[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 37 (Friday, February 23, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Page 8073]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-03730]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OW-2018-0079] [ER-FRL-9037-7]


Availability of an Environmental Assessment (EA) and Finding of 
No Significant Impact (FONSI)

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Environmental Assessment (EA)/Finding of No Significant Impact 
(FONSI).

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the 
Council on Environmental Quality's NEPA regulations, and EPA's 
regulations for implementing NEPA, EPA has prepared an Environmental 
Assessment (EA) to analyze the potential environmental impacts related 
to the issuance of credit assistance to the Indiana Finance Authority 
(IFA) for State Revolving Fund (SRF) Loans under the Water 
Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program. The EA 
evaluates the potential environmental impacts of water infrastructure 
projects funded under the WIFIA credit assistance program in compliance 
with NEPA and the required environmental cross-cutters and other 
federal, state, and local environmental reviews. Based on the 
environmental impact analysis in the EA, EPA has made a preliminary 
determination that no significant environmental impacts are anticipated 
from the issuance of the credit assistance to IFA. This notice 
initiates the 30-day review period and invites comments from Federal, 
State, and local agencies, Indian tribes, and the public regarding 
EPA's preliminary determination.

DATES: Comments must be received by March 25, 2018.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-
2018-0079 to the Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov. Please follow the online instructions for 
submitting comments. Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or 
withdrawn. The EPA may publish public comments received to its public 
docket. Do not submit electronically any information you consider to be 
Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose 
disclosure is restricted by statute. Multimedia submissions (audio, 
video, etc.) must be accompanied by a written comment. The written 
comment is considered the official comment and should include 
discussion of all points you wish to make. The EPA will generally not 
consider comments or comment contents located outside of the primary 
submission (i.e., on the web, cloud, or other file sharing system). For 
additional submission methods, the full EPA public comment policy, 
information about CBI or multimedia submissions, and general guidance 
on making effective comments, please visit https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Danusha Chandy, Water Infrastructure 
Division, Office of Wastewater Management, WIFIA Program, Mail Code: 
4201T, Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, 
Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: 202-564-2165; email address 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: EPA is seeking public comment regarding its 
preliminary Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) to document its 
determination that no significant environmental impacts are anticipated 
from the issuance of credit assistance to IFA for SRF Loans under the 
WIFIA program. EPA invites the public to submit comments through 
Regulations.gov during the 30-day comment period following the 
publication of this notice in the Federal Register.
    Congress enacted the WIFIA as part of the Water Resources Reform 
and Development Act of 2014, as amended by sec. 1445 of Public Law 114-
94[thinsp][1] and codified at 33 U.S.C. 3901-3914. WIFIA establishes a 
new federal credit program for water infrastructure projects to be 
administered by EPA.
    The proposed federal action under consideration in this EA is 
approving or denying IFA's application by either issuing or not issuing 
a WIFIA loan. The IFA provides loans for the design, construction, 
operation, and maintenance of eligible water and wastewater 
infrastructure projects as described in section 603(c) of the Federal 
Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1383(c)) and section 1452(a)(2) 
of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300j-12(a)(2)). IFA applied 
for a WIFIA loan to help fund the 2017 3rd Quarter Project Priority 
Lists for the Drinking Water SRF (DWSRF) and Clean Water SRF (CWSRF) 
Loan Programs for projects applying for financial assistance in State 
Fiscal Year 2017. The proposed action involves the planning, design, 
construction, operation, and maintenance for a wide range of water and 
wastewater infrastructure projects, which are eligible for WIFIA credit 
assistance.
    The environmental review process, which is documented by the EA, 
indicates that no potential significant adverse environmental impacts 
are anticipated from the proposed action. The EA, which analyzed the 
potential environmental impacts of issuing of credit assistance to IFA 
for SRF Loans under the WIFIA program, considered the potential 
environmental impacts from water and waste water infrastructure 
projects.
    Based on the environmental impact analysis in the EA, EPA has 
determined that no significant environmental impacts are anticipated 
from the issuance of credit assistance to IFA for SRF Loans and the 
proposed action does not constitute a major Federal action 
significantly affecting the quality of the human environment, making 
the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) unnecessary. 
Therefore, EPA is issuing a preliminary FONSI.

    Dated: February 20, 2018.
Kelly Knight,
Director, NEPA Compliance Division, Office of Federal Activities.
[FR Doc. 2018-03730 Filed 2-22-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P


