| Renewal Provisions/Process |
| This agreement may be modified by mutual consent at any time. The Attachment to the PA that lists the conditions and criteria for CEs may be revised by mutual consent of the FHWA Division Administrator and the Commissioner of MnDNR or designate. The agreement may be terminated in writing by FHWA or MnDNR at any time. |
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| Geographic Coverage Display |
| Statewide |
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| Applicability |
This agreement applies to eligible National Recreational Trails Funding Program projects that meet the criteria identified in this agreement. To meet the identified conditions and criteria, the project action:
- does not use Section 6(f) property;
- does not occur within any areas of effect for properties eligible for, or listed on, the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP);
- does not affect species or critical habitat protected by the Endangered Species Act (ESA);
- does not require new right-of-way, minor amounts of temporary easement, minor access change;
- does not require relocations;,
- has a low risk of hazardous materials involvement;
- does not involve the acquisition of farmland, with the exception of minor amounts of temporary easement;
- does not involve placement of fill into Waters of the United States (33 CFR 328);
- does not encroach into a floodplain;
- does not impact or encroach into wetlands;
- does not significantly impact noise levels;
- does not significantly impact air quality;
- does not cause substantial controversy for environmental reasons;
- is not located within, or is not likely to affect land or water uses within an area covered by a State Coastal Zone Management Program; and
- does not involve a nationally designated wild and scenic river.
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| Key Attributes |
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Under this PA, MnDNR is delegated the authority to review and approve projects in the National Recreational Trails Funding Program that qualify as CE's. The types of project actions that qualify are identified in 23 CFR 771.117 (c) and (d) and meet the additional conditions specifed in the agreement.
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| Comments on Development/Use of PA |
| The PA was modeled after the Programmatic Categorical Exclusion Approval agreement between FHWA and the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT). The projects covered by the agreement are minor projects that were taking a lot of time to move through the environmental review and approval process. Under the PA, FHWA authorizes the funding of the projects and the MnDNR oversees and approves the environmental documentation for those projects meeting the PA criteria. This helps to streamline the process and keeps the National Recreational Trails projects moving forward with a more consistent timeframe. The PA is working well and has helped to focus resources on larger projects where they are needed rather than on minor projects.
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