Source: http://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/22/216.3
Timestamp: 2013-12-13 00:08:57
Document Index: 461631385

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 216', '§ 216', '§ 216', '§ 216', '§ 216', '§ 216', '§ 216', '§ 216', '§ 216', '§ 216', '§ 216', '§ 216']

22 CFR 216.3 - Procedures. | Title 22 - Foreign Relations | Code of Federal Regulations | LII / Legal Information Institute
CFR › Title 22 › Chapter II › Part 216 › Section 216.3	prev | next
22 CFR 216.3 - Procedures.
(a) General procedures—
(1) Preparation of the Initial Environmental Examination.
Except as otherwise provided, an Initial Environmental Examination is not required for activities identified in § 216.2(b)(1), (c) (2), and (d). For all other A.I.D. activities described in § 216.2(a) an Initial Environmental Examination will be prepared by the originator of an action. Except as indicated in this section, it should be prepared with the PID or PAIP. For projects including the procurement or use of pesticides, the procedures set forth in paragraph (b) of this section will be followed, in addition to the procedures in this paragraph. Activities which cannot be identified in sufficient detail to permit the completion of an Initial Environmental Examination with the PID or PAIP, shall be described by including with the PID or PAIP: (i) An explanation indicating why the Initial Environmental Examination cannot be completed; (ii) an estimate of the amount of time required to complete the Initial Environmental Examination; and (iii) a recommendation that a Threshold Decision be deferred until the Initial Environmental Examination is completed. The responsible Assistant Administrator will act on the request for deferral concurrently with action on the PID or PAIP and will designate a time for completion of the Initial Environmental Examination. In all instances, except as provided in paragraph (a)(7) of this section, this completion date will be in sufficient time to allow for the completion of an Environmental Assessment or Environmental Impact Statement, if required, before a final decision is made to provide A.I.D. funding for the action.
(2) Threshold decision.
(i) The Initial Environmental Examination will include a Threshold Decision made by the officer in the originating office who signs the PID or PAIP. If the Initial Environmental Examination is completed prior to or at the same time as the PID or PAIP, the Threshold Decision will be reviewed by the Bureau Environmental Officer concurrently with approval of the PID or PAIP. The Bureau Environmental Officer will either concur in the Threshold Decision or request reconsideration by the officer who made the Threshold Decision, stating the reasons for the request. Differences of opinion between these officers shall be submitted for resolution to the Assistant Administrator at the same time that the PID is submitted for approval.
(iii) A Positive Threshold Decision shall result from a finding that the proposed action will have a significant effect on the environment. An Environmental Impact Statement shall be prepared if required pursuant to § 216.7. If an impact statement is not required, an Environmental Assessment will be prepared in accordance with § 216.6. The cognizant Bureau or Office will record a Negative Determination if the proposed action will not have a significant effect on the environment.
(3) Negative Declaration.
The Assistant Administrator, or the Administrator in actions for which the approval of the Administrator is required for the authorization of financing, may make a Negative Declaration, in writing, that the Agency will not develop an Environmental Assessment or an Environmental Impact Statement regarding an action found to have a significant effect on the environment when (i) a substantial number of Environmental Assessments or Environmental Impact Statements relating to similar activities have been prepared in the past, if relevant to the proposed action, (ii) the Agency has previously prepared a programmatic Statement or Assessment covering the activity in question which has been considered in the development of such activity, or (iii) the Agency has developed design criteria for such an action which, if applied in the design of the action, will avoid a significant effect on the environment.
(4) Scope of Environmental Assessment or Impact Statement—
(i) Procedure and Content.
After a Positive Threshold Decision has been made, or a determination is made under the pesticide procedures set forth in paragraph (b) of this section that an Environmental Assessment or Environmental Impact Statement is required, the originator of the action shall commence the process of identifying the significant issues relating to the proposed action and of determining the scope of the issues to be addressed in the Environmental Assessment or Environmental Impact Statement. The originator of an action within the classes of actions described in § 216.2(d) shall commence this scoping process as soon as practicable. Persons having expertise relevant to the environmental aspects of the proposed action shall also participate in this scoping process. (Participants may include but are not limited to representatives of host governments, public and private institutions, the A.I.D. Mission staff and contractors.) This process shall result in a written statement which shall include the following matters:
(iii) Circulation of scoping statement.
To assist in the preparation of an Environmental Assessment, the Bureau Environmental Office may circulate copies of the written statement, together with a request for written comments, within thirty days, to selected federal agencies if that Officer believes comments by such federal agencies will be useful in the preparation of an Environmental Assessment. Comments received from reviewing federal agencies will be considered in the preparation of the Environmental Assessment and in the formulation of the design and implementation of the project, and will, together with the scoping statement, will be included in the project file.
(iv) Change in Threshold Decision.
If it becomes evident that the action will not have a significant effect on the environment (i.e., will not cause significant harm to the environment), the Positive Threshold Decision may be withdrawn with the concurrence of the Bureau Environmental Officer. In the case of an action included in § 216.2(d)(2), the request for withdrawal shall be made to the Bureau Environmental Officer.
(5) Preparation of Environmental Assessments and Environmental Impact Statement.
If the PID or PAIP is approved, and the Threshold Decision is positive, or the action is included in § 216.2(d), the originator of the action will be responsible for the preparation of an Environmental Assessment or Environmental Impact Statement as required. Draft Environmental Impact Statements will be circulated for review and comment as part of the review of Project Papers and as outlined further in § 216.7 of those procedures. Except as provided in paragraph (a)(7) of this section, final approval of the PP or PAAD and the method of implementation will include consideration of the Environmental Assessment of final Environmental Impact Statement.
(6) Processing and review within A.I.D.
(i) Initial Environmental Examinations, Environmental Assessments and final Environmental Impact Statements will be processed pursuant to standard A.I.D. procedures for project approval documents. Except as provided in paragraph (a)(7) of this section, Environmental Assessments and final Environmental Impact Statements will be reviewed as an integral part of the Project Paper or equivalent document. In addition to these procedures, Environmental Assessments will be reviewed and cleared by the Bureau Environmental Officer. They may also be reviewed by the Agency's Environmental Coordinator who will monitor the Environmental Assessment process.
(7) Environmental review after authorization of financing.
(i) Environmental review may be performed after authorization of a project, program or activity only with respect to subprojects or significant aspects of the project, program or activity that are unidentified at the time of authorization. Environmental review shall be completed prior to authorization for all subprojects and aspects of a project, program or activity that are identified.
To the extent feasible and relevant, projects and programs for which Environmental Impact Statements or Environmental Assessments have been prepared should be designed to include measurement of any changes in environmental quality, positive or negative, during their implementation. This will require recording of baseline data at the start. To the extent that available data permit, originating offices of A.I.D. will formulate systems in collaboration with recipient nations, to monitor such impacts during the life of A.I.D.'s involvement. Monitoring implementation of projects, programs and activities shall take into account environmental impacts to the same extent as other aspects of such projects, programs and activities. If during implementation of any project, program or activity, whether or not an Environmental Assessment or Environmental Impact Statement was originally required, it appears to the Mission Director, or officer responsible for the project, program or activity, that it is having or will have a significant effect on the environment that was not previously studied in an Environmental Assessment or Environmental Impact Statement, the procedures contained in this part shall be followed including, as appropriate, a Threshold Decision, Scoping and an Environmental Assessment or Environmental Impact Statement.
(9) Revisions.
If, after a Threshold Decision is made resulting in a Negative Determination, a project is revised or new information becomes available which indicates that a proposed action might be “major” and its effects “significant”, the Negative Determination will be reviewed and revised by the cognizant Bureau and an Environmental Assessment or Environmental Impact Statement will be prepared, if appropriate. Environmental Assessments and Environmental Impact Statements will be amended and processed appropriately if there are major changes in the project or program, or if significant new information becomes available which relates to the impact of the project, program or activity on the environment that was not considered at the time the Environmental Assessment or Environmental Impact Statement was approved. When on-going programs are revised to incorporate a change in scope or nature, a determination will be made as to whether such change may have an environmental impact not previously assessed. If so, the procedures outlined in this part will be followed.
(10) Other approval documents.
These procedures refer to certain A.I.D. documents such as PIDs, PAIPs, PPs and PAADs as the A.I.D. internal instruments for approval of projects, programs or activities. From time to time, certain special procedures, such as those in § 216.4, may not require the use of the aforementioned documents. In these situations, these environmental procedures shall apply to those special approval procedures, unless otherwise exempt, at approval times and levels comparable to projects, programs and activities in which the aforementioned documents are used.
(b) Pesticide procedures—
(1) Project Assistance.
Except as provided in paragraph (b)(2) of this section, all proposed projects involving assistance for the procurement or use, or both, of pesticides shall be subject to the procedures prescribed in paragraphs (b)(1) (i) through (v) of this section. These procedures shall also apply, to the extent permitted by agreements entered into by A.I.D. before the effective date of these pesticide procedures, to such projects that have been authorized but for which pesticides have not been procured as of the effective date of these pesticide procedures.
The Threshold Decision will provide for the preparation of an Environmental Assessment or Environmental Impact Statement, as appropriate (§ 216.6(a)
). The EA or EIS shall include, but not be limited to, an analysis of the factors identified in paragraph (b)(1)(i) of this section.
(2) Exceptions to pesticide procedures.
The procedures set forth in paragraph (b)(1) of this section shall not apply to the following projects including assistance for the procurement or use, or both, of pesticides.
(ii) Projects where A.I.D. is a minor donor, as defined in § 216.1(c)(12) of this part, to a multi-donor project.
(3) Non-project assistance.
In a very few limited number of circumstances A.I.D. may provide non-project assistance for the procurement and use of pesticides. Assistance in such cases shall be provided if the A.I.D. Administrator determines in writing that (i) emergency conditions, as defined in paragraph (b)(2)(i) of this section exists; or (ii) that compelling circumstances exist such that failure to provide the proposed assistance would seriously impede the attainment of U.S. foreign policy objectives or the objectives of the foreign assistance program. In the latter case, a decision to provide the assistance will be based to the maximum extent practicable, upon a consideration of the factors set forth in paragraph (b)(1)(i) of this section and, to the extent available, the history of efficacy and safety covering the past use of the pesticide the in recipient country.