Knight & Leavitt Associates can take your project through the NEPA process and/or represent your interests with the agencies involved in permitting. In these days of agency cuts we can push paperwork through and get your project to the permitting stage in the shortest time possible.
NEPA AND AGENCY REPRESENTATION
- Environmental Assessments (EA) and Environmental Impact Statements (EIS)
- Representation of Clients with Federal, State, and Local Agencies
NEPA establishes a public, interdisciplinary framework for Federal decision-making and ensures that agencies take environmental factors into account when considering Federal actions. NEPA does not mandate protection of the environment. Instead, it requires agencies to follow a particular process in making decisions and to disclose the information/data that was used to support those decisions.
NEPA mandates that each agency develops procedures for implementing the basic NEPA requirements. The agencies’ procedures are adopted as federal regulations after input from the public and approval of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). Agencies can also develop policies to complement their regulations.
NEPA requires agencies to follow a three-step review process:
- Conduct a preliminary screening for NEPA’s applicability (NEPA is not required for proposed actions that are considered “categorical exclusions,” for example);
- Prepare an Environmental Assessment (EA) to determine whether an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is required; and
- Prepare an EIS if required (an EIS is required if a proposed action may “significantly affect the quality of the human environment”).
Additional information can be found on the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) website.