Notice2021-15014
Notice of Availability of the Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement of the Department of Veterans Affairs Housing Loan Program
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
July 16, 2021
Issuing agencies
Veterans Affairs Department
Abstract
VA announces the availability of the Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for the Housing Loan Program (HLP) for public review and comment. The Draft PEIS identifies, analyzes and documents the potential physical, environmental, cultural, socioeconomic and cumulative impacts of continued administration and operation of VA's HLP. The comprehensive HLP, which is managed by VA's Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), administers VA-guaranteed housing loan benefits and other housing-related benefits that assist eligible Veterans, surviving spouses, active duty personnel, Selected Reservists and National Guardsmen (collectively referred to as Veterans) in purchasing, constructing, repairing, adapting, or improving a home.
Full Text
<html>
<head>
<title>Federal Register, Volume 86 Issue 134 (Friday, July 16, 2021)</title>
</head>
<body><pre>
[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 134 (Friday, July 16, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37786-37787]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2021-15014]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
Notice of Availability of the Draft Programmatic Environmental
Impact Statement of the Department of Veterans Affairs Housing Loan
Program
AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
ACTION: Notice of availability.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: VA announces the availability of the Draft Programmatic
Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for the Housing Loan Program
(HLP) for public review and comment. The Draft PEIS identifies,
analyzes and documents the potential physical, environmental, cultural,
socioeconomic and cumulative impacts of continued administration and
operation of VA's HLP. The comprehensive HLP, which is managed by VA's
Veterans Benefits
[[Page 37787]]
Administration (VBA), administers VA-guaranteed housing loan benefits
and other housing-related benefits that assist eligible Veterans,
surviving spouses, active duty personnel, Selected Reservists and
National Guardsmen (collectively referred to as Veterans) in
purchasing, constructing, repairing, adapting, or improving a home.
DATES: VA invites Federal, state, tribal and local entities; non-profit
organizations; businesses; interested parties; and the general public
to submit written comments on the Draft PEIS during the 45-day public
comment period that ends August 30, 2021.
ADDRESSES: Written comments may be submitted through <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>. The Draft PEIS is available for viewing at the VA
website <a href="https://www.benefits.va.gov/homeloans/environmental_impact.asp">https://www.benefits.va.gov/homeloans/environmental_impact.asp</a>.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual public presentations will be
available in lieu of public hearings, and the presentations will be
continually accessible through the project website. Printed copies of
the document may be obtained by contacting VA at
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#287e69606478666d7869067e6a697e696b67685e49064f475e"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="b8eef9f0f4e8f6fde8f996eefaf9eef9fbf7f8ced996dfd7ce">[email protected]</span></a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Elysium Drumm, Supervisory Management
Analyst, Loan Guaranty Service, Veterans Benefits Administration,
Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Avenue NW, Washington, DC
20420, 202-632-8862 (This is not a toll-free number.) or
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#5305121b1f031d1603127d0511120512101c1325327d343c25"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="da8c9b92968a949f8a9bf48c989b8c9b99959aacbbf4bdb5ac">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Draft PEIS was developed pursuant to the
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, as amended (42 U.S.C.
4321, et seq.), the Council on Environmental Quality's regulations for
implementing the procedural provisions of NEPA (40 CFR 1500-1508) and
VA's NEPA regulations titled ``Environmental Effects of the Department
of Veterans Affairs Actions'' (38 CFR 26).
The most significant element of the HLP is the provision of housing
benefits that assist eligible Veterans in financing the purchase,
construction, repair, or improvement of a home for their personal
occupancy. See 38 U.S.C. 3701 et seq. VBA provides Federal assistance
in the form of loans made, insured, or guaranteed by VA. VBA is also
responsible for the management, marketing and disposition of real
estate owned properties that VA acquires following the foreclosure of
certain VA-guaranteed loans and loans held in VA's portfolio. Under
HLP, VA also provides direct loans to Native American Veterans to
purchase homes on trust, tribal, or communally-owned lands, and HLP
extends grants for home adaptations to Veterans with service-connected
disabilities through the Specially Adapted Housing program. HLP
provides what can be, for some Veterans, their sole opportunity to
obtain crucial housing loans and grants.
Through the PEIS, VA is using the NEPA process to evaluate the
potential physical, environmental, cultural, socioeconomic and
cumulative effects of HLP; to invite public comments; and to assist
with and inform future agency planning and decision- making related to
HLP. The PEIS evaluates HLP, which assists hundreds of thousands of
Veterans each year across the United States and its territories, to
ensure VA appropriately considers the human environmental elements and
effects specified in 40 CFR 1508.8 (including ecological, aesthetic,
historic, cultural, economic, social, or health, whether direct,
indirect, or cumulative) in carrying out the various elements and
aspects of the program. Environmental topics that have been addressed
in the Draft PEIS include the following: Aesthetics; air quality;
biological resources; cultural resources; floodplains, wetlands and
coastal zones; geology and soils; hydrology and water quality;
infrastructure and community services; land use and planning; noise;
and socioeconomics and environmental justice. The PEIS also identifies
and analyzes potential cumulative impacts, which are the potential
incremental impacts on the environment resulting from continued
administration and operation of the HLP in combination with other past,
present and reasonably foreseeable future actions from other relevant
Federal and non-Federal programs.
The PEIS is atypical in that it addresses an existing program, and
VA has no specific or immediate need to change its operational
structure or procedures to address environmental impacts. Furthermore,
the making of loan guaranties, direct loans and grants do not typically
result in direct environmental impacts. Environmental impacts, if they
occur, would be the result of private citizen actions (e.g.,
construction of a house funded by VA-guaranteed loan financing) related
to a specific property. In this case, the primary environmental impacts
of concern for VA would be the potential indirect impacts from
homeowner actions and the potentially significant cumulative impacts of
small incremental actions on local and regional resources.
Signing Authority
Denis McDonough, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, approved this
document on March 29, 2021, and authorized the undersigned to sign and
submit the document to the Office of the Federal Register for
publication electronically as an official document of the Department of
Veterans Affairs.
Luvenia Potts,
Regulation Development Coordinator, Office of Regulation Policy &
Management, Office of the Secretary, Department of Veterans Affairs.
[FR Doc. 2021-15014 Filed 7-15-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8320-01-P
</pre><script data-cfasync="false" src="/cdn-cgi/scripts/5c5dd728/cloudflare-static/email-decode.min.js"></script></body>
</html>Indexed from Federal Register on July 16, 2021.
This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.