New York Codes, Rules and Regulations
Title 6 - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION
Chapter VI - General Regulations
Part 617 - State Environmental Quality Review
Section 617.8 - Scoping
Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 12, March 20, 2024
(a) The primary goals of scoping are to focus the EIS on potentially significant adverse impacts and to eliminate consideration of those impacts that are irrelevant or not significant . Scoping is required for all EISs (except for supplemental EISs), and may be initiated by the lead agency or the project sponsor.
(b) The project sponsor must submit a draft scope that contains the items identified in paragraphs (e) (1) through (5) of this section to the lead agency. The lead agency must provide a copy of the draft scope to all involved agencies, and make it available to any individual or interested agency that has expressed an interest in writing to the lead agency.
(c) Involved agencies should provide written comments reflecting their concerns, jurisdictions and needs for environmental analysis sufficient to ensure that the EIS will be adequate to support their SEQR findings. The lead agency must include such informational needs in the final scope provided they are reasonable. Failure of an involved agency to participate in the scoping process will not delay completion of the final written scope.
(d) Scoping must include an opportunity for public participation. The lead agency may either provide a period of time for the public to review and provide written comments on a draft scope or provide for public input through the use of meetings, exchanges of written material, or other means.
(e) The lead agency must provide a final written scope to the project sponsor, all involved agencies and any individual that has expressed an interest in writing to the lead agency within 60 days of its receipt of a draft scope. The final written scope should include:
(f) All relevant issues should be raised before the issuance of a final written scope. Any agency or person raising issues after that time must provide to the lead agency and project sponsor a written statement that identifies:
(g) The project sponsor of this section into the draft EIS
(h) If the lead agency fails to provide a final written scope within 60 calendar days of its receipt of a draft scope, the project sponsor may prepare and submit a draft EIS consistent with the submitted draft scope.