[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 73 (Monday, April 17, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23499-23501]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-08012]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Highway Administration

[Docket No. FHWA-2023-0004]


Inflation Reduction Act, Request for Information

AGENCY: Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Department of 
Transportation (DOT).

ACTION: Notice; request for information (RFI).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: FHWA seeks public input on the implementation of section 
60505: Environmental Review Implementation Funds, of the Inflation 
Reduction Act (IRA).

DATES: Comments must be received on or before June 1, 2023.

ADDRESSES: To ensure that you do not duplicate your docket submissions, 
please submit all comments by only one of the following ways:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments.
     Mail: Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, W12-140, Washington, DC 20590.
     Hand Delivery: West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 
1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 
p.m. e.t., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. The 
telephone number is (202) 366-9329.
     Instructions: You must include the agency name and the 
docket number, FHWA-2021-0021, at the beginning of your comments. All 
comments received will be posted without change to https://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided.
     Privacy Act: Except as provided below, all comments 
received into the docket will be searchable by the name of the 
individual submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted 
on behalf of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may 
review DOT's complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register 
published on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477) or at http://www.regulations.gov/ privacy.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For questions about this RFI, please 
contact James G. Gavin, FHWA Office of Planning, Environment, and 
Realty, (202) 366-1473, or via email at [email protected]. For legal 
questions, please contact Ms. Diane Mobley, FHWA Office of the Chief 
Counsel, (202) 366-1366, or via email at [email protected]. Office 
hours for FHWA are from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., e.t., Monday through 
Friday, except Federal holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Electronic Access

    A copy of this notice, all comments received on this notice, and 
all background material may be viewed online at https://www.regulations.gov using the docket number listed above. Electronic 
retrieval help and guidelines are also available at https://www.regulations.gov. An electronic copy of this document may be 
downloaded from the Office of the Federal Register's website at: 
www.FederalRegister.gov and the Government Publishing Office's website 
at: www.GovInfo.gov.

[[Page 23500]]

Background

    On August 16, 2022, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. signed the IRA, 
Public Law 117-159 (August 16, 2022), delivering on his promise to 
build an economy that works for working families.
    The IRA provides over $1 billion over the next 10 years to several 
Federal agencies to facilitate efficient and effective reviews under 
the National Environmental Policy Act and other Federal processes. This 
could include identifying new strategies that would mitigate 
environmental impacts and thereby reduce timeframes for environmental 
reviews. More information on the IRA can be located at 
www.whitehouse.gov or at https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/5376/.
    To make the most of the IRA's historic investment and new 
opportunities, FHWA is seeking input on section 60505, Environmental 
Review Implementation Funds. This provision amends title 23, United 
States Code (U.S.C.) by adding 23 U.S.C. 178, and provides $100 
million, available until September 30, 2026, to the Federal Highway 
Administrator. Funds under this program may be made available to 
eligible entities to support environmental reviews of surface 
transportation projects. Eligible entities for this purpose are: a 
State; a unit of local government; a political subdivision of a State; 
a Territory of the United States; an entity described in 23 U.S.C. 
207(m)(1)(E); a recipient of funds under 23 U.S.C. 203; and a 
metropolitan planning organization (as defined in 23 U.S.C. 134(b)(2)). 
The funds may also be used by FHWA to develop guidance, technical 
assistance, templates, training, or other tools to facilitate an 
efficient and effective environmental review process for surface 
transportation projects.
    The overwhelming majority of transportation projects can generally 
be processed with limited environmental documentation as categorical 
exclusions (CE). Project delay issues are more likely to occur on 
projects with the potential to cause significant environmental effects. 
However, even for that subset of projects, environmental review and 
permitting is often not the primary source of project delay. Previous 
efforts to assess challenges to project delivery have identified 
multiple factors that are greater contributors to project delays than 
issues with environmental review and permitting. These factors include 
inadequate project funding, increased capital costs, lack of consensus 
on multi-jurisdictional projects, low project prioritization, project 
complexity, local controversy, and changes in project scope.\1\ While 
improvements to the environmental review and permitting process may not 
directly address these challenges, FHWA is seeking evidence-based 
solutions that can both increase the efficiency of environmental 
reviews and potentially mitigate the primary sources of delay.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ See U.S. Department of the Treasury 40 Proposed U.S. 
Transportation and Water Infrastructure Projects of Major Economic 
Significance (2016), Congressional Research Service Accelerating 
Highway and Transit Project Delivery: Issues and Options for 
Congress (2011), and National Cooperative Highway Research Program 
Accelerating Transportation Project and Program Delivery: Conception 
to Completion (2010).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Through this RFI, FHWA is soliciting information and suggestions 
from the public and stakeholders across the public and private sectors 
on how best to facilitate FHWA's implementation of this provision. 
While the public will have further opportunities to provide input as 
the implementation process unfolds, this notice provides an early way 
for stakeholders to submit information that can help inform FHWA's 
implementation of this provision.

Request for Information

    This RFI is intended to solicit information on potential 
opportunities and challenges for implementing section 60505 of the IRA, 
including: (i) suggestions as to how FHWA might implement this section; 
(ii) necessity for additional guidance, tools, training, templates, or 
program changes; (iii) program areas requiring new and continued 
research. While Congress has specified that these funds will be 
administered by FHWA, the purpose of the funds is broadly to support 
environmental reviews of surface transportation projects, which may 
include rail projects funded by the Federal Railroad Administration and 
public transportation projects funded by the Federal Transit 
Administration. FHWA specifically requests comments on how these funds 
may be used to support this broader group of projects, including those 
that do not have FHWA involvement.

Content of Comments

    The Department will review all comments submitted to the docket 
associated with this Notice, FHWA-2023-0004. FHWA encourages commenters 
to provide the following information:
    1. Detailed information that you think FHWA should consider while 
implementing section 60505 of IRA. For example: Are there constraints 
in existing programs that could be addressed with additional funding?
    2. Detailed description of the action(s) you think FHWA should take 
in response to the opportunity or challenge(s) identified within 
existing program areas. For example: financial assistance in the 
development of statewide databases to facilitate project reviews; 
development of an aid to assist FHWA in early coordination; or the 
development of programmatic consultations to accelerate review 
processes.
    3. Detailed information on what types of assistance and on what 
topical areas would be most beneficial to recipients of direct funding 
and will facilitate an efficient and effective environmental review 
process for surface transportation projects. For example: types of 
technical assistance or training, liaisons to assist in resource 
studies, tools like geographic information systems to assist with 
project planning, scoping, or analysis.
    4. Detailed information on what program areas would most benefit 
from new or continued research. For example: Are there additional 
research needs for specific subject or program areas (planning and 
environment linkages, public involvement, use of CEs, etc.)?
    5. Detailed information on ways in which FHWA can make resources 
available to the eligible entities described in 23 U.S.C. 178(c)(2) 
while promoting equity and maximizing the opportunity to improve the 
efficiency and effectiveness of the environmental review process. For 
example: Webinars and training to promote the Screening Tool for Equity 
Analysis of Projects and the FHWA Environmental Review Toolkit.

Scope of Comments

    The FHWA is interested if there are additional opportunities to 
make improvements or accelerate the environmental review process for 
existing surface transportation programs, in addition to other State, 
local, and Tribal programs, for example through the use of Programmatic 
Approaches.
    Although FHWA is seeking public input on the implementation on 
section 60505 of the IRA through this RFI, it may issue guidance and 
begin other activities related to implementation while this docket 
remains open.
    Under this notice, FHWA is not soliciting petitions for rulemaking 
or

[[Page 23501]]

comments on any ongoing rulemaking action.

Andrew Rogers,
Deputy Administrator, Federal Highway Administration.
[FR Doc. 2023-08012 Filed 4-14-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-22-P