U.S. Department of Energy

Agency-published source DOE NEPA Procedures, App. C, USDA-24-1d-RD

Categorical Exclusion

USDA-24-1d-RD — Adopted from U.S. Department of Agriculture, Rural Development

Small-scale site-specific development. The following CEs apply to proposals where site development activities (including construction, expansion, repair, rehabilitation, or other improvements) for rural development purposes would impact not more than 10 acres of real property and would not cause a substantial increase in traffic. These CEs are identified in paragraphs (d)(24)(i)(A) through (J). This paragraph does not apply to new industrial proposals (such as ethanol and biodiesel production facilities).
. . . .
(D) Infrastructure to support utility systems such as water or wastewater facilities; headquarters, maintenance, equipment storage, or microwave facilities; and energy management systems.

DOE has adopted the categorical exclusions listed below from other Federal agencies pursuant to section 109 of NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4336(c)). These categorical exclusions are available for use by all DOE offices pursuant to procedures contained in section 5.2. DOE’s notices of adoption, cited below, may contain additional information relevant to the adoption and use of particular categorical exclusions. DOE maintains a webpage for adoptions of categorical exclusions pursuant to section 109 of NEPA, as amended (https://www.energy.gov/nepa/section-109-adopting-categorical-exclusions).
Strikeouts indicate an administrative change to the categorical exclusion text, as adopted, in alignment with Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) guidance on categorical exclusions. CEQ’s April 2026 guidance on "Establishing, Revising, Adopting, and Applying Categorical Exclusions Under the National Environmental Policy Act” provides for non- substantive changes when adopting another agency’s categorical exclusion. Specifically, CEQ guidance states: “[i]f an agency needs to clarify that an adopted categorical exclusion applies to its proposed action despite non-substantive language in the categorical exclusion referencing the establishing agency, it may explain this in the public notice adopting the categorical exclusion.”

CE source references

DOE NEPA Implementing Procedures — DOE NEPA Procedures, App. C, USDA-24-1d-RD (implementing procedures)

Application conditions

In deciding whether to use the adopted USDA categorical exclusions, DOE will refer to the list of integral elements at the start of appendix B to the DOE NEPA Implementing Procedures. DOE also will refer to the definition of extraordinary circumstances in its NEPA Implementing Procedures Section 5.4(c)(3).

DOE Adoption of Department of Agriculture Categorical Exclusions, June 16, 2026 (adoption notice)

Application procedures

(a) Proposed recurring activities to be undertaken during a specified time period, such as routine maintenance activities for a year, may be addressed in a single categorical exclusion determination after considering the potential aggregated impacts.

DOE NEPA Implementing Procedures — Section 5.4(a) (implementing procedures)

(c) To find that a proposal is categorically excluded, DOE shall affirmatively determine the factors listed below. When applying more than one categorical exclusion to a proposal, DOE shall consider these factors for the full scope of the proposal and the collective scope of the categorical exclusions.
(1) The proposal fits within one or more classes of actions listed in appendices B–C of these procedures;
(2) The proposal has not been segmented to meet the definition of a categorical exclusion. Segmentation can occur when a proposal is broken down into small parts in order to avoid the appearance of significance of the total action. However, segmentation does not include proposals that are developed and potentially implemented over multiple phases where each phase results in a decision whether to proceed to the subsequent phase.

DOE NEPA Implementing Procedures — Section 5.4(c), (c)(1), and (c)(2) (implementing procedures)

Documentation requirements

(d) DOE will document its determination that one or more categorical exclusions applies to a proposed agency action for any application of a categorical exclusion included in appendices B or C of these procedures.

DOE NEPA Implementing Procedures — Section 5.4(d) (implementing procedures)

DOE will document categorical exclusion determinations that rely on any categorical exclusion listed in appendix C (Categorical Exclusions Adopted Pursuant to NEPA Section 109) of DOE’s NEPA procedures. DOE NEPA Implementing Procedures Section 5.4(d). DOE will also post online the categorical exclusion determinations that rely on the adopted categorical exclusions using the process found in DOE NEPA Implementing Procedures Section 5.4(e).

DOE Adoption of Department of Agriculture Categorical Exclusions, June 16, 2026 (adoption notice)

Extraordinary circumstances

(3) There are no extraordinary circumstances related to the proposal that indicate a normally excluded agency action is likely to have a reasonably foreseeable significant adverse effect. It is not the presence of an extraordinary circumstance that precludes application of a categorical exclusion, but rather application of a categorical exclusion is not possible only when DOE concludes that the extraordinary circumstance is likely to cause a reasonably foreseeable significant adverse effect or that DOE does not know the environmental effect of the extraordinary circumstance. DOE or an applicant may modify the proposal to avoid reasonably foreseeable adverse significant effects such that the categorical exclusion would apply. Extraordinary circumstances are unique situations presented by specific proposals, including, but not limited to, uncertain effects or effects involving unique or unknown risks.

DOE NEPA Implementing Procedures — Section 5.4(c)(3) (implementing procedures)

Classification

Facilities & Infrastructure — tags: marine, wastewater, telecommunications, maintenance, construction

Adopted from

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Rural Development — 7 CFR 1b.4(d)(24)(i)(D) (matching origin identifier: b7904e8d-e7ca-5d15-9f01-e53a3481cb00) — View current originating CE (not a historical-version verification)

Originating CE identifier: b7904e8d-e7ca-5d15-9f01-e53a3481cb00
Adoption scope: partial
Adopted subsection: 7 CFR 1b.4(d)(24)(i)(D)
Notice date: 2026-06-16 (not necessarily the adoption or effective date)
Adoption notice

The identifier references the parent CE; only the specified portion was adopted.

DOE announced adoption of this categorical exclusion on June 16, 2026 (https://www.energy.gov/nepa/articles/doe-adoption-department-agriculture-cxs-june-16- 2026).
Originating CE citation: 7 CFR 1b.4(d)(24)(i)(D).
DOE adopts only subsection (D) of the broader bootstrap CE, not the complete parent record.

Adopted text supplied by the adopting agency

Provenance

Agency: U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
Dataset: U.S. Department of Energy
Source provenance: Agency-published source
Source type: agency hosted
Identifier: 425e0f25-40b4-5c6f-b94b-8ba781b5f2b7
Identity status: provisional (publisher declaration, not independently verified)
Source release: 2026-07
Source last updated: 2026-07-13
Source current as of: 2026-08-12
Fetched at: 1970-01-01T00:00:00+00:00 (not an agency verification date)
Catalog scope: agency — DOE NEPA Implementing Procedures; publisher declares complete: true

Source legal reference

DOE NEPA Implementing Procedures

DOE NEPA Implementing Procedures (implementing procedures)

Disclaimer

This CE Explorer tool is not an authoritative source and creates no rights or obligations. Review the relevant agency's NEPA procedures before applying a categorical exclusion.

When using the CE Explorer Tool, Federal agencies and stakeholders should review the relevant agency's NEPA procedures for information about how to apply the CE, including any limitations or potential extraordinary circumstances, and to ensure that a CE is current and applicable to a given proposed action. To adopt and use another agency's categorical exclusion, an agency must follow the steps described in section 109 of NEPA, 42 U.S.C. 4336c.

Categorical Exclusion (CE)