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NAEP Annual NEPA Report – 2012
The National Association of Environmental Professionals’ (NAEP’s) National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Practice (formerly known as the NEPA Working Group) is pleased to present our sixth NEPA Annual Report. This report contains summaries of the latest developments in NEPA as well as the NEPA Practice’s efforts for the past year. This annual report is prepared and published through the initiative and volunteer efforts of members of the NAEP’s NEPA Practice. In the 2011 Annual Report we noted considerable effort was being expended to “streamline” the NEPA process. As discussed in this year’s NEPA Regulatory Update, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21), and Legislative Update—this theme continues. As NEPA practitioners we welcome efforts to improve the process while ensuring the integrity of decision-making and sound environmental analysis. We also urge caution to not lose sight of what we expect from the NEPA process—good decision-making and agency disclosure. Consider what business gurus Chip and Dan Heath say about business decision-making: Q: “How do you institutionalize good decision-making in your organization? Q: “With so much information available, how come we’re not making better decisions?” If business savvy organizations do not have something like the NEPA process to follow, they need to create it. Perhaps this is a new, untapped market for environmental professionals! In terms of agency disclosure, it is important to remember what the NEPA process means to state and local governments, Tribes, and other potential stakeholders. During a series of hearings before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Resources, numerous speakers stressed the importance of the NEPA process. The mayor of Albuquerque succinctly stated: “I participated in scoping and comment periods and I have often relied upon NEPA to keep me abreast of Federal management activities and projects that impacted places where I worked or recreated. As a councilor, I see NEPA as an important avenue of communication between local government and the Federal Government. I consider NEPA to be primarily a planning tool. This law gives us a clear and predictable planning framework that citizens and communities can use in order to participate in decisions affecting local public lands and these decisions have a huge impact on local economies and cultural and recreational resources. Many citizens and local governments rely upon the structure that NEPA provides to understand the impacts and alternatives associated with a nearby federally funded project...NEPA is among our best tools for planning Federal projects. It gives voice to our citizenry and provides a predictable avenue for democratic involvement...” – Martin Heinrich, City Councilor, Albuquerque, NM, Testimony Before the Committee on Resources Task Force on Improving the National Environmental Policy Act U.S. House of Representatives, August 1, 2005 Environmental professionals are innovative problem solvers. Working through organizations such as NAEP, we can identify practical ways to improve the NEPA process while ensuring the integrity of decision-making and meaningful public involvement.
For a full copy of the report click here to join NAEP – NAEP Membership Application For an excerpt of the report click here - https://naep.memberclicks.net/assets/nepawg2012annualreportcondensed.pdf If you are already a member of NAEP and need assistance logging onto the NAEP website please email Abby Murray at [email protected]. |
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