(a) This part:

(1) Explains major U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) environmental policies.

(2) Establishes FSA procedures to implement the:

(i) National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 through 4370);

(ii) Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations (40 CFR parts 1500 through 1518); and

(iii) USDA NEPA regulations (§§ 1b.1 through 1b.4 of this title).

(3) Establishes procedures to ensure that FSA complies with other applicable laws, regulations, and Executive Orders, including, but not limited to, the following:

(i) American Indian Religious Freedom Act (42 U.S.C. 1996);

(ii) Archaeological and Historic Preservation Act (16 U.S.C. 469 through 469c);

(iii) Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 (16 U.S.C. 470aa through 470mm);

(iv) Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 through 7671q);

(v) Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 through 1387);

(vi) Coastal Barrier Resources Act (16 U.S.C. 3501 through 3510);

(vii) Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 (CZMA) (16 U.S.C. 1451 through 1466);

(viii) Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (42 U.S.C. 9601 through 9675);

(ix) Endangered Species Act (ESA) (16 U.S.C. 1531 through 1544);

(x) Farmland Protection Policy Act (7 U.S.C. 4201 through 4209);

(xi) Migratory Bird Treaty Act (16 U.S.C. 703 through 712);

(xii) National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) of 1966, as amended (54 U.S.C. 300101 through 307101),

(xiii) Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (25 U.S.C. 3001 through 3013);

(xiv) Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (42 U.S.C. 6901 through 6992k);

(xv) Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300h through 300h.8);

(xvi) Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (16 U.S.C. 1271 through 1287);

(xvii) Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1131 through 1136);

(xviii) Advisory Council on Historic Preservation regulations in 36 CFR part 800 “Protection of Historic Properties;”

(xix) USDA, Office of Environmental Quality regulations in part 3100 of this title, “Cultural and Environmental Quality” (see part 190, subpart F, of this title, “Procedures for the Protection of Historic and Archaeological Properties,” for more specific implementation procedures);

(xx) USDA, Natural Resources Conservation Service regulations in part 658 of this title, “Farmland Protection Policy Act;”

(xxi) USDA regulations in part 12 of this title, “Highly Erodible Land and Wetland Conservation;”

(xxii) U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service regulations in 36 CFR part 60, “National Register of Historic Places;”

(xxiii) U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service regulations in 36 CFR part 63, “Determinations of Eligibility for Inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places;”

(xxiv) USDA, Departmental Regulation 9500-3, “Land Use Policy;”

(xxv) USDA, Departmental Regulation 9500-4, “Fish and Wildlife Policy;”

(xxvi) Executive Order 11514, “Protection and Enhancement of Environmental Quality;”

(xxvii) Executive Order 11593, “Protection and Enhancement of the Cultural Environment;”

(xxviii) Executive Order 11988, “Floodplain Management;”

(xxix) Executive Order 11990, “Protection of Wetlands;”

(xxx) Executive Order 11991, “Relating to Protection and Enhancement of Environmental Quality;”

(xxxi) Executive Order 12898, “Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations;”

(xxxii) Executive Order 13007, “Indian Sacred Sites;”

(xxxiii) Executive Order 13175, “Consultation and Coordination with Indian Tribal Governments;”

(xxxiv) Executive Order 13186, “Responsibilities of Federal Agencies to Protect Migratory Birds;”

(xxxv) Executive Order 13287, “Preserve America;” and

(xxxvi) Executive Order 13690, “Establishing a Federal Flood Risk Management Standard and a Process for Further Soliciting and Considering Stakeholder Input.”

(b) The procedures and requirements in this part supplement CEQ and USDA regulations; they do not replace or supersede them.

(a) FSA will:

(1) Use all practical means to protect and, where possible, improve the quality of the human environment and avoid or minimize any adverse environmental effects of FSA actions;

(2) Ensure protection of basic resources, including important farmlands and forestlands, prime rangelands, wetlands, floodplains, and other protected resources. Consistent with Departmental Regulations and related Executive Orders, it is FSA policy not to approve or fund proposed actions that, as a result of their identifiable impacts, direct, indirect, or cumulative, would lead to or accommodate either the conversion of these land uses or encroachment upon them.

(3) Ensure that the requirements of NEPA and other State and national environmental policies designed to protect and manage impacts on the human environment are addressed:

(i) As required by 40 CFR 1501.2, at the earliest feasible stage in the planning of any FSA action,

(ii) Concurrently and in a coordinated manner,

(iii) During all stages of the decision making process,

(iv) Using professional and scientific integrity in their discussions and analyses, identifying applicable methodologies, and explaining the use of the best available information, and

(v) In consultation with all interested parties, including Federal, State, and Tribal governments;

(4) As appropriate, make environmental review available to the public through various means, which can include, but are not limited to: Posting on the National FSA Web site or a State FSA Web site, publishing in the Federal Register, or publishing in a newspaper in the area of interest; and

(5) Ensure that, if an FSA proposed action represents one of several phases of a larger action, the entire action is the subject of an environmental review independent of the phases of funding. If the FSA proposed action is one segment of a larger action, the entire action will be used in determining the appropriate level of FSA environmental review.

(b) A proposed action that consists of more than one categorically excluded proposed action may be categorically excluded only if all components of the proposed action are included within one or more categorical exclusions and trigger no extraordinary circumstances. The component of a proposed action that requires the highest level of NEPA review will be used to determine the required level of the NEPA review.

(a) Except as provided for in paragraph (b) of this section, this part applies to:

(1) The development or revision of FSA rules, regulations, plans, policies, or procedures;

(2) New or continuing FSA proposed actions and programs, including, on behalf of the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC), CCC programs, Farm Loan Programs, and Farm Programs; and

(3) FSA legislative proposals, not including appropriations requests, developed by FSA or with significant FSA cooperation and support.

(b) This part does not apply to FSA programs specifically exempted from environmental review by the authorizing legislation for those programs.

(a) The following abbreviations apply to this part:

(b) The definitions in 40 CFR part 1508 apply and are supplemented by parts 718 and 1400 of this title; in the event of a conflict the definitions in this section will be controlling. In addition, the following definitions apply to this part:

Administrator means the Administrator, Farm Service Agency, including designees.

Application means the formal process of requesting FSA assistance.

Construction means actions that include building, rehabilitation, modification, repair, and demolition of facilities, and earthmoving.

Consultation means the process of soliciting, discussing, and considering the views of other participants in the environmental review process and working toward agreement where feasible.

Environmental screening worksheet, or ESW, means the FSA screening procedure used to record the use of categorical exclusions, review if a proposed action that can be categorically excluded involves extraordinary circumstances, and evaluate the appropriate level and extent of environmental review needed in an EA or EIS when a categorical exclusion is not available or not appropriate. For the purposes of this part, the ESW may be represented by alternate documentation comparable to the ESW, and that has been approved in advance by the NECM, such as related environmental documentation, including, but not limited to, the related documentation from another agency.

Financial assistance means any form of loan, loan guarantee, grant, guaranty, insurance, payment, rebate, subsidy, or any other form of direct or indirect Federal monetary assistance.

Floodplains means the lowland and relatively flat areas adjoining inland and coastal waters, including flood-prone areas of offshore islands, including, at a minimum, those that are subject to a l-percent or greater chance of flooding in any given year.

Historic property means any prehistoric or historic district, site, building, structure, or object included in, or eligible for inclusion in, the National Register of Historic Places maintained by the Secretary of the Interior as defined in 36 CFR 800.16.

Memorandum of Agreement means a document that records the terms and conditions agreed upon to resolve the potential effects of a Federal agency proposed action or program. Often used interchangeably with Memorandum of Understanding.

Plow zone means the depth of previous tillage or disturbance.

Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA) means an assessment prepared when the significance of impacts of a program are uncertain to assist in making this determination.

Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) means an analysis of the potential impacts that could be associated with various components of a program or proposed action that may not yet be clearly defined or even known, to determine if the program or its various components have the potential to significantly affect the quality of the human environment.

Program participant means any person, agency, or other entity that applies for or receives FSA program benefits or assistance.

Protected resources means environmentally sensitive resources that are protected by laws, regulations, or Executive Orders for which FSA proposed actions may pose potentially significant environmental effects.

State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) means the state official appointed or designated under the NHPA to administer a State historic preservation program, or a representative to act for the SHPO.

Tribal Historic Preservation Officer (THPO) means the Tribal official appointed by a Tribe's chief governing authority or designated by a Tribal ordinance or preservation program, who has assumed the responsibilities of the SHPO on Tribal lands under the NHPA.

Wetlands means areas that are inundated by surface or ground water with a frequency sufficient to support and, under normal circumstances, do support or would support a prevalence of vegetative or aquatic life that requires saturated or seasonally saturated soil conditions for growth and reproduction. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas, such as sloughs, prairie potholes, wet meadows, river overflows, mudflats, and natural ponds.