§ 1318.401 EIS preparation.

(a) The following standard format may be used unless TVA determines that a different format is more appropriate: (1) Executive summary. (2) Purpose and need. (3) Reasonable range of alternatives including the proposed action. (4) Affected environment. (5) Environmental consequences. (6) Appendix. (b) During the process of preparing an EIS, TVA will obtain the comments of any Federal agency that has jurisdiction by law or special expertise with respect to any environmental impact involved and appropriate Federal, Tribal, State, and local agencies that are authorized to develop and enforce environmental standards. Consistent with § 1318.500, TVA may, in its sole discretion, seek comments from the public and Tribal, State, and local agencies that may be affected by the proposed action or have expressed interest in the proposed action. TVA will address any substantive comments received in the EIS and will determine whether modifications to the EIS are necessary. (c) TVA will publish the EIS and notify the Environmental Protection Agency; other interested Federal, Tribal, State, and local agencies; and other entities and individuals who have expressed interest in the proposed action. (d) Except as provided in paragraph (e) of this section, the text of an EIS will not exceed 150 pages, not including citations or appendices. (e) An EIS for a proposed agency action of extraordinary complexity is strictly prohibited from exceeding 300 pages, not including any citations or appendices. TVA will determine at the earliest possible stage of preparation of an EIS whether the conditions for exceeding the page limit in paragraph (d) of this section are present. (f) 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 EIS. Appendices are not to be used to provide additional substantive analysis, because that would circumvent the congressionally mandated page limits. (g) The breadth and depth of analysis in an EIS will be tailored to ensure that the EIS does not exceed these page limits. In this regard, as part of the finalization of the EIS, a responsible official will certify that TVA has considered the factors mandated by NEPA; that the EIS 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 unimportant or frivolous. Such certification may be combined with the certification required under § 1318.106(e).