[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 131 (Tuesday, July 9, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45510-45512]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-17082]
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COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
National Environmental Policy Act Task Force
AGENCY: Council on Environmental Quality.
ACTION: Notice and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) has formed a
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) task force (Task Force)
composed of representatives from a variety of Federal agencies. The
purpose of the NEPA Task Force is to seek ways to improve and modernize
NEPA analyses and documentation and to foster improved coordination
among all levels of government and the public. Federal agencies'
planning and decision-making processes (analyses conducted and
documents produced) using NEPA can obtain higher levels of efficiency,
clarity and ease of management through the improved use of existing
authorities; better information management; improved interagency and
intergovernmental collaboration; and the use of new technologies. CEQ
invites comments on the proposed nature and scope of NEPA Task Force
activities identified in this notice and solicits examples of effective
NEPA implementation practices to develop a publication of case studies
including examples of best practices.
DATES: Written comments should be submitted on or before August 23,
2002.
ADDRESSES: Electronic or facsimile comments are preferred because
federal offices experience intermittent mail delays from security
screening. Electronic written comments can be sent to the NEPA Task
Force through the NEPA Task Force link on the CEQ web site at http://www.whitehouse.gov/ceq. Written comments may be faxed to the NEPA Task
Force at (801) 517-1021. Written comments may also be submitted to the
NEPA Task Force, P.O. Box 221150, Salt Lake City, UT 84122. Public
comments received by the NEPA Task Force will be available via the NEPA
Task Force link on the CEQ web site at http://www.whitehouse.gov/ceq.
after the close of the comment period.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rhey Solomon at (202) 456-5432.
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SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On May 20, 2002, CEQ established a NEPA Task
Force to review the current NEPA implementing practices and procedures
in the following areas: Technology and information management;
interagency and intergovernmental collaboration including joint-lead
processes; programmatic analyses and subsequent tiered documents; and
adaptive management. In addition, the NEPA Task Force will look at
other NEPA implementation issues such as the level of detail included
in agencies' procedures and documentation for promulgating categorical
exclusions; the structure and documentation of environmental
assessments; and implementation practices that would benefit other
agencies. CEQ envisions the information gained and disseminated by the
NEPA Task Force will help federal agencies update their practices and
procedures and better integrate NEPA into federal agency decision
making. At the end of six months, the NEPA Task Force will prepare a
publication highlighting case studies and any best practices that prove
worthy of broad dissemination. Additionally, the NEPA Task Force will
make recommendations to CEQ regarding potential guidance and potential
regulatory changes based upon the information collected. Any regulatory
changes would require public notice and comment and be published in the
Federal Register.
To further the work of the NEPA Task Force, CEQ requests public
input on certain aspects of Federal agencies' implementation of the
National Environmental Policy Act. To make the best use of comments and
further refine the initial topic areas on which the Task Force will
focus, please respond to the following questions to help the NEPA Task
Force identify current best practices and specific opportunities to
enhance the NEPA process. If you are submitting a proposed case study
or best practice, please provide a short description of the case or
practice and how it responded to the relevant questions below. If you
are sending attachments or supporting documents with your comment,
please send a hard copy of the documents or an e-mail with them
directly attached to ensure delivery and receipt. While URL and web-
site links are helpful, please provide the information in your comment
and do not rely on URL and web-site links alone. To facilitate managing
the comments, please identify the question number(s) to which you are
responding in study areas A through F below.
A. Technology, Information Management, and Information Security:
The NEPA Task Force will explore opportunities for utilizing
information management technologies to enhance the effectiveness and
efficiency of the NEPA process. Specific examples of innovative
technical approaches to the assessment and communication of potential
environmental impacts are sought. Examples include use of geographic
information system (GIS) software, document creation and comment
management systems. The handling of sensitive infrastructure and
operational information will be reviewed. The Task Force seeks your
input on this topic and requests responses to the following questions.
1. Where do you find data and background studies to either prepare
NEPA analyses or to provide input or to review and prepare comments on
NEPA analyses? The information may include scientific and statistical
information in printed or electronic form. Examples include but are not
limited to species or wetlands inventories, air quality data, field
surveys, predictive models, and trend analyses.
2. What are the barriers or challenges faced in using information
technologies in the NEPA process? What factors should be considered in
assessing and validating the quality of the information?
3. Do you maintain databases and other sources of environmental
information for environmental analyses? Are these information sources
standing or project specific? Please describe any protocols or
standardization efforts that you feel should be utilized in the
development and maintenance of these systems.
4. What information management and retrieval tools do you use to
access, query, and manipulate data when preparing analyses or reviewing
analyses? What are the key functions and characteristics of these
systems?
5. What are your preferred methods of conveying or receiving
information about proposed actions and NEPA analyses and for receiving
NEPA documents (e.g., paper, CD-ROM, web-site, public meeting, radio,
television)? Explain the basis for your preferences.
6. What information management technologies have been particularly
effective in communicating with stakeholders about environmental issues
and incorporating environmental values into agency planning and
decision making (e.g., web sites to gather public input or inform the
public about a proposed action or technological tools to manage public
comments)? What objections or concerns have been raised concerning the
use of tools (e.g., concerns about broad public access)?
7. What factors should be considered in balancing public
involvement and information security?
B. Federal and Inter-governmental Collaboration: The NEPA Task
Force will identify current best practices with regard to collaboration
among Federal agencies and on an inter-governmental basis with Tribal,
State and local governing entities in developing environmental analyses
and participating in the NEPA process. The Task Force seeks your input
on this topic and requests responses to the following questions (when
answering the following questions, please indicate your role and
experiences with NEPA).
1. What are the characteristics of an effective joint-lead or
cooperating agency relationship/process? Provide example(s) and
describe the issues resolved and benefits gained, as well as unresolved
issues and obstacles. Such examples may include, but are not limited
to, differences in agencies' policies, funding limitations, and public
perceptions.
2. What barriers or challenges preclude or hinder the ability to
enter into effective collaborative agreements that establish joint-lead
or cooperating agency status?
3. What specific areas should be emphasized during training to
facilitate joint-lead and cooperating agency status?
C. Programmatic Analysis and Tiering: Opportunities to facilitate
timely planning and decision-making to reduce or eliminate redundant
and duplicative analyses through the use of programmatic and tiered
analyses will be explored. To date, Federal agencies have used
programmatic analyses to address a range of issues from facility and
land use planning to broad categories of actions, or to sequencing or
staging actions. All of these analyses may have subsequent tiered
analyses. The Task Force seeks your input on this topic and requests
responses to the following questions.
1. What types of issues best lend themselves to programmatic
review, and how can they best be addressed in a programmatic analysis
to avoid duplication in subsequent tiered analysis? Please provide
examples with brief descriptions of the nature of the action or
program, decisions made, factors used to evaluate the appropriate depth
of the analyses, and the efficiencies realized by the analysis or in
subsequent tiers.
2. Please provide examples of how programmatic analyses have been
used to develop, maintain and strengthen
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environmental management systems, and examples of how an existing
environmental management system can facilitate and strengthen NEPA
analyses. Examples of an environmental management system may include
but are not limited to systems certified under ISO 14001 (further
information on ISO 14001 can be found on the Web at http://es.epa.gov/partners/iso/iso.html).
D. Adaptive Management/Monitoring and Evaluation Plans: The CEQ
report, ``The National Environmental Policy Act: A study of Its
Effectiveness After Twenty-five Years'', recognized that by
incorporating adaptive management into their NEPA analyses, agencies
can move beyond simple compliance and better target environmental
improvement. An adaptive environmental management approach can respond
to uncertainty and the limits of knowledge and experience in making
decisions. Such an approach allows for approval of an action with
uncertain outcomes by establishing performance-based environmental
parameters or outcomes and monitoring to ensure that they are achieved.
When those parameters or outcomes are not met, corrective changes would
be triggered, for instance to ensure that significant environmental
degradation does not occur. The Task Force seeks your input on this
topic and requests responses to the following questions.
1. What factors are considered when deciding to use an adaptive
management approach?
2. How can environmental impact analyses be structured to consider
adaptive management?
3. What aspects of adaptive management may, or may not, require
subsequent NEPA analyses?
4. What factors should be considered (e.g., cost, timing, staffing
needs, environmental risks) when determining what monitoring techniques
and levels of monitoring intensity are appropriate during the
implementation of an adaptive management regime? How does this differ
from current monitoring activities?
E. Categorical Exclusions: Agencies can identify categories of
actions that do not individually or cumulatively have a significant
effect on the human environment and which, therefore, do not require
preparation of an Environmental Assessment or an Environmental Impact
Statement. The NEPA Task Force will consider the bases and process for
establishing categorical exclusions. The Task Force seeks your input on
this topic and requests responses to the following questions.
1. What information, data studies, etc., should be required as the
basis for establishing a categorical exclusion?
2. What points of comparison could an agency use when reviewing
another agency's use of a similar categorical exclusion in order to
establish a new categorical exclusion?
3. Are improvements needed in the process that agencies use to
establish a new categorical exclusion? If so, please describe them.
F. Additional Areas for Consideration: In addition to the topics
described above, the NEPA Task Force will consider comments on NEPA
practices that would improve and modernize NEPA implementation.
For example, the NEPA Task Force requests public comment on the
appropriate utility of and structure of format for environmental
assessment documents.
The Nepa Task Force will use the information and comments it
receives to identify, evaluate, and make recommendations on improving
NEPA implementation and to prepare case studies that include examples
of best practices.
Public comments are requested by August 23, 2002.
Dated: July 2, 2002.
James L. Connaughton,
Chairman, Council on Environmental Quality.
[FR Doc. 02-17082 Filed 7-8-02; 8:45 am]
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