Code of Federal Regulations Title 18. Conservation of Power and Water Resources § 18.1318.200 Purpose and scope

(a) Categories of actions addressed in this section are those that do not normally have, either individually or cumulatively, a significant impact on the human environment and therefore do not require the preparation of an EA or an EIS.

(b) The TVA entity proposing to initiate an action must determine, in consultation with the NEPA compliance staff, whether the proposed action is categorically excluded.

(c) In order to find that a proposal can be categorically excluded, TVA will ensure that a larger project is not impermissibly broken down into small parts such that the use of a categorical exclusion for any such small part would irreversibly and irretrievably commit TVA to a particular plan of action for the larger project.

(d) The actions listed in appendix A of this part are classes of actions that TVA has determined do not individually or cumulatively have a significant effect on the human environment (categorical exclusions), subject to review for extraordinary circumstances.

(e) The use of a categorical exclusion for an action does not relieve TVA from compliance with other statutes or consultations, including, for example, the Endangered Species Act or the National Historic Preservation Act.