Any federal, state, or local agency or Indian tribe with jurisdiction by law or special expertise enabling it to cooperate with the lead agency preparing an environmental impact statement under NEPA.
As defined in the Council on Environmental Quality's Regulations for implementing the Procedural Provisions of the NEPA, "any organization other than a lead agency which has jurisdiction by law or special expertise with respect to any environmental impact involved in…(a) major Federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment." The CEQ emphasizes that agency cooperation should begin early in the NEPA process.
_ A cooperating agency may be any federal agency other that the lead agency that has jurisdiction by law or special expertise with respect to the environmental impacts expected to result from a proposal.
An agency supplying assistance other than direct operational or support functions or resources to the incident management effort.
Another agency, Federal, state or local, which has jurisdiction over portions of the project area that must make a decision on the proposed project. In the case of the Ojo Caliente proposed transmission line project, the Bureau of Land Management is a cooperating agency.
An agency supplying assistance other than direct tactical or support functions or resources to the incident control effort (e.g., Red Cross, law enforcement agency, telephone company, etc.).
An agency supplying assistance other than direct suppression, rescue, support, or service functions to the incident control effort; e.g., Red Cross, law enforcement agency, telephone company, etc.
assists the lead Federal agency in developing an EA or EIS. The Council on Environmental Quality regulations implementing NEPA define a cooperating agency as any agency that has jurisdiction by law or special expertise for proposals covered by NEPA (40 CFR 1501.6). Any tribe or Federal, State, or local government jurisdiction with such qualifications may become a cooperating agency by agreement with the lead agency.