[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 188 (Monday, September 29, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55954-55955]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-24527]


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COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY


National Environmental Policy Act Task Force

AGENCY: Council on Environmental Quality.

ACTION: Notice of availability and public meetings.

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SUMMARY: The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) established a 
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Task Force to review the 
current NEPA implementing practices and procedures in the following 
areas: Technology and information management; Federal and 
intergovernmental collaboration; programmatic analyses and subsequent 
tiered documents; and adaptive management and monitoring. In addition, 
the NEPA Task Force reviewed 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 other implementation 
practices that would benefit federal agencies.
    CEQ announces the availability of ``The Task Force Report to the 
Council on Environmental Quality--Modernizing NEPA Implementation'' 
that was published and presented to CEQ on September 24, 2003. The 
Report contains recommendations designed to improve federal agency 
decision making by modernizing the NEPA process. To further the work of 
the NEPA Task Force, CEQ will hold a series of regional public 
roundtables to raise public awareness of the NEPA Task Force draft 
recommendations and discuss the recommendations and their 
implementation. The first public roundtable will be held in Shelton, 
Washington on October 30-31, 2003, at the Squaxin Island Library and 
Research Center. Representatives from important constituent groups that 
have worked on NEPA issues have been invited to

[[Page 55955]]

participate in a discussion of the recommendations. The Squaxin Island 
Library and Research Center, dedicated in 2002, is a gathering and 
meeting place where all generations can communicate and share in the 
living culture and traditions of the Tribe and the environment of South 
Pugel Sound. Information about the Center is at http://www.squaxinisland.org/pages/mlrc/mlrcinfo.html. The Squaxin Island 
people are opening their Center to serve in its traditional role as a 
meeting and learning center for the community. The center is located 
about sixty miles south of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and can 
be reached from the airport by taking I-5 S to US-101 N, and then 
proceeding right onto SE Old Olympic HWY, right onto SE Klah Che Min 
Drive and right onto SE Squaxin Drive. Announcements of future 
roundtables will be published on the NEPA Task Force web site and in 
the Federal Register.

DATES: The first NEPA Task Force recommendations public roundtable will 
be held on October 30 and 31 at the Squaxin Island Library and Research 
Center located at 70 SE Squaxin Lane, Shelton, Washington 98584. The 
session on October 30 will begin at 9 a.m. and interested members of 
the public will have an opportunity to present their views at 3:30 p.m. 
following the roundtable discussion. That session will end in the 
evening after the public's views have been presented. The session on 
October 31 will begin at 9 a.m. and interested members of the public 
will have an opportunity to present their views at 11 a.m. following 
the roundtable discussion.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties can review the Task Force report via the 
CEQ Web site at http://www.whitehouse.gov/ceq/ or the NEPA Task Force 
Web site at http://www.ceq.eh.doe.gov/ntf/. If you would like a printed 
copy, please mail a request to The NEPA Task Force, 722 Jackson Place, 
NW., Washington, DC 20585, or contact Bill Perhach at (202) 395-0826 to 
request a copy.

    Dated: September 24, 2003.
James L. Connaughton,
Chairman, Council on Environmental Quality.
[FR Doc. 03-24527 Filed 9-26-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3125-01-M