| (a) Administrative completeness required. All draft
EAs, FEISs, documented reevaluations, and CEs for which a narrative
document, rather than a checklist, is prepared must be determined
to be administratively complete by the department delegate before
it begins a technical review. After a document is declared to be administratively
complete, no further administrative completeness review is required
for future revised, amended, or final versions of that document.
(b) Initiation of review. To initiate administrative
completeness review of an environmental review document, the project
sponsor will submit the document to the department delegate with a
written statement that the document is administratively complete,
ready for technical review, and compliant with all applicable requirements.
(c) Project sponsor's deadline to submit certain types
of documents.
(1) Applicability. This subsection applies to EAs,
and FEISs, but does not apply if the project sponsor is a local government
that has paid a fee under §2.46 of this subchapter (relating
to Optional Payment of Fee by Local Government).
(2) Deadline. The project sponsor will submit to the
department delegate for administrative completeness review any environmental
review document subject to this subsection at least two years before
the date planned for publishing notice to let the construction contract
for the project, as indicated in whichever of the following documents
was most recently approved:
(A) the financially constrained portion of:
(i) the approved state transportation improvement program;
or
(ii) the approved unified transportation program; or
(B) a commission order identifying the project as being
eligible for environmental review.
(3) Date planned for publishing letting notice. If
the date planned for publishing letting notice described in paragraph
(2) of this subsection is identified in the applicable document only
by the fiscal year, for the purposes of this subsection the date is
September 1 of the previous year. If it is identified only by the
calendar year, for the purposes of this subsection the date is January
1 of that year. If it is identified only by month and year, for the
purposes of this section it is the first day of that month.
(4) No waiting period for letting contract. This subsection
does not require that the project sponsor wait any amount of time
after the department delegate renders an environmental decision under §2.49
of this subchapter (relating to Technical Review) before letting the
construction contract for the project.
(d) Requirements for administrative completeness. The
department delegate will not determine an environmental review document
to be administratively complete unless it determines that:
(1) the description of the project is the same as shown
in the project scope prepared under §2.44 of this subchapter
(relating to Project Scope) including any amendments of the project
scope;
(2) the document contains a discussion of each issue
required to be addressed in the document by the project scope;
(3) all surveys and studies required by the project
scope have been completed and are documented in the environmental
review document, and any environmental reports prepared have been
submitted to the department delegate;
(4) all coordination with agencies required by the
project scope to be completed before approval of the environmental
review document has been completed, and both agencies' comments and
the project sponsor's responses to those comments are documented in
the environmental review document;
(5) any other tasks required by the project scope before
submission of the environmental review document have been completed
and documented; and
(6) any other tasks required by the project scope to
be undertaken after approval of the environmental review document
are appropriately identified in writing.
(e) Deadline for determination. Not later than the
20th day after the date the department delegate receives the project
sponsor's environmental review document for administrative completeness
review, the department delegate will:
(1) issue a letter confirming that the document is
administratively complete and ready for technical review; or
(2) decline to issue a letter confirming that the document
is administratively complete and ready for technical review, and instead
send a written response to the project sponsor specifying in reasonable
detail the basis for the department delegate's conclusions, including
a listing of any required information determined by the department
delegate to be missing from the document.
(f) Cooperation by department delegate. If the department
delegate declines to issue a letter confirming that an environmental
review document is administratively complete under subsection (e)
of this section, the department delegate will undertake all reasonable
efforts to cooperate with the project sponsor in a timely manner to
ensure that the environmental review document is administratively
complete.
(g) Re-submittal. The project sponsor may revise and
re-submit any environmental review document determined by the department
delegate to not be administratively complete. The department delegate
will, in accordance with subsection (e) of this section, issue a determination
letter on the re-submitted document not later than the 20th day after
the date the department delegate receives it. There is no limit on
the number of times an environmental review document may be revised
and re-submitted under this subsection.
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| Source Note: The provisions of this §2.48 adopted to be effective April 16, 2012, 37 TexReg 1727; amended to be effective April 16, 2014, 39 TexReg 2941; amended to be effective July 20, 2016, 41 TexReg 5234 |
