Advanced NEPA Workshops

Session

Time

Morning

Introduction by Moderator

Marie Campbell, Sapphos Environmental, Inc.

8:00 AM – 8:15 AM

Topic 1: Best Practices for NEPA Implementation in a Dynamic Regulatory Environment

This session will provide an update on recent developments in National Environmental Policy Act implementation. We will start with a brief recap of recent CEQ actions, dive deeper into the implications of last month’s Phase One rule, and look towards the horizon at what is to come in CEQ’s Phase Two rulemaking and changes to agency NEPA implementing procedures. We will also examine recent actions taken by the Biden White House to improve the permitting process for infrastructure projects and NEPA-related provisions in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. We will highlight examples of agency best practices to mitigate risk in this dynamic regulatory environment and take questions on how practitioners can position projects for success. 

Ted Boling, Perkins Coie LLP (former Counsel and Associate Director for NEPA at the Council on Environmental Quality)
Michael Drummond, U.S. Department of Transportation

8:15 AM – 9:15 AM

Break

9:15 AM – 9:30 AM

Topic 2: Tailoring Stakeholder Identification and Engagement 

The intent of the discussion will be to go over the latest trends in public engagement for NEPA projects. We will first go through the requirements in the latest version of the NEPA implanting regulations. Then we will work through proven steps for understanding your stakeholders, from internal resource teams to high-level elected officials and the media. We will discuss effective methods for conducting public engagement, including the latest trends in digital platforms to what to expect during in-person meetings. Finally, we will go over how to best deal with public comments, and what to do if your project receives hundreds and even thousands of comments. 

Michele Rau, Jacobs Engineering 

9:30 AM – 10:30 AM 

Break

10:30 AM – 10:45 AM

Topic 3: Environmental Justice

Three Case Studies: San Bernardino International Airport, NDOT Spaghetti Bowl EIS, and Non-Infrastructure Project to be determined

Over the past two years, the Biden Administration has made equity and social justice a main policy priority. This is demonstrated by EO 13985 and EO 14008, which require a whole of government approach to advancing EJ. As a result, NEPA EJ reviews will receive even greater attention than before. This session will focus on how to perform meaningful EJ analysis consistent with the highest aspirations of EO 12898 from over 30 years ago, and discuss the recent trends, best practices, and trajectory of EJ. Finally, the session will include an overview of the array of analytical tools and methodology for analyses and the challenges in identifying impacts. 

Fred Wagner, Venable LLP
Emily Gulick, Jacobs Engineering

10:45 AM – 11:45 AM 

Lunch

11:45 AM – 12:30 PM

Afternoon

Topic 4: GHG Guidance and Climate Resiliency

This session will discuss how to analyze climate change in NEPA. Current CEQ guidance and updated NEPA regulations as they apply to the analysis of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate resiliency will be reviewed. Relevant NEPA caselaw concerning climate change will be highlighted. The central focus of the session will be on the Ten Steps that NEPA practitioners that will represent a “Hard Look” at climate change in NEPA documents. These steps include pre-NEPA early planning, consideration of alternatives, establishing a solid foundation for analysis, development of the affected environment concerning climate change, analysis of GHG emissions, analysis of climate change effects in combination with project effects, analysis of project climate resiliency, and mitigation to reduce GHG emissions, address project effects that may otherwise combine with adverse climate change effects, and make a project itself more resilient.

Rich Walter, ICF
Michael Hendrix, Chair AEP Climate Change Committee

12:30 PM – 1:30 PM

Break

1:30 PM – 1:45 PM

Topic 5: Evaluation of Indirect and Cumulative Effects 

This session will provide an update on recent developments in how indirect and cumulative impacts/effects are defined in the CEQ Regulations for National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) implementation. In September 2020, the Trump Administration’s major revisions to the 1978 CEQ NEPA Regulations went into effect. The revisions were sweeping in nature and touched on nearly every area of NEPA practice. One of the most controversial changes was the elimination of the 1978 Regulations’ definition of impacts/effects in NEPA, including the requirements for agencies to consider direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts – and replacing it with a simplified definition of “effects” that included numerous limiting thresholds in relation to requirements for agency analysis. Recently the Biden Administration CEQ published their self-termed “Phase 1” rulemaking their own revisions to the 2020 CEQ NEPA Regulations. This narrow set of revisions included restoring the previous 1978 CEQ Regulations definitions and requirements for impacts/effects analysis. This session will focus on the implications of this administrative see-sawing for how impacts/effects are defined for NEPA analysis, including a discussion of whether these changes have had - or will have in the future – affected federal court decisions involving impacts/effects analyses in NEPA reviews.

Michael Smith, WSP
P.E. (Pam) Hudson, Department of the Navy Office of General Counsel

1:45 PM – 2:45 PM 

Break

Topic 6: New and Emerging Trends in Impact Analysis 

This session will review the current Phase I changes to the NEPA Rule in regards to both Federal Action and Reasonably Foreseeable Effects.  We will examine the case law, past and current, and make recommendations for the practitioner.  In addition, the concept of reasonably foreseeable effects will be discussed, and we will highlight examples in the case law up to 2022 and the current practice involving impact assessment of offshore energy infrastructure. Finally, changes in the definition and application of significance will be considered, with a special dialogue involving highly controversial effects. 

Chuck Nicholson, HDR
P.E. (Pam) Hudson, Department of the Navy Office of General Counsel

3:00 PM – 4:00 PM

Evaluation

 4:00 PM