Department of Agriculture November 23, 2018 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development (RD), comprised of the Rural Business-Cooperative Service (RBS), Rural Housing Service (RHS), and Rural Utilities Service (RUS), hereafter referred to as the Agency, is issuing a direct final rule to update the Agency's Environmental Policies and Procedures regulation (7 CFR 1970) to allow the Agency Administrators limited flexibility to obligate federal funds for infrastructure projects prior to completion of the environmental review while ensuring full compliance with National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) procedures prior to project construction and disbursement of any RD funding. This change will allow RD to more fully meet the Administration's goals to speed the initiation of infrastructure projects and encourage planned community economic development without additional cost to taxpayers or change to environmental review requirements.

In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), as amended, and the Federal Land Policy Management Act of 1976, as amended, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Forest Service (USFS) Caribou-Targhee National Forest, have prepared a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed Dairy Syncline Phosphate Mine Project (Project), and by this Notice announce the opening of the comment period.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 this notice announces the intention of the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) to seek approval to conduct a new information collection to gather economic data from a sample of homeowners, golf courses, sod producers, turfgrass service providers, and commercial businesses with turfgrass in New Jersey.