§ 26.4 Comments on MDB projects.

(a) Public comments —

(1) Written comments

(i) A member of the public wishing to provide written comments on a MDB project must provide 2 copies of the comments to the Office of Multilateral Development Banks, U.S. Department of the Treasury, 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., room 5400, Washington, DC 20220. Written comments should be submitted not later than two weeks after the member of the public has access to the particular document on which it wishes to offer comments—either the project listing, the EIA Summary, or the EIA for a particular project. Written public comments will be provided by the MDB Office to the U.S. Government agencies participating in meetings of the Working Group for Multilateral Assistance (WGMA), which meetings are described in § 26.4(c). The WGMA is an intergovernmental subcommittee of the Development Coordination Committee whose functions are set forth in the Presidential announcement of May 19, 1978, Vol. 14, No. 20, p. 932 of the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents. The WGMA meets to discuss the U.S. position on upcoming MDB projects.

(ii) All written comments will be available for inspection and copying in their entirety in the Department of the Treasury Library, 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC ((202) 622–0990). Members of the public are advised that they must make an appointment with the Treasury Library before they visit, and that a charge (currently 15 cents per page) is imposed for the use of the library photocopier.

(2) Oral comments. Oral comments from a member of the public may be made in periodic meetings convened by the BIC. Information concerning these meetings may be obtained by contacting the BIC or the MDB Office. The MDB Office will summarize and present such comments in the WGMA meetings described in § 26.4(c).

(b) U.S. agency comments. Comments from U.S. agencies shall be provided through the WGMA.

(c) Consideration of comments. The WGMA will consider all comments made by the public and U.S. agencies. The WGMA may review a project up to three times. The first review will consider whether the project has been assigned the appropriate environmental category by the MDB. This review will take place as far in advance as possible of Board consideration of the project. The second review will consider the EIA Summary or the EIA (or information discussed in § 26.5(b)(1)), and comments received from the public on such documentation. The third WGMA review, which will take place shortly before Board consideration of the project, will consider the position of the U.S. Government on the project.