The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) announced the proposed addition of seven new Categorical Exclusions (CE) to its environmental procedures that will help expedite project delivery across the country.

The proposed CEs, which were developed in coordination with the White House Council on Environmental Quality, are part of the Obama Administration’s ongoing efforts to streamline government and allow job creators to break ground on shovel-ready projects months or even years faster without doing damage to the environment.

CEs are actions that FRA has determined do not individually or cumulatively have significant effects on the human or natural environment so do not require the preparation of an environmental assessment (EA) or environmental impact statement (EIS) under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

FRA’s Environmental Procedures currently contain 20 CEs, in addition to the seven additional CEs being proposed. FRA is making the Categorical Exclusion Substantiation Document available for public review and comment on its website.