40 C.F.R. § 1502.21 : Protection of Environment — COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY — NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT IMPLEMENTING REGULATIONS — ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT — Incomplete or unavailable information

(a) When an agency is evaluating reasonably foreseeable significant adverse effects on the human environment in an environmental impact statement, and there is incomplete or unavailable information, the agency shall make clear that such information is lacking.
(b) If the incomplete but available information relevant to reasonably foreseeable significant adverse impacts is essential to a reasoned choice among alternatives, and the overall costs of obtaining it are not unreasonable, the agency shall include the information in the environmental impact statement.
(c) If the information relevant to reasonably foreseeable significant adverse impacts cannot be obtained because the overall costs of obtaining it are unreasonable or the means to obtain it are not known, the agency shall include within the environmental impact statement:
(1) A statement that such information is incomplete or unavailable;
(2) A statement of the relevance of the incomplete or unavailable information to evaluating reasonably foreseeable significant adverse impacts on the human environment;
(3) A summary of existing credible scientific evidence that is relevant to evaluating the reasonably foreseeable significant adverse impacts on the human environment; and
(4) The agency's evaluation of such impacts based upon theoretical approaches or research methods generally accepted in the scientific community.
(d) For the purposes of this section, "reasonably foreseeable" includes impacts that have catastrophic consequences, even if their probability of occurrence is low, provided that the analysis of the impacts is supported by credible scientific evidence, is not based on pure conjecture, and is within the rule of reason.

40 C.F.R. §1502.21

85 FR 43363, 9/14/2020