Sec.22a-1a-5. Adoption and amendment of agency-specific environmental classification documents

(a) Each agency developing a new or amended environmental classification document shall make such document available to the Office of Policy and Management, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, the Council on Environmental Quality, other appropriate governmental agencies, and any other interested person as determined by the preparing agency or the Office of Policy and Management.

(b) The agency developing such a new or amended environmental classification document shall publish a notice of the availability of its environmental classification document in the Environmental Monitor. Such notice shall be on a form required for publication in the Environmental Monitor and shall include the time line and procedure for submitting comments on the document.

(c) Any person may comment, in writing, on any environmental classification document no more than forty-five (45) days after the publication of the notice of availability in the Environmental Monitor. The agency developing the environmental classification document shall forward all comments to the Office of Policy and Management, which shall distribute them to the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, and the Council on Environmental Quality.

(d) The Office of Policy and Management, following consultation with the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, the Council on Environmental Quality and the agency that developed the environmental classification document, shall approve each environmental classification document, or disapprove it with recommendations for change.

(e) Each approved environmental classification document shall be filed with the Office of Policy and Management.

(f) An approved environmental classification document shall be the basic criterion for the agency’s determination to enter into the public scoping process for an action.

(g) Each environmental classification document shall be amended as necessary to reflect significant changes in an agency's programs or operations. Adoption of any amendment to an environmental classification document shall follow the adoption process set forth in this section.

(h) Each environmental classification document existing as of the effective date of this section shall be reviewed by the agency that established it. Within eighteen months of the effective date of this section the agency shall submit, for review and approval, a revised environmental classification document or confirm that it will continue to rely on the established environmental classification document and that the established environmental classification document has considered all factors identified in section 22a-1a-3 of the CEPA regulations.

(Effective November 6, 1978; Amended September 9, 2019)