The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) announces the adoption of revisions to the regulations that implement the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQR) to streamline the SEQR process without sacrificing meaningful environmental review.
Among other changes, DEC has adopted amendments to the Type I and Type II lists of actions, as well as the scoping and acceptance procedures for draft environmental impact statements. DEC has also modernized the regulations related to web publication of documents. These changes are the first major amendments to the SEQR regulations that DEC since 1996.
DEC initially noticed its proposal along with the availability of a combined Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement and SAPA statement in the February 8, 2017 editions of both the State Register and Environmental Notice Bulletin. The comment period continued through May 19, 2017. In response to the many comments received, DEC modified the proposal and noticed a revised proposal along with the availability of a Revised Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement in the April 4, 2018 editions of both the State Register and Environmental Notice Bulletin. The comment period continued through May 11, 2018, during which the Department received approximately 31 comments in response to the revised proposal. Comments were assessed and responded to in the FGEIS which the Department accepted on June 13, 2018. On June 27, 2018, DEC issued a Findings Statement and formally adopted the rule, which will become effective on January 1, 2019.
The Final Express Terms of the revisions, along with the Findings Statement, FGEIS and other key regulatory documents leading up to the FGEIS may be downloaded from the links….
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