(a) Notice. Within 14 days of the filing date of any application for a license developed pursuant to this part, the Commission will issue public notice of the tendering for filing of the application. The tendering notice will include a preliminary schedule for expeditious processing of the application, including dates for:

(1) Issuance of the acceptance for filing and ready for environmental analysis notice provided for in §5.22.

(2) Filing of recommendations, preliminary terms and conditions, and fishway prescriptions;

(3) Issuance of a draft environmental assessment or environmental impact statement, or an environmental assessment not preceded by a draft.

(4) Filing of comments on the draft environmental assessment or environmental impact statement, as applicable;

(5) Filing of modified recommendations, mandatory terms and conditions, and fishway prescriptions in response to a draft NEPA document or Environmental Analysis, if no draft NEPA document is issued;

(6) Issuance of a final NEPA document, if any;

(7) In the case of a new or subsequent license application, a deadline for submission of final amendments, if any, to the application; and

(8) Readiness of the application for Commission decision.

(b) Modifications to process plan and schedule. The tendering notice shall also include any known modifications to the schedules developed pursuant to §5.8 for completion of consultation under section 7 of the Endangered Species Act and water quality certification under section 401 of the Clean Water Act.

(c) Method of notice. The public notice provided for in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this Section will be given by:

(1) Publishing notice in the Federal Register; and

(2) Notifying appropriate Federal, state, and interstate resource agencies, state water quality and coastal zone management plan consistency certification agencies, Indian tribes, and non-governmental organizations, by electronic means if practical, otherwise by mail.

(d) Resolution of pending information requests. Within 30 days of the filing date of any application for a license developed pursuant to this part, the Director of the Office of Energy Projects will issue an order resolving any requests for additional information-gathering or studies made in comments on the preliminary licensing proposal or draft license application.

[Order 2002, 68 FR 51121, Aug. 25, 2003; 68 FR 61742, Oct. 30, 2003; 68 FR 69957, Dec. 16, 2003; Order 653, 70 FR 8724, Feb. 23, 2005]