Federal or State agency, local government, or Indian 
tribe that may— 
‘‘(A) have jurisdiction over the project; 
‘‘(B) be required by law to conduct or 
issue a review, analysis, opinion, or statement 
for the project study; or 
‘‘(C) be required to make a determination 
on issuing a permit, license, or other approval 
or decision for the project study. 
‘‘(2) INVITATION.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The Federal lead 
agency shall invite any such agency identified 
under paragraph (1) to become a participating 
or cooperating agency in the environmental re-
view process for the project study. 
‘‘(B) DEADLINE.—An invitation to partici-
pate issued under subparagraph (A) shall estab-
lish a deadline by which a response to the invi-
tation shall be submitted, which may be ex-
tended by the Federal lead agency for good 
cause. 
‘‘(3) FEDERAL
COOPERATING
AGENCY.—Any 
Federal agency that is invited by the Federal lead 
agency to participate in the environmental review 
process for a project study shall be designated as a 
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cooperating agency by the Federal lead agency un-
less the invited agency informs the Federal lead 
agency, in writing, by the deadline specified in the 
invitation that the invited agency— 
‘‘(A) has no jurisdiction or authority with 
respect to the project; 
‘‘(B) has no expertise or information rel-
evant to the project study; and 
‘‘(C) does not intend to submit comments 
on the project study. 
‘‘(4) EFFECT OF DESIGNATION.— 
‘‘(A) REQUIREMENT.—A participating or 
cooperating agency shall comply with the re-
quirements of this section and any schedule es-
tablished under this section. 
‘‘(B) IMPLICATION.—Designation under 
this subsection shall not imply that the partici-
pating or cooperating agency— 
‘‘(i) supports a proposed project; or 
‘‘(ii) has any jurisdiction over, or spe-
cial expertise with respect to evaluation of, 
the project. 
‘‘(5) CONCURRENT
REVIEWS.—Each partici-
pating or cooperating agency shall— 
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‘‘(A) carry out the obligations of that 
agency under other applicable law concurrently 
and in conjunction with the required environ-
mental review process unless doing so would 
prevent such agency from conducting needed 
analysis or otherwise carrying out their obliga-
tions under those other laws; and 
‘‘(B) formulate and implement administra-
tive, policy, and procedural mechanisms to en-
able the agency to ensure completion of the en-
vironmental review process in a timely, coordi-
nated, and environmentally responsible manner. 
‘‘(e) PROGRAMMATIC COMPLIANCE.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall issue 
guidance regarding the use of programmatic ap-
proaches to carry out the environmental review proc-
ess that— 
‘‘(A) eliminates repetitive discussions of 
the same issues; 
‘‘(B) focuses on the actual issues ripe for 
analyses at each level of review; 
‘‘(C) establishes a formal process for co-
ordinating with participating and cooperating 
agencies, including the creation of a list of all 
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