TVA has finalized and published updates to its procedures for implementing the National Environmental Policy Act.
NEPA establishes the process for considering and disclosing potential environmental impacts of major federal actions. TVA first established its NEPA procedures in 1980 and made minor revisions in 1983.
The updates are available at www.tva.com/nepa.
The most significant update is the list of TVA categorical exclusions, expanded from 28 to 50. These are categories of actions that, after review, have no significant individual or cumulative environmental effect, under normal circumstances, and for which more in-depth environmental reviews are unnecessary. They are considered common activities essential to TVA’s mission. The updates eliminate outdated or rarely used categorical exclusions and clarify existing categorical exclusions.
The procedures also help clarify roles and responsibilities of various organizations involved with NEPA within TVA, reduce paperwork needed for very low impact activities, and update public communications channels available such as website posting, email, and social media.
In June 2017, TVA published the proposed procedures for public review. TVA received over 1,500 comments, which were carefully considered for the final document. Responses to public comments are published with the final procedures.
The final procedures were submitted to the Council on Environment Quality in November 2019 and approved by CEQ in February 2020. These rules will be effective April 27.
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