(1) operation, maintenance, or repair of existing facilities, equipment, and structures;

(2) reconstruction, reconditioning, replacement, rehabilitation, or minor relocation of existing facilities, equipment, and structures without making significant expansion of said facilities, equipment or structures;

(3) the construction and location of new structures, facilities or equipment, involving less than 10,000 square feet of gross floor area, provided such construction or location has no physical effect on unusual or unique areas, including Federal- or State-registered historic sites and critical environmental areas designated pursuant to 6 NYCRR 617.4(g);

(4) purchases of materials, supplies or equipment appropriate to continuing operation of authority facilities or structures;

(5) approval, funding or execution of contracts involving matters referenced in paragraphs (1)-(4) of this subdivision;

(6) the preparation, review, approval, funding or implementation of technical, engineering, economic, planning, environmental, feasibility or research studies, reports or memoranda which are preliminary to and may support the formulation of proposals for action(s), but which do not commit the authority to commence or engage in such action;

(7) the preparation of agreements which are preliminary to and may support the formulation of proposal(s) for action(s), but which do not commit the authority to commence or engage in such action;

(8) defining the scope of services, issuing requests for proposals, negotiating or executing contracts involving professional or management services;

(9) the preparation or execution of agreements pertaining to the purchase, sale, transmission or distribution of electricity, not involving construction of new transmission or distribution lines or generating facilities, and the exercise of rights under such agreements;

(10) the execution of a lease for the use of authority-owned property, where such lease provides for the use of the land and/or structures in their present condition or with minor alterations, provided that the lease of real property is less than 25 contiguous acres;

(11) minor temporary permits for the use of authority property having negligible or no permanent impact on the environment;

(12) the acquisition, sale or other transfer of less than 25 contiguous acres of land, and the preparation or execution of related agreements;

(13) preparing, adopting and maintaining policies, manuals, directives, procedures, plans, programs or guidelines which do not commit the authority to undertake new programs that may adversely affect the environment and which do not involve a major reordering of priorities that may adversely affect the environment;

(14) acceptance of grants or loans from the Federal, State or local governments, or any agency thereof;

(15) issuance of indebtedness;

(16) the fixing of rates or charges for any electric service provided by the authority;

(17) the adoption or modification of customer rules, regulations, schedules, policies, and procedures, including without limitation those pertaining to services, facilities, service classifications, customer complaint procedures, billing and payment of bills, customer deposits, applications for service, discontinuance and reconnection of service, and meter reading;

(18) research and development contracts which do not involve a physical impact on the environment or commit the authority to a definite course of future action;

(19) license and permit renewals, where there will be no material change in permit conditions or the scope of permit activities;

(20) actions that are exempt from environmental review by Federal or State law;

(21) preparation and adoption of operating, capital, or other budgets and modifications thereof;

(22) employee personnel services;

(23) self-insurance or insurance contracting;

(24) maintenance of transmission or distribution right-of-way and existing facility landscaping or natural growth;

(25) landscaping, groundskeeping and similar activities that may alter or temporarily disturb the surface of land, but which ultimately will return the land to substantially the same or better condition, such as minor soil grading, seeding or planting;

(26) soil and ground-water boring and tests, minor land cuts and brush clearing for survey purposes; and

(27) minor trenching and backfilling, where the surface is restored.