[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 161 (Monday, August 20, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43586-43587]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-20914]


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COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY


Energy Task Force

AGENCY: Council on Environmental Quality.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: On May 18, 2001, the President signed Executive Order 13212 
recognizing the importance of environmentally sound production and 
transmission of energy to all American people. The Order established a 
federal interagency task force (``Task Force''), chaired by the 
Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality (``CEQ''), to work 
with and monitor federal agencies' efforts to expedite their review of 
permits or take other actions necessary to accelerate the completion of 
energy-related projects, while maintaining safety, public health, and 
environmental protections. This task force is also charged with helping 
agencies create mechanisms to coordinate Federal, State, tribal and 
local permitting in geographic areas where increased permitting 
activity is expected. CEQ announces the formation of this Task Force 
and invites comments on the proposed nature and scope of Task Force 
activities, specific suggestions, and examples of permitting or other 
decision making processes which should be improved or streamlined.

DATES: Written comments should be submitted on or before October 1, 
2001.

ADDRESSES: Direct electronic written comments to Chair, Council on 
Environmental Quality, through the CEQ web site at www.whitehouse.gov/ceq. Written comments may also be submitted to the Chair, Council on 
Environmental Quality, Executive Office of the President, 17th and G 
Streets, NW, Washington, DC 20503. Attention: Task Force. Written 
comments may also be faxed to the Task Force at (202) 456-6546.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for copies the ``National 
Energy Policy Report of the National Energy Policy Development Group'' 
may be directed to CEQ at the above address. The report is available on 
the White House web site (http://www.whitehouse.gov/energy/National-Energy-Policy.pdf) and on the Department of Energy web site (http://
www.energy.gov/HQPress/releases01/maypr/energy__policy.htm). Copies of 
the report (ISBN 0-16-050814-2) can also be purchased from the 
Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, by 
calling (202) 512-1800 or mailing your request to U.S. GPO, Mail Stop 
SSOP, Washington, DC 20402-0001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Abstract

    A. The Task Force will work through an operational approach that 
addresses impediments to federal agencies' completion of decisions 
about energy-related projects in a way that will increase the 
production, transmission, and conservation of energy. The Executive 
Order requires federal agencies to expedite their review of permits or 
take other actions as necessary to accelerate the completion of energy-
related projects, while maintaining safety, public health, and 
environmental protections. The Executive Order creates a federal 
interagency task force, chaired by CEQ, to work with and monitor 
federal agencies in expediting their review of permits, and to help 
agencies create mechanisms to coordinate Federal, State, tribal and 
local permitting in geographic areas where increased permitting 
activity is expected.
    B. Executive Order No. 13212, signed by the President in 
Washington, DC, on May 18, 2001, Actions to Expedite Energy-Related 
Projects, reads:
    By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and 
the laws of the United States of America, and in order to take 
additional steps to expedite the increased supply and availability of 
energy to our Nation, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Policy

    The increased production and transmission of energy in a safe and 
environmentally sound manner is essential to the well-being of the 
American people. In general, it is the policy of this Administration 
that executive departments and agencies (agencies) shall take 
appropriate actions, to the extent consistent with applicable law, to 
expedite projects that will increase the production, transmission, or 
conservation of energy.

Section 2. Actions To Expedite Energy-Related Projects

    For energy-related projects, agencies shall expedite their review 
of permits or take other actions as necessary to accelerate the 
completion of such projects, while maintaining safety, public health, 
and environmental protections. The agencies shall take such actions to 
the extent permitted by law and regulation, and where appropriate.

Section 3. Interagency Task Force

    There is established an interagency task force (Task Force) to 
monitor and assist the agencies in their efforts to expedite their 
review of permits or similar actions, as necessary, to accelerate the 
completion of energy-related projects, increase energy production and 
conservation, and improve transmission of energy. The Task Force also 
shall monitor and assist agencies in setting up appropriate mechanisms 
to coordinate Federal, State, tribal, and local permitting in 
geographic areas where increased

[[Page 43587]]

permitting activity is expected. The Task Force shall be composed of 
representatives from the Departments of State, the Treasury, Defense, 
Agriculture, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Commerce, 
Transportation, the Interior, Labor, Education, Health and Human 
Services, Energy, Veterans Affairs, the Environmental Protection 
Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, General Services Administration, 
Office of Management and Budget, Council of Economic Advisers, Domestic 
Policy Council, National Economic Council, and such other 
representatives as may be determined by the Chairman of the Council on 
Environmental Quality. The Task Force shall be chaired by the Chairman 
of the Council on Environmental Quality and housed at the Department of 
Energy for administrative purposes.

Section 4. Judicial Review

    Nothing in this order shall affect any otherwise available judicial 
review of agency action. This order is intended only to improve the 
internal management of the Federal Government and does not create any 
right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or 
equity by a party against the United States, its agencies or 
instrumentalities, its officers or employees, or any other person.
    C. The Task Force will work through an operational approach that 
facilitates interagency coordination and addresses impediments to 
federal agencies' completion of decisions about energy-related projects 
by functional categories (e.g., pipelines, conservation, electricity 
transmission). The Task Force will help manage the federal agency 
decision-making process for setting priorities, scheduling activities 
in accordance with those priorities, identifying staffing and resource 
needs, facilitating issue resolution, and measuring the achievements of 
federal agencies in implementing Executive Order 13212. The Task Force 
will address coordination issues regionally, reaching out to states, 
local communities, tribes, businesses, and non-governmental 
organizations. The Task Force will use the experience gained in 
streamlining decisions about energy-related projects and resolving 
coordination issues to identify opportunities for systemic improvement 
and, where appropriate, regulatory or legislative change.
    CEQ is currently working with the relevant federal agencies to 
obtain background information and designate agency Task Force contacts. 
CEQ is drafting a charter for this Task Force that will be available on 
the CEQ web site, and intends to use the CEQ Management Fund to create 
a working group of approximately eight expert agency representatives 
responsible for the day-to-day management and coordination of Task 
Force activities. CEQ intends to organize the Task Force work and staff 
according to the following functional categories: pipelines; 
refineries; electricity generation; nuclear; electricity transmission; 
hydropower; renewable sources; and conservation. The Task Force will 
identify regional federal personnel responsible for prioritizing and 
implementing expedited permitting, designate federal lands for each 
region, and establish cross-agency regional teams.
    D. The Task Force expects to receive information from many 
interested persons (e.g., public interest groups, government, academia, 
industry) about particular energy projects and opportunities to improve 
agency decisionmaking. Of immediate need, CEQ seeks basic information 
about major pending projects or major projects under development that 
may be relevant to the Task Force efforts to streamline energy 
permitting decisions.

II. Request for Information and Comments

    Please submit basic information about major energy projects in the 
following format:

1. Name of the project
2. Entity proposing the project
3. Category of the project--Pipeline, Electricity Transmission, 
Electricity Generation, Nuclear, Hydropower, Refinery, Renewable, 
Conservation, or Other
4. Brief description of the project
5. Agency or agencies that must be consulted and agencies from which 
approval is needed. Please list by the following categories: Federal, 
State, Tribal, Local, Other

    In order to further the work of this Task Force, CEQ believes that 
it would be beneficial to have public input on federal agency 
activities to implement Executive Order 13212. Such input may include 
recommendations for improving agency activities, consistent with the 
purposes and policies of the National Environmental Policy Act, 42 
U.S.C. 4321 et seq., (1) To accelerate the completion of energy-related 
projects; (2) to increase energy production and conservation; (3) to 
improve transmission of energy; and (4) to coordinate permitting in 
geographic areas where increased permitting activity is expected.
    Public comments are requested by October 1, 2001.

    Dated: August 10, 2001.
James L. Connaughton,
Chairman, Council on Environmental Quality.
[FR Doc. 01-20914 Filed 8-17-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3125-01-M