Opinion ID: 2155550
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Regulations under the Statute.

Text: Section 62 provides that [t]he secretaries of the executive offices shall each promulgate rules and regulations approved by the secretary of environmental affairs to carry out the purposes of this section which shall be applicable to all agencies, departments, boards, commissions, authorities or instrumentalities within each of such executive offices and which shall conform with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act Pub. Law 91-190, and amendments thereto. Pursuant to that authority, the Secretary of EOEA on July 6, 1973, published Regulations to Create a Uniform System for the Preparation of Environmental Impact Reports. Regulation 13 deals with the retroactivity of § 62, and provides that [p]rojects shall be deemed to have commenced when the agency has undertaken a continuous program of action or construction or has entered into a binding agreement or other obligation to undertake and complete a continuous program of action or construction. The regulation also provides that the secretaries of the executive offices shall, with the approval of the Secretary of EOEA, further define the word commenced by regulations. Such regulations shall specifically identify a uniform phase or point, the completion or attainment of which commits the agency to the ultimate completion of a specifically planned activity. EOEA Reg. 13.