Concurrent Session 1 | May 6 | 9:30 – 11:00 AM

In an era marked by rapid technological advancements, the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the realm of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) practice has emerged as a transformative force. This presentation delves into the effective utilization of AI for NEPA professionals, shedding light on its implementation, contextualizing its appropriate usage, and outlining potential challenges. The presentation begins by elucidating the practical application of AI in NEPA processes. AI technologies, such as machine learning and natural language processing, offer unprecedented opportunities to automate data analysis, streamline impact assessments, and enhance decision-making. The presentation will guide NEPA professionals in effectively leveraging these tools to workflow, thereby bolstering project planning and execution. While AI promises significant advantages, it is imperative to recognize its limitations. The presentation will emphasize the importance of preserving the human element in NEPA practice, especially in situations demanding ethical considerations, complex stakeholder engagement, and subjective judgment. By illustrating scenarios where AI may fall short, such as community involvement and the interpretation of intricate socio-environmental dynamics, attendees will gain a comprehensive understanding of when to prioritize human expertise over AI-driven automation.

Addressing potential drawbacks, the presentation will explore challenges associated with AI integration into NEPA processes. These challenges encompass data bias, interpretability, and the need for continuous training. Attendees will be equipped with strategies to identify and mitigate these challenges effectively, ensuring that AI remains a tool for enhancement rather than a source of unforeseen complications. In conclusion, this presentation seeks to empower NEPA professionals with a holistic perspective on AI integration. By providing actionable insights on the appropriate implementation of AI, highlighting its limitations, and addressing potential pitfalls, attendees will be better prepared to embrace AI as a valuable asset within the NEPA framework. As the landscape of NEPA practice evolves, harnessing the potential of AI is poised to drive unparalleled efficiencies.

Lauren Schramm
NEPA Manager
Pond and Company 

Originally from Northern Vermont, Lauren holds a bachelor’s degree from Alfred University and earned her MS from Clemson University. Lauren embarked on her career in a Texas freshwater mussel lab before relocating to Atlanta. As a project manager, she successfully led a team of scientists completing NEPA work for cell towers across 29 states. Lauren has since transitioned to working with additional lead agencies and Pond and Company, where she currently serves as the manager of a NEPA team. In her free time, Lauren manages a mini farm, indulges in painting, and hand-building ceramic art, and dedicates time to volunteering.

Generative AI has the potential to serve as a powerful tool for enhancing the efficiency and quality of NEPA reviews. This session will provide an introduction to the capabilities and benefits of applying generative AI in Environmental Impact Statements, Environmental Assessments, and Categorical Exclusions using cutting-edge real-world examples. Tactics for minimizing AI hallucinations will be discussed, and ethical and regulatory considerations will be highlighted. Rapid advances are occurring in the Artificial Intelligence field that can be applied by NEPA practitioners to speed up environmental reviews while retaining their robustness.

The objective of this session is to provide practical tips for leveraging generative AI to aid various aspects of the environmental review process.

Krish Vijayaraghavan
Principal
Ramboll 

Krish Vijayaraghavan is a Principal at Ramboll with over 20 years of experience in environmental modeling. Krish has directed EISs and EAs under NEPA to assess and disclose impacts for power, renewable energy, conventional energy, airports, aviation, surface transportation, reclamation, mining, and other natural resource projects with agency stakeholders from BLM, FAA, USACE, NHTSA, OSMRE, BOR, FRA, USAF, BOEM, NPS, USFWS and other agencies. His technical areas of expertise are computer modeling and air quality and greenhouse gas/climate change analysis. Krish has published over 40 peer-reviewed papers in scientific journals and co-authored two technical books.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has great potential to play a larger role in improving and streamlining environmental and permitting reviews. AI can improve accessibility and organization of information contained in past environmental review documents. To this end, we constructed an AI-ready vector database with Department of Energy NEPA documents and use the Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) technique to fuse the retrieved information with the given user query and build a Large Language Model (LLM) based conversation assistant to accelerate the retrieval and use of environmental information used in the environmental permitting process. There are different opportunities when developing a NEPA document to review and assess information from other reviews or available sources specific to an environmental resource. An AI approach for targeting these areas is the focus of this presentation. The development of these AI tools was tested using different NEPA analysis requirements and review scenarios and are discussed in two parts: (1) descriptions of tools development, (2) NEPA analyses test scenarios, outcomes, and next steps. The methodology and lessons learned from this study will be applicable to a variety of Federal, State, and local permitting and siting contexts.

Sai Munikoti, PhD
Data Scientist
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Dr. Munikoti is a research data scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory focusing on artificial intelligence and machine learning. His work primarily involves the development and application of large language models. He also works on ensuring trust in AI models via uncertainty quantification framework. His current project involves developing the generative AI capability for streamlining and improving environmental review process and renewable siting operations. He possesses publications in multiple journals and conference proceedings, including AAAI and KDD Scholar. Sai received his Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Kansas State University in Summer, 2022. In addition to his doctorate, Sai also holds an MS and BE degree from India..

In 2010, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) purchased an 11.4-acre parcel of land formerly owned by a lumber company with the intent to develop a portion of it into parkland as part of a 20-year urban design vision for development of riverfront parks along the Mississippi River. The first phase of site development centered on re-creating Hall's Island, an island that survey drawings show existed in the Mississippi River as early as 1895. In 1965, the USACE issued a permit authorizing the lumber company to remove most of Hall's Island and use it as fill to expand its operations; the island was dredged and deposited to expand the mainland in 1966. Re-creation of Hall's Island in 2018 established new habitat within the Mississippi River channel in a portion of the north/northeast Minneapolis urban environment that is dominated by industrial uses with limited access to natural areas.

Primary goals for the re-creation of Hall's Island were to improve biodiversity, create a softer and more accessible connection to the river, and provide migratory stopover habitat for birds in the Minneapolis urban core. Project development had to balance maintaining ecological focus with response actions to address soil contamination resulting from historic industrial use. In addition to the challenges of designing an island that would stay in place in a dynamic, major river system, design also needed to mitigate negative effects on recreational navigation in the river while resulting in "no rise" flood conditions, maintaining sediment transport, and minimizing potential for scour at an adjacent bridge. Island construction was complete in summer 2018, fulfilling the ecological objectives of the Hall's Island re-construction phase. Construction of the adjacent riverside park began in August 2023 to develop local recreational amenities and trail connections, provide greater access to the river, and expand upon the creation of naturalized areas for habitat.

This session will discuss:

• The ecological objectives and unique construction elements of the Hall's Island re-construction project, as well as permitting nuances that required an act of legislature to allow the vision to be fulfilled
• How this project contributes to the MPRB's long-term vision for more Mississippi River-focused green space in Minneapolis

Shanna Braun
Vice President/Senior Environmental Scientist
Barr Engineering Co 

Shanna has 18 years of environmental consulting experience, with a specific focus on environmental review requirements under federal and state-equivalent processes. She assists with environmental impact assessments and facilitates the environmental approval process for projects related to natural resources, energy transmission, flood management, municipal services, alternative energy, mining, transportation, and telecommunications. She is specialized in navigating the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process for numerous federal agencies. Shanna’s work focuses on the Midwest and Intermountain West, where she leads multidisciplinary teams on EIS and EA projects.

What seemed like an innocuous activity by the City of Beaumont, Texas (City) in response to natural disasters that the City endured in the early 2000s turned into a mountain of problems with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). After a need for emergency equipment staging presented itself during floods associated with tropical storms, such as Hurricane Rita in 2005, fill material was placed in a defunct segment of Lawson's Canal that the City was no longer using for water supply conveyance. Subsequently, the USACE issued the City a violation for the placement of fill material in the waters of the U.S. (WOTUS). Attempts by the City and Freese and Nichols, Inc. (FNI) to resolve the violation through appealing the jurisdictional status of the canal as well as seeking an After-the-Fact Permit for the fill placement were unsuccessful and ultimately the City determined other areas were preferable for emergency staging. A new plan was formulated to restore the site to a wetland similar to its historical (pre-canal) conditions and a Nationwide Permit (NWP) 27 was sought through the USACE. Functional assessments and 1/10th acre tree plots were utilized to develop performance criteria for the permit conditions. After permit acquisition, fill material was removed and the site was graded to the contours agreed upon by the USACE. In November 2022, the site was planted with native trees that mimicked both species diversity and densities of adjacent forested wetlands. In accordance with permit conditions, compliance monitoring (for a period of ten years) has begun to track site progress and influence any adaptive management measures that may be required; FNI is managing this effort and utilizing GPS and GIS technology to streamline data management. Despite early frustrations with regulatory hurdles and limitations, the City now views the project positively as it has resulted in ecological benefits and an enhanced landscape. The project history is also being broadcast to the citizens of Beaumont via the City's website via ArcGIS Story Maps.

This presentation will highlight:

• The project history, the steps taken to develop the restoration plan, and the tools being utilized to monitor the site's progress and provide public outreach
• The Lawson's Canal Restoration Project history, the steps taken to develop the restoration plan, and the tools being utilized to monitor the site's progress and provide public outreach

Freese and Nichols, Inc. 

Speaker information coming soon.

Fish are a critical part of life in the Northwest. They feed tribes, generate economic benefits, and are a cornerstone of the environmental health in the region. When the migration of both Chinook salmon and steelhead on Cedar Creek was blocked by a structurally degraded concrete box culvert located under NE 100th Avenue in Kirkland, Washington, Stantec was eager to work with the City of Kirkland, Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), and the Suquamish and Muckleshoot Tribes to design a solution that was in compliance with the federal culvert injunction and met the new, updated specifications for fish passage design. With the original 36-inch culvert not allowing fish passage, upstream storm detention was outdated and did not provide adequate flow control, and downstream the channel was undermined from high flows, our team knew that finding a design solution that worked would require collaboration and creative engineering. To fully understand the stream condition, our team met with WSDOT hydraulic leadership to incorporate all of the requirements of the injunction and fish passage into the design, but also to obtain construction permits with the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) quickly. As the culvert replacement needed to interface with the concurrent 100th Avenue NE road replacement project, the evaluation of design alternatives with WSDOT was crucial to reach the most successful solution that included minimizing traffic impacts, liquefaction and slope stability issues, existing utilities, permitting, and cost. Environmental baseline conditions reconnaissance of the project area to identify and record current critical area features, along with a wetland and stream delineations. The team used this information for completion of environmental permitting and aspects of project design, including mitigation and habitat restoration measures. The new culvert is a larger concrete, 4-sided box-style culvert to convey Cedar Creek. The channel design through the new culvert is a roughened channel design at minimum length to meet Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) fish passage design requirements. With downstream bank erosion, flooding issues, and a degraded aquatic habitat, the design also restored the channel with off-channel wetlands, and at the request of the tribes, 164 pieces of woody material, highlighted by 42 prominent wood pieces. After a design was selected, we performed culvert structural design, hydraulic design, stream restoration, and fish passage design, re-vegetation plan development, permitting, construction services, and community outreach. With construction completed, the culvert is now a fully functioning element of the landscape, allowing fish and people to pass through and over to their destinations.

Kacy Hillman, M.S., PWS
Senior Associate Environmental Scientist
Stantec 

Kacy is a certified Professional Wetland Scientist (PWS) with 18 years of field experience delineating wetlands, completing wetland functional assessments, and permitting for potential wetland impacts. She Kacy has led wetland delineations from 1 million acres to under an acre using a variety of field methods approved by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and Ecology. She has experience working closely with the USACE and Ecology on environmental mitigation and permitting efforts and has been successful in working through complex land management issues to avoid potential project delays. Through her experience, Kacy has intimate knowledge of NEPA and the environmental permitting process.

Tim Nightengale, M.S., CESCL
Senior Biologist
Stantec 

Tim has 25 years of experience in aquatic ecology, focusing on fish and fishery resources in waterways across the US. He has been involved in stream biomonitoring using benthic macroinvertebrates to assess the impact of human disturbances on aquatic communities and habitats. He helped design stream and wetland restoration and mitigation plans for critical and sensitive areas. Tim also coordinated environmental licensing and permitting needs, FERC licensing study plans and reports, and mitigation plans, and conducted the supporting environmental field investigations, including critical area assessments and wetland delineations. His work has served clients from local and state government, federal agencies, Tribes, industrial clients, Conservation and Irrigation Districts, and non-profits.

Advancing equality has been identified as a key goal of the Biden administration and is a commonly named goal for public sector organizations at every level. In our post-pandemic world, we are now more aware than ever how valuable connection through internet access is for all aspects of our modern society. The need to close the gap between those with and without reliable internet access is demonstrated in the Digital Equity Act, established in 2021 by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (also referred to as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act). But what is "Digital Equity" and how can environmental practitioners support it? This presentation will review recent and current legislation and funding actions related to digital equity, identify the federal agencies and administrative players in the system of allocating funds, review case studies of different applications of digital equity projects across the U.S., outline themes regarding the challenges of enacting digital equity in the future, and consider ideas for streamlining the process from funding application submittal to home internet user. This presentation will also explore digital equity's reliance on critical minerals, power generation and distribution, and physical infrastructure, placing the topic at the center of contemporary and emerging environmental practice.

Objectives:

• Understand where to reference legislation regarding digital equity
• Identify multiple applications of the concept of "digital equity"
• Identify local, state, and private stakeholders in the pursuit of digital equity projects

Anna Kohl, CEP
Senior Environmental Project Manager
HDR, Inc. 

As a Senior Environmental Project Manager at HDR in Alaska, Anna's work focuses on program-level environmental planning and NEPA compliance for infrastructure development projects. She is actively engaged in all technical discipline aspects pertinent to the NEPA process, as well as with agency and stakeholder coordination and communication. Active in NAEP, the Alaska NAEP Chapter, and as a Trustee for the Academy of Board Certified Environmental Professionals (ABCEP), Anna is committed to advancing the environmental practice through collaborative learning opportunities with colleagues. Anna has worked with public- and private-sector clients in Alaska for 23 years.

The Regional Transportation District (RTD) that serves the Denver Metro area conducted a Planning and Environmental Study for the feasibility of a Northwest Rail Peak Service commuter rail from Longmont, Colorado to Denver, Colorado. The Northwest Rail Peak Service would provide additional transit service to six communities along the Front Range of Colorado, increasing access and connectivity between cities. In the development of the project, a specific Northwest Rail Peak Service Study Engagement Team was developed to focus solely on the outreach to environmental justice communities. The alignment of the commuter rail runs through environmental justice communities and the engagement team has made immense efforts to ensure these communities are involved in the project and the decision-making process. The meaningful engagement of communities with environmental justice concerns, including, but not limited to minority, low-income, limited English proficiency (LEP) communities, households without access to a personal vehicle, and people with disabilities, has been a core component integrated throughout the project process. The team developed an extensive Public Outreach Plan integrated with the equity analysis to capture voices from oftentimes, underrepresented communities. The project team adopted a mantra of out-of-the-box thinking to develop activities that would engage individuals and encourage them to share challenges and opportunities that should be addressed throughout the project.

• Pop Up Events: The team attended existing community events to share project information and gather feedback via an interactive activity. Events with cultural relevancy were identified to ensure audiences beyond the typical public forum attendee were engaged.
• Public Open House: The traditional public house format was used, but with additional thought and accommodations for underserved community members. Time of day, location, translation services, childcare, and accessibility were factored into the implementation of these events.
• EJ Survey: A survey was developed and distributed to Community-Based Organizations to capture information about the communities beyond the data available from the U.S. Census including immigrant communities, unhoused populations, community-supporting resources, and areas with high number of minority-owned and serving businesses.
• Impacts & Benefits Workshop: A workshop to discuss the potential impacts and benefits of the project and proposed service was held with attendance from stakeholders.

This session would discuss:

• The analysis to identify these environmental justice communities in accordance with recent executive orders and Title VI
• The inventive ways the community was engaged, the feedback from the communities on the engagement process
• How this engagement was incorporated into the project
• Challenges and lessons learned throughout the engagement process

Mike Washington
Equity Consultant
HDR, Inc. 

Mike Washington supports HDR’s National Equity Services program and is a national lead in our Transportation Business Group Equity Services team. Mike is an equity and government affairs expert who brings a wealth of knowledge in equitable transportation policy, government relations, environmental justice, public engagement, and communication strategies. Mike brings over 15 years of urban planning and policy experience with an emphasis in equitable transportation planning. He is also adept at coaching executive-level management seeking socially equitable outcomes, recognized as a civil rights expert, and experienced in engaging elected officials and CEOs.

Sabrina Meadows
Environmental Planner
HDR, Inc. 

Sabrina is an Environmental Planner specializing in the development of NEPA documents and other transportation projects. Her background includes calculating environmental impacts using GIS and other methods, supporting the analysis and documentation of various resource areas, supporting public involvement efforts, and developing client-facing documents. Sabrina is a deputy project manager for a variety of transportation projects in Colorado that focus on socio-economic challenges. She has been a part of the formation of the Environmental Justice and Equity business group that is in the Denver HDR office and has a passion for ensuring all people are appropriately included in the decision-making process.