Notice2022-15824
Notice of Availability of the Final 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 25, 2022
Issuing agencies
Veterans Affairs Department
Abstract
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announces the availability of the Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for VA's Housing Loan Program (HLP). The Final 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. In preparing the Final PEIS, VA has considered public comments received on the Draft PEIS, which was published in July 2021.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 141 (Monday, July 25, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 141 (Monday, July 25, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44190-44191]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-15824]
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DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
Notice of Availability of the Final Programmatic Environmental
Impact Statement of the Department of Veterans Affairs Housing Loan
Program
AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announces the
availability of the Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement
(PEIS) for VA's Housing Loan Program (HLP). The Final PEIS identifies,
analyzes, and
[[Page 44191]]
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. In preparing the Final PEIS, VA has considered public
comments received on the Draft PEIS, which was published in July 2021.
DATES: VA will publish a Record of Decision no sooner than 30 days
after publication of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Notice
of Availability for this Final PEIS in the Federal Register.
ADDRESSES: The Final PEIS is available at the VA website at the
following link: <a href="https://www.benefits.va.gov/homeloans/environmental_impact.asp">https://www.benefits.va.gov/homeloans/environmental_impact.asp</a>. Printed copies of the document may be
obtained by contacting VA at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#4b1d0a03071b050e1b0a651d090a1d0a08040b3d2a652c243d"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="5402151c18041a1104157a0216150215171b1422357a333b22">[email protected]</span></a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Erin Byrum, Lead Management Analyst,
Loan Guaranty Service, Veterans Benefit 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#7721363f3b2739322736592135362136343837011659101801"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="edbbaca5a1bda3a8bdacc3bbafacbbacaea2ad9b8cc38a829b">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Final 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 the
HLP, VA also provides direct loans to Native American Veterans to
purchase homes on trust, tribal, or communally owned lands, and the HLP
extends grants for home adaptations to Veterans with service-connected
disabilities through the Specially Adapted Housing program. The HLP
provides what can be, for some Veterans, their sole opportunity to
obtain crucial housing loans and grants.
Through the PEIS, VA evaluated the potential physical,
environmental, cultural, socioeconomic, and cumulative effects of the
HLP to assist and inform future agency planning and decision making
related to the HLP. Environmental topics addressed in the Final 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. 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.
The Final PEIS considers comments made on the Draft PEIS that
officially began on July 16, 2021 and ended on August 30, 2021. Based
on the information provided in the Final PEIS, VA has identified the
continued operation and active management of the HLP as the preferred
alternative.
Signing Authority
Denis McDonough, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, approved this
document on June 6, 2022, 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.
Jeffrey M. Martin,
Assistant Director, Office of Regulation Policy & Management, Office of
General Counsel, Department of Veterans Affairs.
[FR Doc. 2022-15824 Filed 7-22-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8320-01-P
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