NEPA Case Law Update 

About

The National Association of Environmental Professionals (NAEP) will host its annual National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Case Law Update webinar on Monday May 7, 2018.  This webinar will review substantive NEPA cases issued by United States Courts of Appeals in 2017.  The implications of the decisions and relevance to NEPA practitioners will be explained by our expert panelists.  The panelists will describe a selection of opinions issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals circuits and provide statistics regarding the NEPA appellate opinions, such as ten-year record of NEPA cases, organized by circuit, and by year.  The panelists will discuss the trends in the court opinions involving NEPA for 2017, with an emphasis on substantive NEPA practice.  Past trends include challenges to purpose and need, alternatives considered, public comment, scientific impact assessment methodologies, greenhouse gas impact assessment, incomplete or unavailable information, determination of significance, segmentation, duty to supplement, connected actions, federal actions, cumulative impact assessment, mitigation, monitoring and adaptive management.  Please join us for this popular webinar offering.

Moderator

Fred R. Wagener, Venable LLC

Speakers

Michael Smith, Ph.D.

Michael is a Senior Environmental Practice Leader for National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) with GEI Consultants in Sacramento, CA, one of the nation's leading geotechnical, environmental, water resources, and ecological science and engineering firms. GEI has provided consulting and engineering services on over 35,000 projects in all 50 U.S. states and internationally in over 20 countries. His current work focuses on providing project and program management, technical analysis and review, policy development and review, and training and education focused on National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) compliance for some of the nation's and California’s most complex and controversial projects relating to energy development, transportation infrastructure projects, approvals of genetically engineered plants, commercial space transportation operations, and rulemakings for national motor vehicle fuel economy standards. He frequently provides training and strategic advice for NEPA and related environmental compliance requirements as an adjunct faculty member at numerous educational institutions, including the UC Davis Extension Land Use and Natural Resources Program, the UCLA Extension Sustainability Program, and the NEPA Certificate Program at the Quinney College of Natural Resources at Utah State University. He has served as a Science & Technology Policy Fellow with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) at the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) headquarters Office of Water and Office of Federal Activities in Washington, DC. He has also held positions with the U.S. Department of Interior – National Park Service in Biscayne, Glacier and Yosemite National Parks. He holds a Ph.D. in Environmental and Natural Resources Sociology from Utah State University, an M.A. in Geography and Resources from the University of Wyoming, and a B.A. in Environmental Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

P.E. Hudson, Esq., Dep't of the Navy, Office of General Counsel

P.E. Hudson, Esq. is the Counsel, Department of the Navy Office of General Counsel, at Center for Seabees and Facilities Engineering and Civil Engineer Corps Officer School at Naval Base Ventura County, California. The focus of her practice is environmental law and planning, and specifically NEPA; she also develops and teaches courses involving NEPA, environmental planning and impact analysis, and environmental law, with a special emphasis on coastal and ocean resources, to federal employees. She has published 13 federal agency, academic, and peer-reviewed articles on environmental planning and impact assessment since 2013. She has 17 years of NEPA experience, 34 years of federal agency experience.  She served as the informal Chair of the NAEP CEQ Pilot Project, Best Practice Principles for Environmental Assessments, which was lauded by the CEQ. She also received the NAEP President's Service Award in 2013 and 2015.  She is a retired Navy Commander. **The views expressed are solely the personal views of the author and do not reflect those of the Department of the Navy, the Department of Defense or the Federal Government.

Pricing

NAEP Member: $75
Chapter Members: $125
Non-member: $140

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