50 CFR § 530.1-530.4 - Compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act

443 Marine Mammal Commission § 530.1 § 520.5 Administrative appeal. (a) An appeal to the Director of any denial, in whole or in part, of a request for access to and copies of material may be made by submission of a writ ten request for reconsideration. Such requests must state specific reasons for reconsideration that address directly the grounds upon which the denial was based. Requests should be addressed to the Director at the Commission offices. (b) The Director shall make a deter mination with respect to any appeal within 20 days (excepting Saturdays, Sundays, and legal public holidays) after receipt of the request for recon sideration. The person making such a request shall immediately be notified by mail of the determination. (c) If the initial denial is reversed by the Director, any material with which the reversal is concerned shall be made available for inspection, and copies shall be furnished, in accordance with § 520.4(d). (d) If the denial is upheld, in whole or in part, the Director shall include in the notification a statement of the re quester’s right of judicial review under 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(4), and the names and positions of the persons responsible for the denial. § 520.6 Extensions of time. (a) Whenever unusual circumstances exist, as set forth in § 520.6(b), the times within which determinations must be made by the General Counsel on requests for access (10 working days), and by the Director on requests for reconsideration (20 working days), may be extended by written notice to the requester. The notice shall set forth the reasons for such extension, and the date on which a determination is expected to be made. The maximum extension of time allowed under this section shall be 10 working days, but shall be utilized only to the extent rea sonably necessary to the proper proc essing of the particular request. (b) As used in this section, ‘‘unusual circumstances’’ shall mean: (1) The need to search for and collect the requested records from field facili ties or other establishments that are separate from the Commission offices; (2) The need to search for, collect, and appropriately examine a volumi nous amount of separate and distinct records which are the subject of a sin gle request; or (3) The need for consultation, which shall be conducted with all practicable speed, with another agency having a substantial interest in the determina tion of the request or among two or more components of the agency having substantial subject-matter interest therein. § 520.7 Fees. (a) The following standard charges for document search and duplication, based on the direct costs of such serv ices, must be paid before access to, or copies of material will be granted under these regulations: (1) Search: $4.00 per person-hour for clerical time; $8.00 per person-hour for professional or supervisory time; (2) Duplication: $0.10 per page of photocopied material. (b) The Commission shall furnish without charge, or at a reduced charge, copies of any material disclosed pursu ant to these regulations, whenever the General Counsel or the Director deter mines that waiver or reduction of the fee is in the public interest because fur nishing the information can be consid ered as primarily benefiting the gen eral public. [41 FR 3307, Jan. 22, 1976; 41 FR 4020, Jan. 28, 1976] PART 530—COMPLIANCE WITH THE NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT Sec. 530.1 Purpose. 530.2 Ensuring that environmental docu ments are actually considered in agency decision-making. 530.3 Typical classes of action. 530.4 Environmental information. AUTHORITY: National Environmental Pol icy Act, Pub. L. 91–190; 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq. SOURCE: 44 FR 52837, Sept. 11, 1979, unless otherwise noted. § 530.1 Purpose. The purpose of this part is to estab lish procedures which supplement the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations and provide for the implementation of those provisions 444 50 CFR Ch. V (10–1–23 Edition) § 530.2 identified in § 1507.3(b) of the regula tions which are applicable to the ac tivities of the Commission in light of its statutory functions and responsibil ities. § 530.2 Ensuring that environmental documents are actually considered in agency decision-making. Section 1505.1 of the NEPA regula tions contains requirements to ensure adequate consideration of environ mental documents in agency decision making. To implement these require ments, Commission officials shall: (a) Consider all relevant environ mental documents in evaluating pro posals for agency actions; (b) Ensure that all relevant environ mental documents, comments, and re sponses accompany the proposal through existing agency review proc esses; (c) Consider only those alternatives encompassed by the range of alter natives discussed in the relevant envi ronmental documents when evaluating any proposal for action by the Commis sion which is likely to significantly af fect the quality of the human environ ment; and (d) Where an environmental impact statement (EIS) has been prepared, consider the specific alternatives ana lyzed in the EIS when evaluating the proposal which is the subject of the EIS. All Commission officials directly involved in developing, evaluating, and/or reaching decisions on proposed actions shall consider relevant environ mental documents and comply with the applicable provisions of the NEPA process. § 530.3 Typical classes of action. Section 1507.3(b)(2), in conjunction with § 1508.4, requires agencies to iden tify typical classes of action that war rant similar treatment under NEPA with respect to the preparation of EIS’s or environmental assessments. As a general matter, the Commission’s activities do not include actions for which EIS’s or environmental assess ments are required. Its activities in volve: (a) Consultation with and rec ommendations to other Federal agen cies for actions relating to marine mammal protection and conservation for which an EIS or environmental as sessment is either not required by the NEPA regulations or for which an EIS or environmental assessment is pre pared by another Federal agency; and (b) Research contracts relating to policy issues, biological-ecological data needed to make sound management de cisions, and better methods for col lecting and analyzing data. These ac tivities are not, by themselves, major Federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment and the Commission’s activities are therefore categorically excluded from the requirement to prepare an EIS or environmental assessment except for proposals for legislation which are ini tiated by the Commission, for which the Commission shall develop environ mental assessments or EIS’s, as appro priate, in accordance with the NEPA regulations. The Commission shall independently determine whether an EIS or an environmental assessment is required where: (1) A proposal for agency action is not covered by one of the typical class es of action above; or (2) For actions which are covered, the presence of extraordinary cir cumstances indicates that some other level of environmental review may be appropriate. § 530.4 Environmental information. Interested persons may contact the Office of the General Counsel for infor mation regarding the Commission’s compliance with NEPA. PART 540—INFORMATION SECURITY Sec. 540.1 Policy. 540.2 Program. 540.3 Procedures. AUTHORITY: Executive Order 12356. § 540.1 Policy. It is the policy of the Marine Mam mal Commission to act in accordance with Executive Order 12356 in matters relating to national security informa tion. [44 FR 55381, Sept. 26, 1979]