Title 31—Money and Finance: Treasury--Volume 1
PART 26—ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW OF ACTIONS BY MULTILATERAL DEVELOPMENT BANDS (MDBs)
§ 26.1   Purpose.
This part prescribes procedures for the environmental review of, and comment by Federal agencies and the public on, proposed projects of multilateral development banks (MDBs).
§ 26.2   Availability of project listings.
(a) The Office of Multilateral Development Banks of the Department of the Treasury (hereinafter “MDB Office”) will ensure that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), the Department of State, the Agency for International Development (AID), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the Bank Information Center (BIC) (which is a private, nongovernmental organization located in Washington, DC), receive copies from each multilateral development bank (MDB) of project listings describing future MDB projects and assigning environmental categories based on the environmental impact of each project. If an MDB has not provided a project listing to one of these entities, these entities may obtain the project listing by contacting the MDB Office, 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20220, (202) 622-0765.
(b)(1) Members of the public may obtain copies of project listings from the BIC, 2025 Eye Street NW., suite 522, Washington, DC 20006 ((202) 466-8191, not a toll-free call).
(2) If a copy is not available from the BIC, members of the public may arrange to review and/or copy a project listing by contacting the MDB Office which will make a copy available at the Department of the Treasury Library, 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC ((202) 622-0990, not a toll-free call). Members of the public are advised that they must make an appointment with the Treasury Library before they visit and that a charge (currently 15 cents per page) is imposed for the use of the library photocopier.
§ 26.3   Availability of Environmental Impact Assessment Summaries (EIA Summaries) and Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs).
(a) EIA summaries. (1) The MDB Office will provide for the distribution of EIA Summaries to the entities identified in section 26.2(a).
(2) (i) Members of the public may obtain copies of EIA Summaries from the BIC, 2025 Eye Street, NW., suite 522, Washington, DC 20006 ((202) 466-8191, not a toll-free call).
(ii) If a copy of an EIA Summary is not available from the BIC, members of the public may arrange to review and/or copy an EIA Summary by contacting the MDB Office at (202) 622-0765 (not a toll-free call), which will make a copy available at the Department of the Treasury Library, 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washingon, DC. Members of the public are advised that they must make an appointment with the Treasury Library (202) 622-0990) before they visit, and that a charge (currently 15 cents per page) is imposed for the use of the library photocopier. To the extent possible, EIA Summaries will be available for review and copying at least 120 days before scheduled consideration of a project by the MDB Executive Directors.
(b) EIAs —(1) The African Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the Asian Development Bank. Arrangements to review an EIA may be made by contacting the MDB Office ((202) 622-0765 (not a toll-free call)), which will obtain a copy of the EIA through the Office of the United States Executive Director of the appropriate MDB and make it available for review and copying in the Department of the Treasury Library. Members of the public are advised that they must make an appointment with the Treasury Library, ((202) 622-0900 (not a toll-free call), before they visit, and that a charge (currently 15 cents per page) is imposed for the use of the library photocopier.
(2) The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Development Association, and the Inter-American Development Bank. (i) Members of the public may review EIAs at the public reading room of the concerned MDB.
(ii) If a particular MDB does not have a public reading room, members of the public may arrange to review and/or copy an EIA by contacting the MDB Office ((202) 622-0765 (not a toll-free call)), which will obtain a copy through the Office of the United States Executive Director of the concerned MDB and make it available in the Department of the Treasury Library, 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC. Members of the public are advised that they must make an appointment with the Treasury Library ((202) 622-0990 not a toll-free call) before they visit, and that a charge (currently 15 cents per page) is imposed for the use of the library photocopier.
§ 26.4   Comments on MDB projects.
(a) Public comments —(1) Written comments (i) A member of the public wishing to provide written comments on a MDB project must provide 2 copies of the comments to the Office of Multilateral Development Banks, U.S. Department of the Treasury, 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., room 5400, Washington, DC 20220. Written comments should be submitted not later than two weeks after the member of the public has access to the particular document on which it wishes to offer comments—either the project listing, the EIA Summary, or the EIA for a particular project. Written public comments will be provided by the MDB Office to the U.S. Government agencies participating in meetings of the Working Group for Multilateral Assistance (WGMA), which meetings are described in § 26.4(c). The WGMA is an intergovernmental subcommittee of the Development Coordination Committee whose functions are set forth in the Presidential announcement of May 19, 1978, Vol. 14, No. 20, p. 932 of the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents. The WGMA meets to discuss the U.S. position on upcoming MDB projects.
(ii) All written comments will be available for inspection and copying in their entirety in the Department of the Treasury Library, 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC ((202) 622-0990). Members of the public are advised that they must make an appointment with the Treasury Library before they visit, and that a charge (currently 15 cents per page) is imposed for the use of the library photocopier.
(2) Oral comments. Oral comments from a member of the public may be made in periodic meetings convened by the BIC. Information concerning these meetings may be obtained by contacting the BIC or the MDB Office. The MDB Office will summarize and present such comments in the WGMA meetings described in § 26.4(c).
(b) U.S. agency comments. Comments from U.S. agencies shall be provided through the WGMA.
(c) Consideration of comments. The WGMA will consider all comments made by the public and U.S. agencies. The WGMA may review a project up to three times. The first review will consider whether the project has been assigned the appropriate environmental category by the MDB. This review will take place as far in advance as possible of Board consideration of the project. The second review will consider the EIA Summary or the EIA (or information discussed in § 26.5(b)(1)), and comments received from the public on such documentation. The third WGMA review, which will take place shortly before Board consideration of the project, will consider the position of the U.S. Government on the project.
§ 26.5   Upgrades and additional environmental information.
(a) Environmental category upgrades. If the WGMA and the Department of the Treasury determine that a project would have a significant impact on the human environment, but that the level of environmental analysis planned by the MDB is insufficient, the Department of the Treasury will instruct the United States Executive Director of the concerned MDB to request that the MDB upgrade the project to an environmental category requiring additional environmental analysis. Members of the public may call the MDB Office to inquire about upgrade requests for specific projects.
(b) Additional environmental information. (1) If the WGMA and the Department of the Treasury determine on the basis of the first WGMA review that:
(i) A MDB project would have a significant impact on the human environment, and
(ii) The MDB appears to have made an appropriate decision that such project merits environmental analysis, but less than a full-fledged environmental impact assessment as defined by that MDB's own procedures, the Department of the Treasury will obtain, through the United States Executive Director of the concerned MDB, such environmental information from the MDB (e.g., environmental chapters from project feasibility studies or environmental data sheets) which contains this environmental analysis. The MDB Office will provide this environmental information to the entities described in § 26.2(a).
(2) If such environmental information is insufficient to provide an adequate basis for analyzing the environmental impact of the proposed project and alternatives to the proposed project, the Department of the Treasury will instruct the United States Executive Director of the concerned MDB not to vote in favor of the project.