A. When receiving an application for or initiating a proposal that involves a nonexempt action, the Responsible Official shall determine the lead agency for that proposal under WAC 197-11-050 and 197-11-922 through 197-11-940; unless the lead agency has been previously determined or the department is aware that another agency is in the process of determining the lead agency.

B. For all proposals for which Pierce County is the lead agency, the Responsible Official shall make the threshold determination, supervise scoping and preparation of any required environmental impact statement (EIS), and perform any other functions assigned to the "lead agency" or "Responsible Official" by those sections of the SEPA rules that were adopted by reference in WAC 197-11.

C. In addition, the Responsible Official shall be responsible for preparation of written comments for Pierce County in response to a consultation request prior to a threshold determination, participation in scoping, and/or reviewing a DEIS.

D. This person shall be responsible for the County's compliance with WAC 197-11-550 whenever the County is a consulted agency and is authorized to develop operating procedures that will ensure that responses to consultation requests are prepared in a timely fashion and include data from all appropriate departments of the County.

E. Pierce County shall retain all documents required by the SEPA rules (WAC Chapter 197-11) and make them available in accordance with RCW Chapter 42.17.

F. When the County is the lead agency for a proposal, the Responsible Official shall supervise compliance with the threshold determination requirements, and if an EIS is necessary, shall supervise preparation of the EIS.

G. When Pierce County is not the lead agency for a proposal, all departments of the County shall use and consider, as appropriate, either the DNS, MDNS or the final EIS of the lead agency in making decisions on the proposal. The Responsible Official shall not prepare or require preparation of a DNS or EIS in addition to that prepared by the lead agency, unless required under WAC 197-11-600. In some cases, the County may conduct supplemental environmental review under WAC 197-11-600.

H. If the County or any of its departments receives a lead agency determination made by another agency that appears inconsistent with the criteria of WAC 197-11-922 through 197-11-940, it may object to the determination. Any objection must be made to the agency originally making the determination. If the objection is not resolved within 15 days of receipt of the determination, the County shall petition the Department of Ecology for a lead agency determination under WAC 197-11-946 within the 15-day time period. Any such petition on behalf of the County must be initiated by the Responsible Official of Pierce County.

I. Departments of the County are authorized to make agreements as to lead agency status or shared lead agency duties for a proposal under WAC 197-11-942 and 197-11-944; provided, that the Responsible Official and any department that will incur responsibilities as the result of such agreement approve the agreement.

J. The Responsible Official, when making a lead agency determination for a private project, shall require sufficient information from the applicant to identify which other agencies have jurisdiction over the proposal.