(A) The department shall prepare either a
draft or final bureau assessment report as soon as practicable after receipt of
the applicant's environmental report and after a determination that a finding
of no significant impact is not appropriate. The action plan and time line
shall address whether a draft assessment report shall be prepared prior to
preparation of the final bureau assessment report. To the fullest extent
practicable, the bureau assessment report shall be prepared concurrently or
integrated with environmental impact analyses and related surveys and studies
if required by state or federal law.
(B) The bureau assessment report, and any
draft report thereof, shall be concise, clear and analytic, and written in
plain language with appropriate graphics. The report shall state how
alternatives considered in it and decisions based on it will or will not
achieve the requirements of any relevant and applicable environmental laws and
policies. The report also shall identify any methodologies used and sources
relied upon, and shall be supported by evidence that the necessary
environmental analyses have been made.
(C) The director shall cooperate with other
relevant state and local agencies and the United States nuclear regulatory
commission to the fullest extent possible to reduce duplication between
federal, state and local requirements.
(D) To the extent sufficient information is
available, the bureau assessment report, and any draft report thereof, shall
include consideration of major points of view concerning the environmental
impacts of the proposed action and the alternatives, and contain an analysis of
significant problems and objections raised by other federal, state, and local
agencies and by any comments received from the public.
The bureau assessment report and any draft report thereof,
shall include a preliminary analysis that considers and weighs the
environmental effects of the proposed action; the environmental impacts of
alternatives to the proposed action; and alternatives available for reducing or
avoiding adverse environmental effects. The analysis for all bureau assessment
reports shall, to the fullest extent practicable, quantify the various factors
considered. To the extent that there are important qualitative considerations
or factors that cannot be quantified, these considerations or factors shall be
discussed in qualitative terms. Due consideration shall be given to compliance
with environmental quality standards and requirements that have been imposed by
federal or state agencies having responsibility for environmental protection.
Satisfaction of department of health standards and criteria pertaining to
radiological effects shall be necessary to meet the licensing requirements of
Chapter 3748. of the Revised Code. The analysis shall consider the radiological
effects of the proposed action and alternatives.
(E) The bureau assessment report, and any
draft report thereof, shall list all state and federal permits, licenses,
approvals, and other entitlements which must be obtained in implementing the
proposed action and shall describe the status of compliance with those
requirements. If it is uncertain whether a state or federal permit, license,
approval, or other entitlement is necessary, the bureau assessment report shall
so indicate.
(F) The bureau
assessment report normally shall include a recommendation by the director
respecting the proposed action. This recommendation shall be based on the
information and analysis described in paragraphs (A) to (E) of this rule and
shall be reached after considering the environmental effects of the proposed
action and reasonable alternatives.
(G) The department shall prepare a supplement
to a bureau assessment report for which a notice of availability has been
published if there are substantial changes in the proposed action that are
relevant to adverse radiological concerns that bear on the proposed action or
its impacts.
(H) The department
may prepare a supplement to a bureau assessment report when preparation of a
supplement will provide additional information necessary to address concerns
related to adverse radiological impact.
(I) The supplement to a bureau assessment
report shall be prepared and noticed in the same manner as the bureau
assessment report except that additional action plans and time lines need not
be used.
(J) Each bureau
assessment report, and each supplement to a bureau assessment report
distributed in accordance with this rule, and each news release provided
pursuant to this rule, shall be accompanied by or include a request for
comments on the proposed action and on the bureau assessment report or any
supplement to the bureau assessment report and shall state where comments
should be submitted and the date on which the comment period closes. A minimum
comment period of forty-five days shall be provided. The comment period shall
be calculated from the publication date for the notice in the applicable area
newspapers. If no comments are provided within the time specified, it will be
presumed, unless the applicant requests an extension of time, that the
applicant has no comment. To the extent practicable, the department will grant
reasonable requests for extensions of time of up to fifteen days. The comment
period for any agency is concurrent with the public comment period.
(K) A copy of the bureau assessment report
shall be distributed to:
(1) The Ohio
environmental protection agency;
(2) Any other state or federal agency which
has special expertise or jurisdiction by law with respect to any environmental
impact involved or which is authorized to develop and enforce relevant
environmental standards;
(3) The
applicant;
(4) Appropriate
federal, state, and local agencies authorized to develop and enforce relevant
environmental standards, land use, and zoning;
(5) Appropriate state, regional and
metropolitan clearinghouses; and
(6) Upon request, any other person to the
extent available.
(L) A
supplement to a bureau assessment report shall be distributed in the same
manner as the bureau assessment report to which it relates.
(M) News releases stating the availability
for comment and place for obtaining or inspecting a bureau assessment report or
supplement will be provided to at least one local newspaper of general
circulation in the county where the action is proposed to occur.
(N) A notice of availability shall be
published in appropriate area newspapers in accordance with rule
3701:1-40-37
of the Administrative Code.
(O)
The director shall not render a decision on a proposed action, including the
issuance of a license, or amendment to, or renewal of a license, for which a
bureau assessment report is required, until the later of the following dates:
(1) Forty-five days after the department
publishes in an appropriate area newspaper, a notice stating that the draft
bureau assessment report is available at the department for review.
(2) Thirty days after the department
publishes in an appropriate area newspaper, a notice stating that the final
bureau assessment report has been completed and is available at the department
for review.
If a notice of filing of a final bureau assessment report is
published by the department within forty-five days after a notice of a draft
bureau assessment report has been published by the department, the minimum
thirty-day period and the minimum forty-five-day period may run concurrently to
the extent they overlap.
(P) The cost of preparing a bureau assessment
report shall be paid by the applicant for the action being requested. The
amount shall include the cost of any contractors employed by the department,
and staff time involved in the preparation and analysis of the environmental
report and the subsequent bureau assessment report.
(Q) The format of the report shall be in
accordance with department guidelines for the preparation of a bureau
assessment report.