NEPA

1
NEPA

• National Environmental Policy Act of 1969

2
Environmental Movement

• 1960s
• In response to political activism
• Fears of dwindling resources
• Eye-opening books regarding the effect of
  pesticides
• Rachel Carsons Silent Spring

3
Environmental Movement

• Concern about oil and chemical spills
• Fear of nuclear contamination
• Outdoor recreation was becoming overused and
  overcrowded

4
Environmental Movement

• Earth Day
• April 1970
• Passage of NEPA
• Considered National Charter for protection of
  the environment

5
The Beginning of NEPA

• April 16, 1969
• NEPA bill was introduced to congress
• Committee chairman on Interior and Insular
  Affairs Henry M. Jackson
• January 1, 1970
• Signed as an Executive Order by Pres. Richard
  Nixon

6
EPA

• Created in July 1970
• Mission
• to protect human health and the environment
• Stephen L. Johnson
  Administrator

7
Why was NEPA created?

• Environmental considerations have been
  systematically underrepresented in short-term and
  long-term policy decision-making
• Federal agencies tended to overstress the
  benefits of development vs. less environmentally
  damaging alternatives

8
Why was NEPA created?

• First attempt to address the environmental impact
  of the actions of federal agencies
• Constitutional basis
• Federal spending power

9
Purpose of NEPA

• To declare a national policy which will
  encourage productive and enjoyable harmony
  between man and his environment to promote
  efforts which will prevent or eliminate damage to
  the environment and biosphere and stimulate the
  health and welfare of man to enrich the
  understanding of the ecological systems and
  natural resources important to the Nation and to
  establish a Council on Environmental Quality.

10
Three Main Ideas of NEPA

• Establishes the Council on Environmental Quality
  (CEQ)
• Requires federal agencies to take environmental
  consequences into account when they make
  decisions
• Requires Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on
  federal actions

11
CEQ

• Advises the president about environmental issues
  and recommends policy
• Evaluates environmental protection programs
  within the executive branch and EIS prepared by
  federal agencies
• No regulatory authority purely advisory

12
Three Types of Environmental Reviews

• Categorical Exclusion
• Environmental Assessment
• EIS

13
Categorical Exclusion

• An action that does not individually or
  cumulatively have a significant impact on the
  human environment
• Does not require an Environmental Assessment nor
  an Environmental Impact Statement

14
Environmental Assessment

• Interim step to determine whether to prepare
• Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI)
• EIS

15
EIS

• Required for every action of a federal agency
  that is
• Federal
• Major
• Has significant impact on the human environment

16
What encompass federal actions?

• Just direct federal actions?
• No!

17
Federal Actions subject to EIS also include

• Actions undertaken by
• Federal contractors
• Recipients of federal funds
• States
• Universities
• Local governments
• Private parties

18
What is EIS?

• A document that includes
• Statement of environmental impacts
• Unavoidable adverse impacts
• Alternative to proposal
• Relationship between short-term uses of
  environment and long-term productivity
• Any irreversible commitment of resources

19
Contents of EIS

• Project Description/Purpose of Action
• Impacts of the Proposed Action on the Environment
  
• Alternatives to the Proposed Action
• Environmental Consequences
• Summary and Mitigation

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Record of Decision (ROD)

• A concise decision document for an environmental
  impact statement that states the decision
  (selected alternative or choice), other
  alternatives considered, and mitigation adopted
  for the selected alternative or choice

21
NEPA Flow Chart
22
Is there an appeal process?

• There is a provision for administrative appeal
  process of the final decision

23
Examples of federal projects that need to comply
with NEPA

• Highway construction
• Timber sales on forest service lands
• Dam construction

24
Examples of federal projects that need to comply
with NEPA

• Land management plans for BLM, FS, NPS, other
  federal agencies
• Oil and gas development on federal lands

25
Is NEPA process needed in this project?

• Fish and Wildlife Service wants to institute a
  project of reintroducing wolves to the wilds of
  New Mexico.

26
Is NEPA effective in protecting the environment?

• In 1997, CEQ published a report studying the
  effectiveness of NEPA after 25 years
• -NEPA considered a success but there are also
  shortcomings
• Like what?

27
Anti-NEPA Viewpoint

• Tool of choice for environmental groups to clog
  the courts with appeals and to slow-down or stop
  legitimate use of public land
• Consequence of overloading Federal agencies with
  red tape is a net decline in quality of the
  environment NEPA was intended to protect

28
Enforcement Mechanism

• NEPA contains no enforcement mechanism or
  authority
• NEPA is procedural
• As long as an agency has prepared EIS it can
  proceed with the project even if the project is
  environmentally damaging
• Enforcement is through lawsuits

29
State-level Environmental Policy Acts

• Apply to activities conducted using state funds
• Sometimes requirements are even more protective
  of the environment than the requirements of NEPA