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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 5 / Friday, January 8, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
FAST41 sectors will result in the coverage of a substantial number of new projects.
Designating mining as a FAST41
sector could result in reduced costs for any mining project sponsor that obtains FAST41 coverage for its project and for the Federal agencies with review and permitting responsibilities for the covered project by virtue of potentially improved timeliness, predictability, and transparency, associated increased Federal agency coordination, and reduced duplication of Federal and project sponsor effort. However, these benefits are difficult to quantify, particularly given that the Federal permitting and environmental review requirements and the permitting timetable for each project are unique and vary widely from project to project.
Because the Permitting Council does not know in advance how many mining projects will become FAST41 covered projects, what the permitting or environmental review requirements might be for any potential future covered mining project, or what opportunities might exist to coordinate any Federal agency reviews that might be necessary for any such covered mining project, it is impossible to predict with any specificity what, if any, economic benefit might broadly accrue as a result of designating mining as a FAST41 sector.
Adding mining as a FAST41 sector will not directly increase or decrease the costs to agencies of complying with the substantive provisions of FAST41, although there will be costs to the Permitting Council associated with any additional project that might become a covered project.
FAST41 does not impose any regulatory requirements on covered project sponsors; FAST41
implementation obligations fall primarily on the government. However, because FAST41 is a voluntary program, sponsors of mining projects potentially eligible for FAST41
coverage would incur some costs associated with seeking FAST41
coverage. These costs associated with a request to be a covered project likely will be small. Seeking FAST41
coverage involves formulating and submitting a project FIN, which is expected to take only a few hours. See 42 U.S.C. 4370m2aiC. Because the Permitting Council anticipates receiving few additional project FINs as a result of adding mining as a FAST41 sector, and the burden associated with preparing a FIN is minimal, the additional economic cost associated with adding mining as a FAST41
sector, if any, would be negligible, and
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likely would be counterbalanced by the benefits of FAST41 coverage.
Procedural Matters Regulatory Planning and Review E.O.
12866 and Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review E.O. 13563
This action is not a significant regulatory action and was not submitted to OMB for further review.
Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs E.O. 13771
This rule is an E.O. 13771
deregulatory action. A discussion of the potential economic benefits of this rule can be found in the rules Economic Analysis section.
Regulatory Flexibility Act RFA, as Amended by the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act SBREFA, 5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.
Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 605b, the Permitting Council certifies that providing the option of FAST41
coverage for qualified mining projects that are not already eligible for FAST
41 coverage under any of the statutory FAST41 sectors will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
The Permitting Council anticipates that the addition of mining as a FAST
41 sector will result in the submission of 10 or fewer mining project FINs, at least some of which, based on the Permitting Councils past experience with project FINs that involve mining, likely will not become FAST41
covered projects. Though the Permitting Council does not conduct an analysis of the business structures of FAST41
project sponsors to determine whether they are small entities, it is possible that at least some of the 10 or fewer project sponsors that submit FINs for mining projects could be small entities.
However, because 10 or fewer entities likely will be affected, the Permitting Council does not anticipate that adding mining as a FAST41 sector will affect a substantial number of small entities.
Nor will adding mining as a FAST41
sector significantly or disproportionately impose costs on any small entity that is affected by the rule.
The requirements for submitting a project FIN are simple and not burdensome. The FAST41 statute only requires the project sponsor to formulate and send to the Permitting Council and the lead or facilitating agency a project FIN that contains: 1 A statement of the purpose and objectives of the project; 2
a description of the general project location; 3 any available geospatial information about project and
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environmental, cultural, and historic resource locations; 4 a statement regarding the technical and financial ability of the project sponsor to construct the proposed project; 5 a statement of any Federal financing, environmental reviews, and authorizations anticipated to be required to complete the proposed project; and 6 an assessment that the proposed project meets the definition of a covered project pursuant to 42 U.S.C.
4370m6A with supporting rationale.
42 U.S.C. 4370m2a1A & C. Any project sponsor credibly seeking Federal authorization and environmental review for a project that requires $200 million or more in investment will have the information required to submit a project FIN readily available, and preparing and submitting a project FIN should require only a few hours of effort. FAST41
contains no pre-FIN requirements although project sponsors are free to consult the Permitting Council with any questions about the FAST41 program and FIN preparation or submission, and there are no regulations implementing FAST41 that impose any additional requirements on the project sponsor.
The lead or facilitating agency and in some instances, the Permitting Council Executive Director will review the FIN
in accordance with sections 4.44.12 of the FAST41 Guidance to determine whether the project is a FAST41
covered project. See Fast-41 Guidance at 3034. If the project is a covered project, FAST41 imposes no requirements or obligations on the project sponsor that are additional to those imposed by the substantive Federal authorization or environmental review statutes that otherwise apply to the project.
Accordingly, adding mining as FAST
41 sector will not significantly affect a substantial number of small entities, and the RFA does not apply.
Congressional Review Act CRA, 5
U.S.C. 804
This rule is not a major rule as defined under 5 U.S.C. 8042 because it will not cause a major increase in costs or prices for consumers; individual industries; Federal, state, or local government agencies; or geographic regions. The rule will not have an annual effect on the economy of $100
million or more.
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act UMRA, 2 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.
This rule does not impose an unfunded mandate on state, local, or tribal governments, or on the private sector of more than $100 million per year. The rule does not have a significant or unique effect on state,
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