[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 247 (Wednesday, December 27, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 89372-89373]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-28487]



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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Institute of Standards and Technology


Notice of Availability of Draft Programmatic Environmental 
Assessment for Modernization and Internal Expansion of Existing 
Semiconductor Fabrication Facilities Under the CHIPS Incentives Program

AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Department of 
Commerce.

ACTION: Notice; availability of a draft Programmatic Environmental 
Assessment; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 
announces the availability of the Draft Programmatic Environmental 
Assessment (PEA) for the modernization and internal expansion of 
existing semiconductor fabrication facilities under the CHIPS 
Incentives Program. The PEA addresses financial assistance for the 
modernization or internal expansion of existing current-generation and 
mature-node commercial facilities within their existing footprint 
throughout the U.S. (the ``Proposed Action''). NIST is requesting 
comments on the Draft PEA.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before January 25, 2024.

ADDRESSES: The PEA will be available for download and review at https://www.nist.gov/chips/national-environmental-policy-act-nepa no later 
than December 26, 2023, under the heading ``NEPA Public Involvement.''
    You may submit comments on this document by the following methods:
    Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public comments via 
email to [email protected] citing ``Modernization PEA'' in the 
subject line. NIST will accept comments in attached Word or PDF formats 
or within the body of the email.
    By mail: Comments can also be mailed to the CHIPS Incentives 
Program at: Department of Commerce; HCHB Room 7419; ATTN: CPO 
Environmental Division; 1401 Constitution Ave., Washington, DC 20230.
    Instructions: Comments sent by any other method, to any other 
address or individual, or received after the end of the comment period, 
may not be considered by NIST. All comments received are a part of the 
public record; commenters should not include personal identifying 
information (e.g., name, address, etc.), confidential business 
information, or otherwise sensitive information. NIST will accept 
anonymous comments. The most helpful comments include a specific 
recommendation, explain the reason for any recommended change, and 
provide supporting information. NIST will consider all relevant 
comments received on or before the closing date.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David Frenkel, NIST, telephone number 
240-204-1960, email [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NIST has prepared the draft PEA in 
accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA, 42 U.S.C. 
4321 et seq.) and the Council on Environmental Quality's NEPA (CEQ) 
implementing regulations (40 CFR parts 1500-1508). The PEA addresses 
financial assistance for the modernization or internal expansion of 
existing current-generation and mature-node commercial facilities 
within their existing footprint throughout the U.S. (the ``Proposed 
Action'').

Background

    The CHIPS Incentives Program (Program) was authorized by title 
XCIX--Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America 
of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act 
for Fiscal Year 2021 (Pub. L. 116-283, as amended by the CHIPS Act of 
2022 (Division A of Pub. L. 117-167) (the ``CHIPS Act'' or ``Act''). 
The Program aims to boost American semiconductor research, development, 
and production. The Program is administered by the CHIPS Program Office 
(CPO) within NIST. The CHIPS Incentives Program Commercial Fabrication 
Facilities Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) was originally 
published in February 2023 and amended in June 2023. The amended NOFO 
solicits applications for the construction, expansion, or modernization 
of commercial facilities for the front- and back-end fabrication of 
leading-edge, current-generation, and mature-node semiconductors; 
commercial facilities for wafer manufacturing; and commercial 
facilities for materials used to manufacture semiconductors and 
semiconductor manufacturing equipment, provided that the capital 
investment equals or exceeds $300 million. The potential amount 
available under the NOFO is up to $38.22 billion for direct funding and 
up to $75 billion in direct loan or guaranteed principals. CPO is 
responsible for completion of the NEPA process before financial 
assistance can be provided.

Draft PEA

    The purpose of the Proposed Action is to invest in U.S. production 
of strategically important semiconductor chips, and assure a 
sufficient, sustainable, and secure supply of older and current 
generation chips for national security purposes and for critical 
manufacturing industries. As part of this effort, CPO aims to increase 
semiconductor manufacturing capacity and strengthen the security of the 
U.S. supply chain via the modernization of semiconductor production 
within the current footprint of existing eligible current-generation 
and mature-node semiconductor fabrication facilities. Such projects 
include the replacement or upgrade of existing equipment, the addition 
of new semiconductor manufacturing equipment within existing spaces, 
and expansion of cleanroom space.
    For proposed projects to be covered under the PEA, CPO will 
evaluate the project for consistency with the scope of the PEA using an 
inclusion analysis document (e.g., memo, form, or checklist). This 
analysis document will include the relevant information learned from a 
site-specific review and serves as the NEPA analysis documentation for 
the administrative record as applied to specific projects. If the 
project includes activities outside of the scope of the PEA, then an 
additional or tiered NEPA document may be required. The PEA can be used 
as a planning tool to support tiered, site-specific analyses by 
narrowing the spectrum of environmental impacts to focus on project-
level reviews as needed. The following scenarios describe the possible 
application of the PEA to a project and whether additional 
environmental review under NEPA is required:
    1. All proposed project activities are described in the PEA or the 
activities are similar enough to the activities analyzed in the PEA to 
support a conclusion that their impacts will not be different from 
those described in the PEA; therefore, no additional NEPA review 
required;
    2. One or more proposed project activities are within the scope of 
the PEA and others are not; therefore, additional NEPA review would be 
required; and
    3. None of the proposed project activities are within the scope of 
the PEA; therefore, additional NEPA review would be required.
    Authority: This notice is provided pursuant to NEPA and CEQ's NEPA

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implementing regulations (40 CFR 1506.6).

Tamiko Ford,
NIST Executive Secretariat.
[FR Doc. 2023-28487 Filed 12-26-23; 8:45 am]
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