[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]
BILLING CODE 3125-01-M