§  1.1315   The Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS); Comments.

   (a) The DEIS shall include:

   (1) A concise description of the proposal, the nature of the area
   affected, its uses, and any specific feature of the area that has
   special environmental significance;

   (2) An analysis of the proposal, and reasonable alternatives exploring
   the important consequent advantages and/or disadvantages of the action
   and indicating the direct and indirect effects and their significance
   in terms of the short and long-term uses of the human environment.

   (b) When a DEIS and supplements, if any, are prepared, the Commission
   shall file the Statement with the Office of Federal Activities,
   Environmental Protection Agency, consistent with its procedures. Public
   Notice of the availability of the DEIS will be published in the Federal
   Register by the Environmental Protection Agency.

   (c) When copies or summaries of the DEIS are sent to the Environmental
   Protection Agency, the copies or summaries will be electronically
   mailed with a request for comment to Federal agencies having
   jurisdiction by law or special expertise, to the Council on
   Environmental Quality, to the applicant, to individuals, groups and
   state and local agencies known to have an interest in the environmental
   consequences of a grant, and to any other person who has requested a
   copy. If an interested person lacks access to electronic mail and
   requests a hard copy or summary of the DEIS, it must be provided by
   mail.

   (d) Any person or agency may comment on the DEIS and the environmental
   effect of the proposal described therein within 45 days after notice of
   the availability of the statement is published in the Federal Register.
   A copy of those comments shall be electronically mailed to the
   applicant by the person who files them pursuant to § 1.47 and filed
   electronically with the Commission. If the interested person is unable
   to file electronically or mail the copy electronically, or if it would
   be unreasonably burdensome to do so, such person may submit the
   comments to the Commission and the applicant by mail, with a request
   for waiver under § 1.1304(b). If a person submitting comments is
   especially qualified in any way to comment on the environmental impact
   of the facilities, a statement of his or her qualifications shall be
   set out in the comments. In addition, comments submitted by an agency
   shall identify the person(s) who prepared them.

   (e) The applicant may electronically file reply comments within 15 days
   after the time for filing comments has expired. Reply comments shall be
   filed with the Commission and served by the applicant on persons or
   agencies which filed comments.

   (f) The preparation of a DEIS and the request for comments shall not
   open the application to attack on other grounds.

   [ 51 FR 15000 , Apr. 22, 1986, as amended at  85 FR 85531 , Dec. 29, 2020]