major regulatory action taken by the Board a statement of the

probable impact on energy efficiency and energy conservation.

(d) These regulations apply to all proceedings before the Board, as provided herein.

§ 313.2 Policy.

(a) General. It is the policy of the Board to view the conservation of energy and the energy efficiency improvement goals of EPCA as part of the Board's overall mandate, to be considered along with the several public interest and public convenience and necessity factors enumerated in section 102 of the Federal Aviation Act (49 U.S.C. 1302). To the extent practicable and consistent with the Board's authority under the Act and other law, energy conservation and efficiency are to be weighed in the decisionmaking process just as are the Board's traditional policies and missions.

(b) Implementation. Implementation of this policy is through the integration of energy findings and conclusions into decisions, opinions, or orders in proceedings involving a major regulatory action, as defined in this part.

(c) Proceedings in progress. The provisions of this Part are intended primarily for prospective application. Proceedings in progress on the effective date of this Part, in which an application has been docketed but no final decision made public, shall adhere to § 313.6(a) of this Part, provided that the fair, efficient, and timely administration of the Board's regulatory activities is not compromised thereby. Nothing herein shall imply a requirement for new or additional hearings, a reopening of the record, or any other procedures which would tend to delay a timely decision in proceedings in progress.

(d) Hearings. Public hearings will not normally be held for the purpose of implementing EPCA, particularly in connection with proposed actions which do not require notice and hearing as a prerequisite to decision under the Act. Hearings may be ordered in exceptional circumstances where the proposed action is of great magnitude or widespread public interest and, in addition, presents complex issues pe

culiarly subject to resolution through evidentiary hearings and the process of cross examination.

§ 313.3 Definitions.

As used in this Part: (a) "Act" means the Federal Aviation Act of 1958, as amended.

(b) "Energy efficiency" means the ratio of the useful output of services in air transportation to the energy consumption of such services.

(c) "Energy statement" is a statement of the probable impact of a major regulatory action on energy efficiency and energy conservation, contained in a decision, opinion, order, or rule.

(d) "EPCA" means the Energy Policy and Conservation Act.

(e) "Major regulatory action" is any decision by the Board or administrative law judge requiring an energy statement pursuant to section 313.4 of this part.

(f) "NEPA" means the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969.

§ 313.4 Major Regulatory Actions.

(a) Any initial, recommended, tentative or final decision, opinion, order, or final rule is a major regulatory action requiring an energy statement, if it:

(1) May cause a near-term net annual change in aircraft fuel consumption of 10 million (10,000,000) gallons or more, compared to the probable consumption of fuel were the action not to be taken; or

(2) Is specifically so designated by the Board because of its precedential value, substantial controversy with respect to energy conservation and efficiency, or other unusual circumstances.

(b) Notwithstanding section (a)(1), above, the following types of actions shall not be deemed as major regulatory actions requiring an energy statement:

(1) Tariff suspension orders under Section 1002(g) or 1002(j) of the Act, temporary suspensions under Section 401(j) of the Act, emergency exemptions or temporary exemptions not exceeding 24 months under Sections 101(3) or 416(b) of the Act, interim approval of agreements under Section

412, and other proceedings in which timely action is of the essence;

(2) Orders instituting or declining to institute investigations or rulemaking, setting or declining to set applications for hearing, on reconsideration, or on requests for stay;

(3) Other procedural or interlocutory orders; and

(4) Actions taken under delegated authority.

(c) Notwithstanding section (a)(1), above, the Board may provide that an energy statement shall not be prepared in a proceeding which may result in a major regulatory action, if it finds that:

(1) The inclusion of an energy statement is not consistent with the exercise of the Board's authority under the Act or other law;

(2) The inclusion of an energy statement is not practicable because of time constraints, lack of information, or other unusual circumstances; or

(3) The action is taken under laws designed to protect the public health or safety.

§ 313.5 Energy Information.

(a) It shall be the responsibility of applicants and other parties or participants to a proceeding which may involve a major regulatory action to submit sufficient information about the energy consumption and energy efficiency consequences of their proposals or positions in the proceeding to enable the administrative law judge or the Board, as the case may be, to determine whether the proceeding will in fact involve a major regulatory action for purposes of this part, and if so, to consider the relevant energy factors in the decision and prepare the energy statement.

(b) In proceedings involving evidentiary hearings, the energy information shall be submitted at such hearings pursuant to the Board's usual procedural regulations and practices, under control of the administrative law judge or other hearing officer.

(c) In proceedings not involving evidentiary hearings, the energy information shall be submitted at such time as other materials in justification of an application are submitted. Where an

(a) Each major regulatory action shall include, to the extent practicable, consideration of the probable impact of the action taken or to be taken upon energy efficiency and conservation. The administrative law judge or the Board, as the case may be, shall normally make findings and conclusions about:

(1) The net change in energy consumption;

(2) The next change in energy efficiency; and

(3) The balance struck between energy factors and other public interest and public convenience and necessity factors in the decision.

(b) Energy findings and conclusions contained in any initial or recommended decision are a part of that decision and thus subject to discretionary review by the Board.

(c) In the case of orders to show cause initiated by the Board, energy findings and conclusions may be omitted if adequate information is not available. In such instances the energy statement shall be integrated into the final decision.

§ 313.7 Integration with Environmental Procedures.

(a) In proceedings in which an environmental impact statement or a detailed environmental negative declaration is prepared by a responsible official pursuant to the Board's Procedural Regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), the energy information called for by this Part may be included in that statement or declaration in order to yield a single, comprehensive document. In such instances, the procedures of the Board's NEPA regulations shall govern the submission of the energy information. However, it shall remain the responsibility of the

Subpart B-Information Requirements

315.10 Background information. 315.11 Financial information. 315.12 Equipment information. 315.13 Competitive information. 315.14 Availability of resources.

315.15 Potential public benefits of the proposed transaction.

315.16 Potential adverse impact of the proposed transaction. 315.17 Labor relations. 315.18 Fuel consumption.

AUTHORITY: Secs. 204, 407, 408, and 1010 of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958, as amended, 72 Stat. 743, 766, 767, 92 Stat. 1743, 49 U.S.C. 1324, 1377, 1378, 1490. SOURCE: PR-221, 45 FR 23648, Apr. 8, 1980.

Subpart A-General Provisions

§ 315.1 Purpose and applicability.

This rule sets forth the form and content of applications that must be submitted to the Board under section 408(b)(1) of the Act. It applies to any proposed consolidation or acquisition of control that is not exempt from section 408 and that directly or indirectly involves either two air carriers or an air carrier and a foreign air carrier, in