Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 35 / Wednesday, February 21, 2024 / Notices 13077 

1The Council on Environmental Quality’s (CEQ) 

regulations under 40 CFR 1501.10(b)(1) require that 

EAs be completed within 1 year of the federal 

action agency’s decision to prepare an EA. This 

notice establishes the Commission’s intent to 

prepare an EA for the Mine Falls Project. See 

National Environmental Policy Act, 42 U.S.C. 4321 

et seq., as amended by section 107(g)(1)(B)(iii) of 

the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, Public Law 

118–5, 4336a, 137 Stat. 42. 

The project is located on the Nashua 

River in Hillsborough County, New 

Hampshire. 

In accordance with the Commission’s 

regulations, on November 21, 2023, 

Commission staff issued a notice that 

the project was ready for environmental 

analysis (REA Notice). Based on the 

information in the record, including 

comments filed on the REA Notice, staff 

does not anticipate that licensing the 

project would constitute a major federal 

action significantly affecting the quality 

of the human environment. Therefore, 

staff intends to prepare an 

Environmental Assessment (EA) on the 

application to relicense the Mine Falls 

Project. 

The EA will be issued and circulated 

for review by all interested parties. All 

comments filed on the EA will be 

analyzed by staff and considered in the 

Commission’s final licensing decision. 

The Commission’s Office of Public 

Participation (OPP) supports meaningful 

public engagement and participation in 

Commission proceedings. OPP can help 

members of the public, including 

landowners, environmental justice 

communities, Tribal members, and 

others to access publicly available 

information and navigate Commission 

processes. For public inquiries and 

assistance with making filings such as 

interventions, comments, or requests for 

rehearing, the public is encouraged to 

contact OPP at (202) 502–6595 or OPP@

ferc.gov. 

The application will be processed 

according to the following schedule. 

Revisions to the schedule may be made 

as appropriate. 

Milestone Target date 

Commission issues EA ....................................................................................................................................................... February 2025.1

Comments on EA ................................................................................................................................................................ March 2025. 

Any questions regarding this notice 

may be directed to Khatoon Melick at 

(202) 502–8433 or khatoon.melick@

ferc.gov. 

Dated: February 13, 2024. 

Debbie-Anne A. Reese, 

Acting Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2024–03426 Filed 2–20–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[FRL OP–OFA–110] 

Notice of Adoption of Department of 

Energy Categorical Exclusion Under 

the National Environmental Policy Act 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency. 

ACTION: Notice of adoption of categorical 

exclusion. 

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA) is adopting the 

Department of Energy’s (DOE) 

Categorical Exclusion (CE) for Methane 

Gas Recovery and Utilization Systems 

under the National Environmental 

Policy Act (NEPA) to use in EPA’s 

program and funding opportunities 

administered by EPA. This notice 

describes the categories of proposed 

actions for which EPA intends to use 

DOE’s CE and describes the consultation 

between the agencies. 

DATES: This action is effective upon 

publication. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Melissa Winters, Manager, Pollution 

Prevention and Communities Branch, 

Land, Chemicals, and Redevelopment 

Division, EPA Region 10, by phone at 

206–553–5180, or by email at 

winters.melissa@epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

NEPA and CEs 

The National Environmental Policy 

Act, as amended at, 42 U.S.C. 4321– 

4347 (NEPA), requires all Federal 

agencies to assess the environmental 

impact of their actions. Congress 

enacted NEPA in order to encourage 

productive and enjoyable harmony 

between humans and the environment, 

recognizing the profound impact of 

human activity and the critical 

importance of restoring and maintaining 

environmental quality to the overall 

welfare of humankind. 42 U.S.C. 4321, 

4331. NEPA’s twin aims are to ensure 

agencies consider the environmental 

effects of their proposed actions in their 

decision-making processes and inform 

and involve the public in that process. 

42 U.S.C. 4331. NEPA created the 

Council on Environmental Quality 

(CEQ), which promulgated NEPA 

implementing regulations, 40 CFR parts 

1500 through 1508 (CEQ regulations). 

To comply with NEPA, agencies 

determine the appropriate level of 

review—an environmental impact 

statement (EIS), environmental 

assessment (EA), or CE. 42 U.S.C. 4336. 

If a proposed action is likely to have 

significant environmental effects, the 

agency must prepare an EIS and 

document its decision in a record of 

decision. 42 U.S.C. 4336. If the 

proposed action is not likely to have 

significant environmental effects or the 

effects are unknown, the agency may 

instead prepare an EA, which involves 

a more concise analysis and process 

than an EIS. 42 U.S.C. 4336. Following 

the EA, the agency may conclude the 

process with a finding of no significant 

impact if the analysis shows that the 

action will have no significant effects. If 

the analysis in the EA finds that the 

action is likely to have significant 

effects, however, then an EIS is 

required. 

Under NEPA and the CEQ regulations, 

a Federal agency also can establish 

CEs—categories of actions that the 

agency has determined normally do not 

significantly affect the quality of the 

human environment—in their agency 

NEPA procedures. 42 U.S.C. 4336(e)(1); 

40 CFR 1501.4, 1507.3(e)(2)(ii), 

1508.1(d). If an agency determines that 

a CE covers a proposed action, it then 

evaluates the proposed action for 

extraordinary circumstances in which a 

normally excluded action may have a 

significant effect. 40 CFR 1501.4(b). If 

no extraordinary circumstances are 

present or if further analysis determines 

that the extraordinary circumstances do 

not involve the potential for significant 

environmental effects, the agency may 

apply the CE to the proposed action 

without preparing an EA or EIS. 42 

U.S.C. 4336(a)(2), 40 CFR 1501.4. If the 

extraordinary circumstances have the 

potential to result in significant effects, 

the agency is required to prepare an EA 

or EIS. 

Section 109 of NEPA, enacted as part 

of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, 

allows a Federal agency to ‘‘adopt’’ and 

use another agency’s CEs for a category 

of proposed agency actions. 42 U.S.C. 


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13078 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 35 / Wednesday, February 21, 2024 / Notices 

1Modified from 10 CFR part 1021 subpart D, app. 

B to reflect EPA as the adopting agency. 

4336(c). To use another agency’s CEs 

under section 109, the adopting agency 

must identify the relevant CEs listed in 

another agency’s (‘‘establishing agency’’) 

NEPA procedures that cover the 

adopting agency’s category of proposed 

actions or related actions; consult with 

the establishing agency to ensure that 

the proposed adoption of the CE to a 

category of actions is appropriate; 

identify to the public the CE that the 

adopting agency plans to use for its 

proposed actions; and document 

adoption of the CE. Id. 

This notice documents EPA’s 

adoption of DOE’s CE for Methane Gas 

Recovery and Utilization Systems under 

section 109 of NEPA to use in EPA’s 

program and funding opportunities, 

including those administered for 

Congressionally directed spending for 

projects identified in EPA’s 

Appropriations Acts. Types of projects 

funded under EPA’s Appropriations 

Acts include activities that reduce 

greenhouse gas emissions and pollution 

in communities, including capturing 

methane from wastewater treatment 

plants and landfills. 

II. Identification of the Categorical 

Exclusion 

EPA is adopting DOE’s CE for 

Methane Gas Recovery and Utilization 

Systems. DOE’s CE is codified in DOE’s 

NEPA procedures as CE B5.21 of 10 CFR 

part 1021, subpart D, appendix B, as 

follows: 

B5.21 Methane Gas Recovery and 

Utilization Systems 

The installation, modification, 

operation, and removal of commercially 

available methane gas recovery and 

utilization systems installed within a 

previously disturbed or developed area 

on or contiguous to an existing landfill 

or wastewater treatment plant that 

would not have the potential to cause a 

significant increase in the quantity or 

rate of air emissions. Covered actions 

would be in accordance with applicable 

requirements (such as local land use 

and zoning requirements) in the 

proposed project area and would 

incorporate appropriate control 

technologies and best management 

practices. 

‘‘Previously disturbed or developed’’ 

refers to land that has been changed 

such that its functioning ecological 

processes have been and remain altered 

by human activity. The phrase 

encompasses areas that have been 

transformed from natural cover to 

nonnative species or a managed state, 

including, but not limited to, utility and 

electric power transmission corridors 

and rights-of-way, and other areas 

where active utilities and currently used 

roads are readily available. 10 CFR 

1021.410(g)(1). 

The DOE CE also includes additional 

conditions referred to as integral 

elements (10 CFR part 1021, subpart D, 

appendix B). In order to apply this CE, 

the proposal must be one that would 

not: 

(1) Threaten a violation of applicable 

statutory, regulatory, or permit 

requirements for environment, safety, 

and health, or similar requirements of 

EPA 1 or Executive Orders; 

(2) Require siting and construction or 

major expansion of waste storage, 

disposal, recovery, or treatment 

facilities (including incinerators), but 

the proposal may include categorically 

excluded waste storage, disposal, 

recovery, or treatment actions or 

facilities; 

(3) Disturb hazardous substances, 

pollutants, contaminants, or CERCLA 

excluded petroleum and natural gas 

products that preexist in the 

environment such that there would be 

uncontrolled or unpermitted releases; 

(4) Have the potential to cause 

significant impacts on environmentally 

sensitive resources. An environmentally 

sensitive resource is typically a resource 

that has been identified as needing 

protection through Executive Order, 

statute, or regulation by Federal, state, 

or local government, or a federally 

recognized Indian tribe. An action may 

be categorically excluded if, although 

sensitive resources are present, the 

action would not have the potential to 

cause significant impacts on those 

resources (such as construction of a 

building with its foundation well above 

a sole-source aquifer or upland surface 

soil removal on a site that has 

wetlands). Environmentally sensitive 

resources include, but are not limited to: 

(i) Property (such as sites, buildings, 

structures, and objects) of historic, 

archeological, or architectural 

significance designated by a Federal, 

State, or local government, federally 

recognized Indian tribe, or Native 

Hawaiian organization, or property 

determined to be eligible for listing on 

the National Register of Historic Places; 

(ii) Federally listed threatened or 

endangered species or their habitat 

(including critical habitat) or Federally 

proposed or candidate species or their 

habitat (Endangered Species Act); state 

listed or state-proposed endangered or 

threatened species or their habitat; 

Federally-protected marine mammals 

and Essential Fish Habitat (Marine 

Mammal Protection Act; MagnusonStevens Fishery Conservation and 

Management Act); and otherwise 

Federally-protected species (such as the 

Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act or 

the Migratory Bird Treaty Act); 

(iii) Floodplains and wetlands; 

(iv) Areas having a special 

designation such as Federally- and state 

designated wilderness areas, national 

parks, national monuments, national 

natural landmarks, wild and scenic 

rivers, state and Federal wildlife 

refuges, scenic areas (such as National 

Scenic and Historic Trails or National 

Scenic Areas), and marine sanctuaries; 

(v) Prime or unique farmland, or other 

farmland of statewide or local 

importance, as defined at 7 CFR 

658.2(a), ‘‘Farmland Protection Policy 

Act: Definitions,’’ or its successor; 

(vi) Special sources of water (such as 

sole-source aquifers, wellhead 

protection areas, and other water 

sources that are vital in a region); and 

(vii) Tundra, coral reefs, or rain 

forests; or 

(5) Involve genetically engineered 

organisms, synthetic biology, 

governmentally designated noxious 

weeds, or invasive species, unless the 

proposed activity would be contained or 

confined in a manner designed and 

operated to prevent unauthorized 

release into the environment and 

conducted in accordance with 

applicable requirements, such as those 

of the Department of Agriculture, EPA, 

and the National Institutes of Health. 

Proposed EPA Category of Actions 

EPA intends to apply this CE to 

support proposals for the installation, 

modification, operation, and removal of 

commercially available methane gas 

recovery and utilization systems. The 

systems must be within a previously 

disturbed or developed area, and must 

be on or contiguous to an existing 

landfill or wastewater treatment plant. 

Activities covered by the CE may be 

undertaken directly by EPA or be 

financed in whole or in part through 

Federal funding opportunities, 

including those administered for 

Congressionally directed spending for 

projects identified in EPA’s 

Appropriations Acts. EPA will consider 

each proposal for the installation, 

modification, operation, and removal of 

commercially available methane gas 

recovery and utilization projects to 

ensure that the proposal is within the 

scope of the CE. 

III. Consideration of Extraordinary 

Circumstances 

When applying this CE, EPA will 

evaluate the proposed action to ensure 

consideration of the integral elements 


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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 35 / Wednesday, February 21, 2024 / Notices 13079 

listed above. In considering 

extraordinary circumstances, EPA will 

consider whether the proposed action 

has the potential to result in significant 

effects as described in DOE’s 

extraordinary circumstances listed at 10 

CFR 1021.410(b)(2). DOE defines 

extraordinary circumstances as unique 

situations presented by specific 

proposals, including, but not limited to, 

scientific controversy about the 

environmental effects of the proposal; 

uncertain effects or effects involving 

unique or unknown risks; and 

unresolved conflicts concerning 

alternative uses of available resources. 

In addition, EPA will consider its list of 

extraordinary circumstances as 

described at 40 CFR 6.204(b). 

IV. Consultation With DOE and 

Determination of Appropriateness 

EPA and DOE consulted on the 

appropriateness of EPA’s adoption of 

the CE in November 2023. EPA and 

DOE’s consultation included a review of 

DOE’s experience developing and 

applying the CE, as well as the types of 

actions for which EPA plans to utilize 

the CE. These EPA actions are very 

similar to the type of projects for which 

DOE has applied the CE and therefore 

the impacts of EPA projects will be very 

similar to the impacts of DOE projects, 

which are not significant, absent 

extraordinary circumstances. Therefore, 

EPA has determined that its proposed 

use of the methane gas recovery and 

utilization systems CE as described in 

this notice is appropriate. 

V. Notice to the Public and 

Documentation of Adoption 

This notice serves to identify to the 

public and document EPA’s adoption of 

DOE’s CE B5.21 for Methane Gas 

Recovery and Utilization Systems. This 

notice identifies the types of actions to 

which EPA will apply the CE, as well 

as the considerations that EPA will use 

in determining whether an action is 

within the scope of the CE. 

Dated: February 14, 2024. 

Timothy Hamlin, 

Director, Land, Chemicals, and 

Redevelopment Division, EPA Region 10. 

[FR Doc. 2024–03502 Filed 2–20–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[EPA–HQ–OEJECR–2024–0072; FRL– 

11749–01–OEJECR] 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities; Proposed Information 

Collection Request; Comment 

Request; Environmental Justice CPS 

and G2G Programs: Post-Award 

Reporting and Public Outreach 

Information Collections 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA) is planning to submit an 

information collection request (ICR), 

Environmental Justice CPS and G2G 

Programs: Post-Award Reporting and 

Public Outreach Information Collections 

(EPA ICR Number 2807.01, OMB 

Control Number 2035–NEW) to the 

Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) for review and approval in 

accordance with the Paperwork 

Reduction Act. Before doing so, EPA is 

soliciting public comments on specific 

aspects of the proposed information 

collection as described below. This is a 

request for approval of a new collection. 

This notice allows for 60 days for public 

comments. 

DATES: Comments must be submitted on 

or before April 22, 2024. 

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, 

referencing Docket ID Number EPA– 

HQ–OEJECR–2024–XXXX, to EPA 

online using www.regulations.gov (our 

preferred method), by email to Docket_

OMS@epa.gov, or by mail to: EPA 

Docket Center, Environmental 

Protection Agency, Mail Code 28221T, 

1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 

Washington, DC 20460. EPA’s policy is 

that all comments received will be 

included in the public docket without 

change including any personal 

information provided, unless the 

comment includes profanity, threats, 

information claimed to be Confidential 

Business Information (CBI) or other 

information whose disclosure is 

restricted by statute. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Aarti Iyer, Office of the Chief Financial 

Officer, Environmental Protection 

Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 

Washington, DC 20460; email address: 

iyer.aarti@epa.gov; phone: 202–564– 

0214. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a 

request for approval of a new collection. 

An agency may not conduct or sponsor 

and a person is not required to respond 

to a collection of information unless it 

displays a currently valid OMB control 

number. 

This notice allows 60 days for public 

comments. Supporting documents, 

which explain in detail the information 

that the EPA will be collecting, are 

available in the public docket for this 

ICR. The docket can be viewed online 

at www.regulations.gov or in person at 

the EPA Docket Center, WJC West, 

Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave. NW, 

Washington, DC. The telephone number 

for the Docket Center is 202–566–1744. 

For additional information about EPA’s 

public docket, visit http://www.epa.gov/ 

dockets. 

Pursuant to section 3506(c)(2)(A) of 

the PRA, EPA is soliciting comments 

and information to enable it to: (i) 

evaluate whether the proposed 

collection of information is necessary 

for the proper performance of the 

functions of the Agency, including 

whether the information will have 

practical utility; (ii) evaluate the 

accuracy of the Agency’s estimate of the 

burden of the proposed collection of 

information, including the validity of 

the methodology and assumptions used; 

(iii) enhance the quality, utility, and 

clarity of the information to be 

collected; and (iv) minimize the burden 

of the collection of information on those 

who are to respond, including through 

the use of appropriate forms of 

information technology. EPA will 

consider the comments received and 

amend the ICR as appropriate. The final 

ICR package will then be submitted to 

OMB for review and approval. At that 

time, EPA will issue another Federal 

Register notice to announce the 

submission of the ICR to OMB and the 

opportunity to submit additional 

comments to OMB. 

Abstract: The U.S. Environmental 

Protection Agency (EPA) makes 

competitive financial assistance awards 

to support projects that tackle 

environmental and public health 

challenges across the country. This is 

accomplished by working directly with 

community-based nonprofit 

organizations (CBOs) and state, local, 

territorial, and tribal governments that 

have strong ties to the communities in 

which they are working. To help get 

resources and funding to underserved 

and overburdened communities EPA 

offers the Environmental Justice 

Collaborative Problem Solving (EJCPS) 

and Environmental Justice Government 

to Government (EJG2G) cooperative 

agreement programs, which are 

designed to address multi-statute 

environmental and/or public health 

issues. The EJCPS and EJG2G grantees 

will operate in cooperative agreements 

with EPA in their efforts to collaborate 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES