Model Environmental Assessment Forms
NY-ADR
9/25/13 N.Y. St. Reg. ENV-47-10-00015-AA
NEW YORK STATE REGISTER
VOLUME XXXV, ISSUE 39
September 25, 2013
RULE MAKING ACTIVITIES
DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION
AMENDED NOTICE OF ADOPTION
I.D No. ENV-47-10-00015-AA
Filing No. 879
Filing Date. Sept. 09, 2013
Effective Date. Oct. 07, 2013
Model Environmental Assessment Forms
PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF THE State Administrative Procedure Act, NOTICE is hereby given of the following action:
Action taken:
Amendment of section 617.20 of Title 6 NYCRR.
Amended action:
This action amends the rule that was filed with the Secretary of State on March 14, 2013, to be effective October 7, 2013, File No. 00262. The notice of adoption, I.D. No. ENV-47-10-00015-A, was published in the February 15, 2012 issue of the State Register.
Statutory authority:
Environmental Conservation Law, section 8-0113(2)(l)
Subject:
Model Environmental Assessment Forms.
Purpose:
To provide model forms that may be used to conduct environmental assessments under the State Environmental Quality Review Act.
Substance of amended rule:
The environmental assessment forms (“EAF”) are model forms promulgated by the Department of Environmental Conservation (“DEC”) and appended to the State Environmental Quality Review Act (“SEQR”) regulations as required by the SEQR (see ECL § 8-0113). The EAFs are used by agencies and boards involved in the SEQR process to assess the environmental significance of actions they may be undertaking, funding or approving. The “Full EAF” has not been substantially revised since 1978 while its sister form, the “Short EAF,” was last substantially revised in 1987. In the years since the EAFs were first created, DEC and other SEQR practitioners have gathered a great deal of experience with environmental analyses under SEQR. DEC has brought this experience to bear by preparing modern Full and Short EAFs. The forms, which replace the existing ones set out at 6 NYCRR 617.20, appendices A, B, and C, now include consideration of emerging environmental issues such as climate change. The revised EAFs have been changed to better address planning, policy and local legislative actions, which can have greater impacts on the environment than individual physical changes.
In addition to these substantive changes, the structure of the forms has been updated, to make them more straightforward to use. DEC has merged the substance of the Visual EAF Addendum (6 NYCRR 617.20, former Appendix B) into the Full EAF and then eliminated the Visual EAF Addendum. This will help reduce the multiplicity of forms. The determination of significance has been merged into Part 3 of the forms. Part 2 of the Short Form has been conformed to the structure of Part 2 of the Full EAF.
Both forms have been reworked and modified in response to public comment. The forms as adopted are available on the DEC’s website at the following address: http://www.dec.ny.gov/permits/70293.html. The effective date of the new forms is October 7, 2013.
This amended notice of adoption is for technical and typographical corrections to the environmental assessment forms adopted by the Commissioner on January 25, 2012. They are as follows:
Section 617.20, Appendix A, Full-Environmental Assessment Form:
Full EAF Part 1, D.2.b.iv, “area” of vegetation proposed to be removed was changes to “acres of aquatic vegetation proposed to be removed.”
Full EAF, Part I, D.2.g.ii. In this section, the phrase “metric tons” is changed to “short tons.”
Full EAF, Part 1, D.2.p. The numerical thresholds have been conformed to mesh with regulatory thresholds involving registration.
Full-EAF, Part I, E.2.h.iv. iv. The question reads as follow: “For each identified, regulated wetland and waterbody on the project site, provide the following information:” As amended, the term “regulated” is added to the text.
Full-EAF, Part I, E.2. l. This question asks whether “the project site is located over, or immediately adjoining, a primary, principal or sole source aquifer?” The change deletes the request to provide the source for the project sponsor’s information. The source of the information will now come from the Department’s spatial data system.
Full-EAF, Part I, E.2. o. i. and ii. This question asks “does the project site contain any species of plant or animal that is listed by the Federal government or NYS as endangered or threatened, or does it contain any areas identified as habitat for an endangered or threatened species?” The change to this question eliminates subsequent parts i. “Species and listing (endangered or threatened)” and ii. “Nature of use of site by the species (e.g., resident, seasonal, transient)”. This information will come from the Department’s Natural Heritage Program.
Full-EAF, Part I, E.2. p. i. and ii. This question asks “does the project site contain any species of plant or animal that is listed by NYS as rare, or as a species of special concern.” If yes, guidance will be offered that applicant should contact the DEC program staff. The change to this question eliminates subsequent parts i. “Species and listing” and ii. “Nature of use of site by the species (e.g., resident, seasonal, transient)”.
Full EAF, Part I, E.3.h. The question asks “[w]ould the project site be visible from any officially designated and publicly accessible federal, state or local scenic or aesthetic resource?”
The question is changed to read as follows: “Is the project site within five miles of any officially designated and publicly accessible federal, state or local scenic or aesthetic resource?” The five mile distance equates to the distance at which most activities are not a point of interest to the casual observer, and makes the question consistent with the Department’s guidance on evaluating visual impact.
Full EAF, Part II, 5.f. The question reads as follows: “If there is a dam located on the site of the proposed action, is the dam [has failed to meet one or more safety criteria on its most recent inspection] in need of repair or upgrade.” As indicated, the question is amended to ask whether the dam is in need of repair or upgrade?”
Full EAF, Part II, 6.a.v. In this section, the word “hydrochloroflurocarbons (HCFCs) is changed to read hydrochloroflourocarbons (HFCs).”
Full EAF, Part II, 6.d. The question reads as follows: “The proposed action may reach 50% of [any two or more] of the thresholds in “a” through “c”, above.”
As indicated by the brackets, the words “any two or more” are removed from the question.
Section 617.20, Appendix B, Short-Environmental Assessment Form:
Questions 10 and 11 of Part I of the Short-EAF ask the applicant to state whether the project will connect to existing public/private water supplies and wastewater utilities, respectively. Both questions contain a follow-up question that asks whether the public/private water supply system and wastewater utilities have capacity assuming that the project will connect to them. The change is to eliminate the follow-up question as the question of capacity is more readily answered by the lead agency as part of its completion of Part II of the Short-EAF.
Amended rule as compared with adopted rule:
Nonsubstantive changes were made in section 617.20, App. A and App. B.
Text of amended rule and any required statements and analyses may be obtained from:
Robert Ewing, Environmental Analyst, Department of Environmental Conservation, 625 Broadway, Albany, New York 12233, (518) 402-9167, email: [email protected]
Revised Regulatory Impact Statement, Regulatory Flexibility Analysis and Rural Area Flexibility Analysis
Changes to the Model Full and Short-environmental assessment forms do not require a revised RIS, RFA and RAFA since the changes are technical and do not affect the substance of the forms.
Revised Job Impact Statement
Changes to the Model Full and Short-environmental assessment forms do not require a JIS or revised JIS since the changes are technical and do not affect the substance of the forms. They would not have any effect on jobs.
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