This training course will present the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) practitioner with a set of practical skills for preparing either an Environmental Assessment (EA) / Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) or Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and includes all the required content, as well as practical skills for safely leaving out unnecessary content. NEPA lessons will come from various project examples.
Major themes include: how to make the findings required by law; timing the NEPA process to the decision making process; eight good legal reasons not to prepare an EIS; scoping a reasonable range of alternatives; writing the “perfect” cumulative effects analysis; and administrative record. This course includes a substantial handout with graphic models, updated case lists that support the models, and sample documents. Each attendee may keep the handout to serve as a reference in the workplace.
$50 discount: This course is part of the Midwest Water and Policy Workshop Series. Attendees will receive an additional $50 discount off their order total when registering at the same time for "The New Approaches and Implementation Methods for Municipal Stormwater Management" or "The Ecological Significance of High Flows on Alluvial Rivers."
$100 discount: Attendees will receive a $100 discount off their order total when registering for all three courses at the same time.
*Reduced tuition is available to employees of Native American tribes, government agencies, nonprofits, students and NAEP members. You may register online or by calling the Northwest Environmental Training Center at (425) 270-3274.
Please wait to receive a course confirmation email, roughly one month prior to the class, before making any travel arrangements.
This workshop is designed to serve both as a comprehensive introduction for those new to NEPA and a refresher for more experienced professionals. The course is beneficial for federal agency staff and decision makers, attorneys, consultants, as well as members of environmental organizations and interested citizens who are concerned about the environmental effects of federal actions. Those who have taken this course in years past will benefit from updated materials based on the newest judicial opinions. Even those who have worked with NEPA their entire careers will stand to learn more about the secrets to successful NEPA compliance.
DAY 1
Writing the Perfect FONSI
Ultimate conclusions
Basic conclusions
Evidence
Reasons
Timing the NEPA process to the decision making process
Idea
Proposal
Recommendation or report
Decision action
Monitoring, supplements
Eight good reasons not to prepare an EIS
Writing the perfect EA or EIS
Eight plain-language questions any EA or EIS should readily answer
Writing the perfect ROD
Double winnowing
SCOPE: Alternatives
Proposal for action
Need underlying the proposal
Action alternatives:
- Alternative places to go
- Alternative ways to get there
No-action alternative
Mitigation not included in the proposal
Decision factors
Writing the perfect cumulative impacts analysis
Actions:
-Reasons to lump
-Reasons to split
Impacts:
-Direct, indirect, and cumulative
-Increments to past, other present, and reasonably
foreseeable future actions
Writing the perfect cumulative impacts analysis, continued
Administrative Record
DAY 2
SCOPE: Alternatives
Proposal for action
Need underlying the proposal
Action alternatives:
- Alternative places to go
- Alternative ways to get there
No-action alternative
Mitigation not included in the proposal
Decision factors
Writing the perfect cumulative impacts analysis
Actions:
-Reasons to lump
-Reasons to split
Impacts:
-Direct, indirect, and cumulative
-Increments to past, other present, and reasonably
foreseeable future actions
Writing the perfect cumulative impacts analysis, continued
Administrative Record
Attendees will receive a course manual containing workshop proceedings and reference material.
Pen or pencil to take notes. Please wear comfortable clothing appropriate for the prevailing weather. Coffee, tea and light snacks will be provided. You will be on your own for lunch.