[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 56 (Wednesday, March 23, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Page 16391]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-6760]
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COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Call for Innovative National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
Pilot Project Proposals
AGENCY: Council On Environmental Quality.
ACTION: Notice of Availability, Call for Innovative National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Pilot Project Proposals.
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SUMMARY: The Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ)
invites the public and federal agencies to nominate innovative pilot
projects that accomplish the NEPA goals of transparency and informed
decisionmaking in a more timely and effective manner. Nominations will
be accepted via online submission until June 15, 2011. CEQ will track
and publicize the progress of selected pilot projects as part of its
NEPA Pilot Program, to identify and promote more efficient ways to do
effective environmental reviews that can be replicated across the
Federal Government. The NEPA Pilot Project Program is part of CEQ's
broad effort to modernize and reinvigorate federal agency
implementation of NEPA through innovation, public engagement, and
transparency. The NEPA Pilot Program will also facilitate a review
under section 6 of Executive Order 13563, ``Improving Regulation and
Regulatory Review,'' of provisions of CEQ's NEPA Regulations that may
be outmoded, ineffective, insufficient, or excessively burdensome. 76
FR 3821, Jan. 21, 2011; 40 CFR 1500-1508.
DATES: The Call for Innovative National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
Pilot Project Proposals is available as of March 17, 2011. Nominations
may be submitted online until June 15, 2011, and will not be considered
after that date.
ADDRESSES: The Call for Innovative National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA) Pilot Project Proposals and online nomination submission form is
available at http://whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ceq/initiatives/nepa/nepa-pilot-project.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Katie Scharf, Deputy General Counsel,
Council on Environmental Quality, 202-456-2464.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On March 17, 2011, the Council on
Environmental Quality (CEQ) issued a Call for Innovative National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Pilot Project Proposals, inviting the
public and federal agencies, to nominate innovative pilot projects that
accomplish the NEPA goals of transparency and informed decisionmaking
in a more timely and effective manner. Nominations may be submitted
online at http://whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ceq/initiatives/nepa/nepa-pilot-project. Nominations will be accepted until June 15,
2011, and will be publicly posted on the CEQ Web site, http://www.whitehouse.gov/ceq. CEQ will not consider nominations submitted
after June 15, 2011.
In consultation with a panel of agency NEPA experts, CEQ will
select up to five (5) nominated pilot projects for further study and
trial implementation, based on their potential to: (1) Reduce the costs
and/or time needed to complete the NEPA process; (2) ensure
environmental protection; (3) improve the quality and transparency of
Federal agency decision-making; and (4) yield replicable best practices
or procedural innovations that can be replicated by other agencies or
applied to other Federal actions or programs so as to improve NEPA
implementation beyond a specific project. CEQ will coordinate with
relevant agencies to track project implementation for the purpose of
evaluating and publicizing the efficiencies realized. These outcomes
will be published on the CEQ Web site and on the NEPA Web site,
nepa.gov. Where appropriate, CEQ will advocate that agencies
incorporate these best practices into new or revised NEPA procedures.
Accordingly, the NEPA Pilot Program will facilitate a review under
section 6 of Executive Order 13563, ``Improving Regulation and
Regulatory Review,'' of provisions of CEQ's NEPA Regulations that may
be outmoded, ineffective, insufficient, or excessively burdensome. 76
FR 3821, Jan. 21, 2011; 40 CFR 1500-1508.
(Authority: 42 U.S.C. 4342, 4344)
Dated: March 17, 2011.
Nancy H. Sutley,
Chair.
[FR Doc. 2011-6760 Filed 3-22-11; 8:45 am]
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