Update: DEC Accepting Additional Comments on Proposed SEQR Amendments

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As a follow up to a March 14, 2017 legal alert on proposed SEQR amendments, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (“DEC”) published a notice of revised rulemaking in the New York State Register on April 4, 2018 regarding DEC’s proposed amendments to the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act (“SEQR”) regulations, codified at 6 N.Y.C.R.R. Part 617 (the “Proposed SEQR Amendments”).  The revised rulemaking describes the revisions DEC has made to the Proposed SEQR Amendments based on comments received during the public comment period.

A summary of the major revisions to the Proposed SEQR Amendments as compared to the originally proposed text for the amendments is set forth below:

  1. DEC has further revised the list of Type II actions. For example, DEC is no longer including anaerobic digesters at wastewater treatment plants or minor subdivisions as Type II actions, among other modifications.
  2. In regards to the review process, DEC received several public comments regarding DEC’s proposal to “make scoping mandatory and [to] require [] that lead agencies evaluate the completeness of a project sponsor’s draft EIS [Environmental Impact Statement] based on the final scope.” Several commenters raised a concern that the public would not be aware of late filed comments until the EIS is finalized. DEC has responded to these concerns by requiring a project sponsor to include late filed comments as an appendix to the draft EIS.
  3. DEC has also revised the environmental assessment forms to reflect the proposed threshold pertaining to the Type I designation for actions occurring substantially contiguous to sites on the National Register of Historic Places (the “National Register”). Previously, an unlisted action that was substantially contiguous to a site on the National Register was a Type I action.  DEC has established an applicable 25 percent threshold in the Proposed SEQR Amendments.  Thus, an unlisted action that exceeds 25 percent of any threshold established in section 617.4 and is substantially contiguous to a site on the National Register is considered a Type I action.

The full text of the Proposed SEQR Amendments and associated documents are available on DEC’s website.  DEC is accepting additional comments on the revised Proposed SEQR Amendments until Friday, May 4. 2018.

DISCLAIMER: Because of the generality of this update, the information provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular situations.

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