Department of Agriculture February 15, 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Farm Service Agency (FSA) is seeking comments from all interested individuals and entities on the revision and extension of currently approved information collection that supports the Direct Loan Program. The collection of information from loan applicants and commercial lenders is used to determine eligibility and financial feasibility when the applicant requests direct loan assistance.

The Forest Service is revising procedures for implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations. The procedures are being revised through issuance of a final directive that amends Forest Service Handbook (FSH) 1909.15, chapter 30. This chapter describes categorical exclusions; that is, categories of actions which do not individually or cumulatively have a significant effect on the human environment, and therefore, normally do not require further analysis and documentation in either an environmental assessment (EA) or an environmental impact statement (EIS). The amendment adds one such category of actions to the Agency's NEPA procedures to facilitate implementation of limited oil and gas projects on leases on National Forest System lands that do not have significant effects on the human environment. This categorical exclusion only applies to oil and gas leasing activities on National Forest System lands when there are no extraordinary circumstances. Use of this categorical exclusion will allow for approval of a Surface Use Plan of Operations for oil and natural gas exploratory operations and initial development activities associated with or adjacent to a new oil and/or gas field or area so long as the approval will not authorize activities in excess of any of the following: (a) One mile of new road construction; (b) one mile of road reconstruction; (c) three miles of individual or co-located pipelines and/or utilities disturbance; (d) four drill sites. More than a single action may be categorically excluded under this category in a new field or associated area when the aforementioned constraints are not surpassed. In response to comments on the proposed categorical exclusion, two revisions were made to the original proposal: (1) The area in which the category is applicable was clarified to allow for variations between states on how a field is defined and determined; (2) utilities were added to the pipeline provision to address a common practice of co- locating pipelines and utilities in the same location or corridor.