Criteria and guidelines for evaluating projects and U.S. - Mexico border activities, draft

196 Pages·1994·24.2 MB·English

by  Border Environment Cooperation Commission

BLM LIBRARY
88071648
United States Department of the Interior
and
Guidelines
Criteria
for
Evaluating Projects
and
Mexico Border
U.S. Activities
-
deration Commission (BECC)
December 1994
15,
HC of Indian Affairs Fish and Wildlife Service
95 xcal Survey Bureau of Reclamation
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. Z9 u of Mines National Park Service
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u of Land Management National Biological Survey
1994
DATE DUE
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CONTENTS cs
Page
—
Section I Introduction 1
Background
1
Border Environment Cooperation Commission 2
North American Development Bank 2
North American Commission on Environmental Cooperation 3
Department of the Interior 3
BECC and DOI 4
—
Section II Project development 7
General project criteria 7
Decision process - general 9
Basic steps in the decision process 9
Development process 11
Documentation and milestones 12
Streamlined process 12
Comprehensive process 13
Exclusion and ranking 15
Exclusion screening criteria 15
Evaluation screening criteria 16
Costs and complexity of project screening and environmental
compliance 16
Engineering criteria 19
Plan formulation and comparative analysis 19
Comparative analysis concepts 19
Engineering cost estimating criteria 20
Operation, maintenance, and replacement costs 22
Price level 22
Interest rate 22
Interest during construction 22
Investment 22
Annual equivalent cost 23
Displaying costs 23
Feasibility cost estimating criteria 23
Feasibility estimates of operation, maintenance, and replacement 24
Economic and financial criteria 26
National economic development (NED) benefits generated by the
project compared to costs 26
Regional economic development (RED) impacts generated by the project 28
Financial criteria 28
Environmental criteria 30
Environmental compliance 30
Indian Trust Assets compliance 30
Exemptions from NEPA 31
Limitations on actions 31
Levels of environmental compliance 31
Categorical exclusion (CE) 31
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II
CONTENTS
continued
-
Page
Environmental assessment 32
Environmental impact statement 33
Contents of EA and EIS 33
—
Alternatives formulation and analysis 34
Concept of no action 34
Baseline conditions inventory 34
Impact analysis 35
Finding of no significant impact (FONSI) 36
Record of decision (ROD) 36
Determination of lead agency and cooperating agencies 36
Interdisciplinary team 37
Public involvement 37
Issue identification 37
Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act (FWCA) 38
Endangered Species Act Compliance 38
Mitigation and environmental commitment program 39
Public involvement criteria 39
Social impact analysis 40
Definitions 41
Principles for social impact assessment 41
Steps in the social impact assessment 42
MATS 42
Construction activities and management 43
Other evaluation tools 43
Value engineering 43
Adaptive management 43
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Section III DOI border activities. United States-Mexico 44
Bureau of Indian Affairs 44
Bureau of Land Management 46
Bureau of Mines 54
.
Bureau of Reclamation 57
Fish and Wildlife Service 62
National Biological Survey 68
National Park Service 71
U.S. Geological Survey 73
—
Section IV Policy and regulatory references 77
ii

CONTENTS
continued
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Tables
Page
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Table 1. DOI team scope and function 5
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Table 2. Summary of DOI capabilities 6
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Table 3. Example of evaluation rating display for project screening 17
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Table 4. A comparison of elements of the NEPA process for CE, EA, and EIS 18
—
Table 5. Comparative analysis table 21
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Table 6. Standard formats for EA and EIS 34
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Table 7. Shared watersheds of United States and Mexico 67
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Table 8. Summary of policy and regulatory references 78
Figures
Page
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Figure 1. Example of evaluation rating display for project screening 17
iii
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f;
Section
I
INTRODUCTION
This document was developed by Department of the Interior (DOI) bureaus to assist the Border
Environment Cooperation Commission (BECC) in developing criteria and establishing guidelines for
evaluating projects along the 2,000-mile United States-Mexico border.
The purpose of BECC is to help preserve, protect, and enhance the environment of the border region.
Its focus is in the areas of water pollution, wastewater treatment, water supplies, municipal solid waste,
and related matters. Its functions include coordinating environmental infrastructure projects,
developing such projects, analyzing their financial feasibility and environmental aspects, evaluating
their social and economic benefits, developing financial arrangements, and certifying applications for
financing. BECC is charged with establishing procedures for public notice and for ensuring the
documentation of its projects and general guidelines is available to the public.
These Criteria and Guidelines for Evaluating Projects and United States-Mexico Border Activities
(Criteria and Guidelines) contemplate that a variety of proposed border environmental infrastructure
projects from a wide range of providers will be submitted to the BECC for consideration and that
evaluation criteria to be used by the providers will be required to determine which projects are
environmentally sensitive and sustainable (implementable) and in which sequence they should be
implemented. The role of border States will be taken into account throughout the process.
Department of the Interior bureaus have, accordingly, codified existing criteria and have prepared
BECC-targeted material for this document. Initial sections address BECC-specific criteria; general,
across-discipline planning and ranking concepts; general project and technical criteria; and bureaus’
construction and project management procedures. Other sections of the document include the bureaus’
mission statements, existing Border projects, potential services to BECC, and summaries of expertise.
Concluding parts of this document deal with policy and regulatory references.
BACKGROUND
Mexico and the United States share a great wealth of natural resources and people along their 2,000-
mile border. This thin political ribbon overlays an equally rich diversity of landscapes and cultures,
contrasting some of North America’s most pristine, untouched ecosystems with some of the fastest
growing urban areas.
Today almost 10 million people call the border region home, a tenfold increase in the past 60 years,
and a number that will double in only 20 years. The border has become a meeting place of peoples,
traditions and futures, as well as a dynamic ecological merging of North America’s fish, wildlife, and
plant communities.
On the U.S. side of the border, the Rocky Mountains meet the Sierra Madres. Desert basins drop
below, draining isolated "sky islands." Neotropical plant communities merge with desert scrub and
montane woodlands. Cienegas and bolsons capture basin and spring water while riparian communities
survive along rivers that drain to coastal estuaries. An amazing abundance and diversity of
— —
wildlife migratory and resident species can be found here. And all these features depend on a
limited supply of water which is also needed by a growing human population.
The US-Mexico border region hosts over 490 species of flora and fauna listed as endangered or
threatened, or proposed for listing. In addition, border ecosystems support more than 450 rare or
peripheral species. More than 200 neotropical migratory species (birds, mammals, and insects such as