SUMMARY OF NEPA STREAMLINING PROPOSALS

• Jurisdiction: United States

Natural Resources and Environmental Administrative Law and Procedure II
(Sep 2004)
CHAPTER 13B
SUMMARY OF NEPA STREAMLINING PROPOSALS
Sharon Buccino
Senior Attorney
Natural Resources Defense Council
Washington, D.C.

Sharon Buccino is a Senior Attorney in the Public Lands program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, a non-profit organization dedicated to protection of the environment and public health. She represents NRDC in court, before Congress and federal agencies.

Her current work focuses on energy policy, the National Environmental Policy Act, and open government.

Prior to joining NRDC, Ms. Buccino practiced environmental and administrative law with a private firm in Washington, DC. Before coming to Washington, she served as a law clerk for Justice Allen Compton of the Supreme Court of Alaska. Ms. Buccino holds a law degree from Stanford Law School and a Bachelor of Arts from Yale University.

Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) NEPA Task Force Information available at http://ceq.eh.doe.gov/ntf/

• Issued report on September 24, 2003, proposing ways to improve implementation of NEPA

• CEQ Chairman James Connaughton to decide which recommendations to act on

White House Energy Project Streamlining Task Force Information available at http://www.etf.energy.gov/

• Reviewed individual projects to evaluate and address delays (list of projects available at http://www.etf.energy.gov/htmls/comments.html)

• Issued report of proceedings for First Year on December 2002

• Has developed inter-agency procedures to accelerate project development (examples include Memorandum of Understanding on Deep Water Ports (May 20, 2004), available at http://www.etf.energy.gov/pdfs/SignedMemo.pdf; Interagency Agreement on Improved Pipeline Permitting Process (May 2002), available at http://www.etf.energy.gov/pdfs/mou_w_sign.pdf)

• Task Force worked with the Department of the Interior to develop both a strategic plan to set into place appropriate time limits on appeal decisions for new cases filed with the Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA), and a tactical plan to significantly reduce the existing backlog of appeals at IBLA.

• Original charter extended until January 20, 2005

Executive Order 13211, 66 Fed. Reg. 28355 (May 22, 2001), Actions Concerning Regulations that Significantly Affect Energy Supply, Distribution, or Use

• Requires federal agencies to prepare a statement of adverse energy impacts for actions likely "to have a significant adverse effect on the supply, distribution, or use of energy."

• Purpose is "to provide more useful energy-related information and hence improve the quality of agency decisionmaking."

Executive Order 13212, 66 Fed. Reg. 28357 (May 22, 2001) Actions to Expedite Energy-Related Projects

• Requires agencies to "expedite their review of permits or take other actions as necessary to accelerate the completion of such projects, while maintaining safety, public health, and environmental protections."

• Establishes inter-agency task force, chaired by the Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality, "to monitor and assist the agencies in their efforts to expedite their review of permits or similar actions, as necessary, to accelerate the completion of energy-related projects, increase energy production and conservation, and improve transmission of energy."

Department of the Interior, National Environmental Policy Act Revised Implementing Procedures (Part 516 of Departmental Manual), 69 Fed. Reg. 10866 (March 8, 2004)

• Allows state and local public participation processes to be used instead of federal process as long as they satisfy federal requirements (516 DM 1.2(B))

• Requires heads of bureaus and offices to "use tiered and transferred analyses to help avoid needless repetition" (516 DM 1.3(D)(6))

• Aims to accelerate process by engaging stakeholders as "early as possible" (516 DM 2.2(D))

• Mandates "existing environmental analyses should be used in analyzing impacts of a proposed action to the extent possible and appropriate" (516 DM 2.3(F))

• Urges "full consideration" of "alternatives put forth by participating communities (516 DM 4.10(D))

• Decreases minimum review period for draft Environmental Impact Statement from 60 days to 45 days (516 DM 4.26)

Bureau of Land Management Policies and Practices

BLM, Proposed Rule to Enhance State, County and Tribal Participation in BLMLand-Use Planning, 69 Fed. Reg. 43378 (July 20, 2004)(comments due 9/20/04)

• Seeks to avoid the late introduction of issues and alternatives -- and the delay that comes with it -- by engaging state, local and tribal governments early in the NEPA process

• Amends BLM's planning regulations to explicitly provide for working with cooperating agencies. The proposal incorporates the definition of cooperating agencies provided in CEQ's NEPA regulations, 40 C.F.R. §§ 1501.6, 1508.5. The proposal defines cooperating agencies to include state and local agencies which have jurisdiction by law or special expertise with respect to the environmental issues involved. Indian tribes or tribal agencies can qualify when the effects are on a reservation or on ceded public land with reserved treaty rights.

• Requires BLM Field Managers to collaborate with cooperating agencies in evaluating alternatives and identifying a preferred alternative when writing or amending land use plans

• Provides that any meetings between BLM and agencies that have attained cooperating agency status would not be subject to the requirements of the Federal Advisory Committee...