§ 1318.301 EA preparation.

(a) The EA will briefly describe the proposed action and include brief discussions of the purpose and need for action, alternatives required by NEPA sec. 102(2)(H), 42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(H), and the environmental effects of the proposed action and alternatives. (b) TVA may, in its sole discretion, request public and stakeholder involvement in the preparation of an EA and provide a public comment period. When public comment is requested, the EA will address substantive comments made in accordance with § 1318.500. (c) The EA will briefly provide sufficient data and analysis for determining whether to sign a FONSI or prepare an EIS. (d) The text of an EA is strictly prohibited from exceeding 75 pages, not including citations or appendices. (e) Appendices are to be used for voluminous materials, such as scientific tables, collections of data, statistical calculations, and the like, which substantiate the analysis provided in the EA. Appendices are not to be used to provide additional substantive analysis, because that would circumvent the congressionally mandated page limits. (f) The breadth and depth of analysis in an EA will be tailored to ensure that the environmental analysis does not exceed this page limit. In this regard, as part of the finalization of the EA, a responsible official will certify (and the certification will be incorporated into the EA) that TVA has considered the factors mandated by NEPA; that the EA represents TVA's good-faith effort to prioritize documentation of the most important considerations required by the statute within the congressionally mandated page limits; that this prioritization reflects TVA's expert judgment; and that any considerations addressed briefly or left unaddressed were, in TVA's judgment, comparatively not of a substantive nature that meaningfully informed the consideration of environmental effects and the resulting decision on how to proceed. Such certification may be combined with the certification required under § 1318.106(e).