Compliance With Floodplain and Wetland Environmental Review Requirements

The Department of Energy (DOE) is revising its floodplain and wetland environmental review requirements to add flexibility and remove unnecessary procedural burdens by simplifying DOE public notification procedures for proposed floodplain and wetland actions, exempting additional actions from the floodplain and wetland assessment provisions of these regulations, providing for immediate action in an emergency, expanding the existing list of sources that may be used in determining the location of floodplains and wetlands, and allowing floodplain and wetland assessments for actions proposed to be taken under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) to be coordinated with the CERCLA environmental review process rather than the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process. DOE also is making a conforming change to its NEPA implementing regulations to allow for issuance of a floodplain statement of findings in a final environmental impact statement (EIS) or separately.