National Environmental Policy Act of 1969

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National Environmental Policy Act of 1969

• (NEPA)

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National Environmental Policy Act

• Acronyms
• CEQ Council on Environmental Quality
• CFR Code of Federal Regulations
• EA Environmental Assessment
• EIS Environmental Impact Statement
• FONSI- Finding of No Significant Impact
• NEPA National Environmental Policy Act
• OMB Office of Management and Budget

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National Environmental Policy Act

• National Environmental Policy ( 101)
• Action-Forcing Mechanism ( 102)
• Oversight Organization ( 201)
• Council on Environmental Quality

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National Environmental Policy Act

• All Federal agencies must consider the
  environmental consequences of their proposed
  actions significantly affecting the quality of
  the human environment before taking those actions
  ( 102(C))

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Environmental Impact Statement

• Human Environment
• Natural and physical environment
• Relationship of people to the environment
• (40 CFR 1508.14)

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National Environmental Policy Act

• Proposed Actions can include
• Programs and/or plans
• Permits
• Leases and/or sales
• Grants and/or agreements
• Projects

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National Environmental Policy Act

• NEPA is the principal mechanism for
  scientific information to be applied in the
  Federal decisionmaking process.

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National Environmental Policy Act

• NEPA did not
• Eliminate any Federal programs
• Instruct Federal managers about what decisions
  to make

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National Environmental Policy Act

• 1978 - Final rules for environmental impact
  assessment published by Council on Environmental
  Quality (40 CFR 1500)
• Every Federal agency has complimentary rules
  for the process
• NOAA - Administrative Order 216-6

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National Environmental Policy Act

• Assessment process occurs in
• Legal
• Political
• Public relations
• Environment
• Practitioners job is to inform the
  decisionmaking process

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NEPA Documents

• Environmental Assessment
• Categorical Exclusion
• Environmental Impact Statement

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EA vs EIS
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Environmental Assessment

• CEQ concise public document (40CFR 1508.9(a))
• Three purposes
• 1. Determine if an EIS is necessary
• 2. Aid NEPA compliance when no EIS is necessary
• 3. Facilitate preparation of EIS

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Environmental Assessment

• EA must include discussion of (40 CFR 1508.9(b))
• 1. Need for proposal
• 2. Environmental impacts of proposed action and
  alternatives
• 3. Agencies and persons consulted

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Environmental Assessment

• EA Significant environmental impacts?
• Yes and cannot be mitigated Prepare EIS
• Yes but can be mitigated Prepare FONSI
• No Prepare FONSI

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Environmental Impact Statement

• NEPA A detailed written statement
• Systematic (102(A))
• Interdisciplinary (102(A))
• Consultation (102(C))
• Public participation (102(C))

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Steps in the EIS Process

• Notice of Intent to Prepare (40 CFR 1508.22)
• Scoping (40 CFR 1501.7)
• Preparation of Draft
• Notice of Availability (40 CFR 1503.1(a))
• Public comment
• Preparation of Final
• Notice of Availability (40 CFR 1503.1(b))
• Public comment
• Record of Decision (40 CFR 1505.2)

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Environmental Impact Statement

• Cover Sheet
• Summary
• Table of Contents
• Purpose and Need
• Alternatives
• Affected Environment

• Environmental Consequences
• List of Preparers
• Parties to whom EIS was sent
• Index
• Appendices (if any)

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Environmental Impact Statement

• Summary (40 CFR 1502.12)
• Major conclusions
• Areas of controversy
• Unresolved issues
• May be most read section of EIS

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Environmental Impact Statement

• Alternatives (40 CFR1502.14)
• CEQ Heart of the EIS
• Comparative analysis of feasible alternatives
• Must include No-Action
• Preferred alternative
• Mitigation

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Environmental Impact Statement

• Mitigation (40 CFR 1508.20)
• Means to reduce or eliminate environmental
  impacts not already included in proposed action
  or alternatives
• Avoidance
• Compensation
• Repair or Restoration
• Minimization

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Environmental Impact Statement

• Affected Environment (40 CFR 1502.15)
• Current environment of areas to be affected by
  proposed action or alternatives
• Physical environment
• Biological environment
• Socioeconomic environment

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Environmental Impact Statement

• Environmental Consequences
• (40 CFR 1502.16)
• Provides scientific basis for comparison of
  alternatives
• Direct effects
• Indirect effects
• Cumulative Impacts

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Environmental Impacts

• Adverse
• Beneficial
• Short-term
• Long-term

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Environmental Impacts

• Determining Significance (40 CFR 1508.27)
• Context how expansive?
• Intensity how pronounced?

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Environmental Impacts

• Significance Other Factors
• Public health and safety
• Historic or cultural resources
• Prime farmlands
• Special habitats
• Parks and reserves
• Subsistence areas

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Environmental Impacts

• Significance Other Factors (Continued)
• Unique communities (natural and human)
• Likelihood of substantial controversy
• Uncertainty
• Establishing precedent
• Endangered and threatened species
• Potential to violate environmental protection laws

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Environmental Impacts

• Managing Uncertainty
• Science is uncertain
• Worst-case Analysis
• Information essential to reasoned choice among
  alternatives
• Too costly to obtain or
• Method unknown

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Environmental Impacts

• Information is incomplete or unavailable
• Relevance of information
• Existing credible evidence
• Reasonably foreseeable impacts based on
  approaches or methods generally accepted by
  scientific community

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Environmental Impact Statement

• List of Preparers (40 CFR 1502.17)
• Names and qualifications
• Persons primarily responsible for the EIS and
  any background papers

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Environmental Impact Statement

• Information Sources
• Not required by CEQ as part of EIS
• make explicit reference by footnote to the
  scientific and other sources relied upon for
  conclusions in the statement.(40 CFR 1502.24)

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National Environmental Policy Act

• Quality (40 CFR1502.24)
• Agencies must
• Ensure professional (and scientific) integrity
• Identify methods used
• Explicitly reference information sources

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Environmental Impact Statement

• CEQ Requirements
• Quality
• Completeness
• Brevity
• Style

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Information Quality Act

• Section 515 (P.L. 106-554)
• Requires Federal Agencies to
• Maximize quality, objectivity, utility, and
  integrity
• Provide mechanism for correction
• Role of Peer Review

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Information Quality Act

• Objectivity
• Accuracy
• Clarity
• Completeness
• Unbiased

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Information Quality Act

• Utility
• Usefulness
• Transparency
• Reproducibility
• Integrity
• Security from unauthorized access or revision

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Adaptive Management

• Predict-Mitigate-Implement-Monitor-Adapt Model
• Monitoring
• Actual Environmental Impacts
• Accuracy of Predictions
• Effectiveness of Mitigation
• NEPA Challenge

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National Environmental Policy Act

• Useful Web Sites
• NEPANet http//ceq.eh.doe.gov/nepa/nepanet.html
• EPA Weekly Compilation http//www.epa.gov/complia
  nce/nepa/current/index.html
• Federal Register http//www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index
  .html