(a) Section 301(c)(3) establishes that the Commission is to be considered a Federal agency “for purposes of compliance with the requirements of all Federal fish, wildlife, recreation, and environmental laws, including (but not limited to) the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act, the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), and the Endangered Species Act of 1973.” While not specifically referenced in that section, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (Clean Water Act) (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.) also contains environmental compliance provisions that are directly relevant to the Commission's mitigation and conservation activities. The Commission is committed to full and active compliance with these laws as well as applicable State environmental law.

(b) The Commission's NEPA procedures are addressed in a different chapter of the agency's administrative rules. Because the plan is subject to alteration or amendment under a number of circumstances, the plan does not constitute an irretrievable commitment of resources and thus is not subject to NEPA. Projects preliminarily selected for funding by the Commission will, however, be subject to formal NEPA review. The Commission recognizes that these procedures may affect both project budgets and scheduling and will therefore give specific consideration to this when preparing the plan. As described in § 10005.16 the plan will identify, at a reconnaissance level, the need for individual projects to comply with NEPA and other Federal and State environmental laws and the opportunities available for consolidating NEPA review into programmatic or watershed-wide analysis as appropriate.