# Presentation: 290637

## National Environmental Policy Act Update: Where it All Comes Together

- June 14, 2005

## Overview

- Handbook
- Training
- Farm Bill
- White House/CEQ Efforts

## National Environmental Compliance Handbook

- NEPA
- ESA
- Special Environmental Concerns
- Revised CPA-52, Environmental Evaluation Worksheet

## National Environmental Compliance Handbook

- 	 Available on the internet at:
- _[http://policy.nrcs.usda.gov/](http://policy.nrcs.usda.gov/)_
- Click on “Handbooks”
- Click on “National Environmental Compliance Handbook”

## National Environmental Compliance Handbook

- 	Revised: Distribution and Publication of Environmental Documents
- FR Notices go to MSD, not FR.... BUT!
- Draft, final and supplemental EIS’s go to EPA, no Notice of Availability needed
- Draft, final and supplemental EIS’s go to Interior

## Training

- 	Environmental Compliance Curriculum:
- Environmental Compliance for Conservation Assistance (EC Level 1)
- Environmental Compliance for Programs and Projects (EC Level 2)
- Environmental Procedures and Report Writing for Programs and Projects (EC Level 3)

## Training

- 	Environmental Compliance for Conservation Assistance (EC Level 1)
- Web-Based
- Audience:  NRCS, TSPs
- Required for Certified Conservation Planners
- Currently being reviewed

## Training

- 	Environmental Compliance for Conservation Assistance (EC Level 1)
- Understanding the NRCS NEPA Process and How it Relates to Planning
- Identifying and Addressing Special Environmental Concerns during the Environmental Evaluation
- Completing the CPA-52, “Environmental Evaluation Worksheet”
- Endangered Species Act

## Training

- 	Environmental Compliance for Programs and Projects (EC Level 2)
- Web-Based
- Audience:  State Office Employees Responsible for Programs, Watershed Projects or Environmental Compliance Issues, Including ESA
- Prerequisite: EC Level 1
- Currently being reviewed

## Training

- 	Environmental Compliance for Programs and Projects (EC Level 2)
- Recognize where, when, and how environmental laws, regulations, executive orders apply to NRCS activities
- Describe the processes, resources, and documents used to satisfy environmental requirements (EE/Catx, EA/FONSI, EIS/ROD)
- Define the components of an EA and an EIS; and
- Describe ESA documents

## Training

- 	Environmental Procedures and Report Writing for Programs and Projects (EC Level 3)
- Classroom-Based
- Audience:  State Office and Other Employees Involved in Writing NEPA Documents or Carrying Out the Process
- Prerequisites:  EC Levels 1 and 2
- Pilot completed; materials being revised

## Training

- 	Environmental Procedures and Report Writing for Programs and Projects (EC Level 3)
- Review and Apply EC Level 2 Concepts
- Develop and prepare NEPA Documents
- Manage complex/controversial NEPA processes

## Training

- 	Environmental Procedures and Report Writing for Programs and Projects (EC Level 3)
- Practice Writing EAs & EISs
- Case Studies

## Farm Bill

- EAs & FONSIs for:
- EQIP
- AMA
- FRLPP
- GRP
- CSP
- EIS for EWP

## Slide 15

## Farm Bill

- Farm bill program purpose to address resource concerns
- Resource concerns addressed by implementing conservation practices
- Conservation practices are the actions directly affecting the environment

## Farm Bill

- Impacts
- Most frequently used practices to achieve program purposes identified
- Network diagrams and description of practice effects
- Commitment to consult with other agencies and avoid, minimize and mitigate adverse effects according to NRCS policies

## Slide 18

## Farm Bill Programs

- Security Program

- CSP: Does EE Apply?
- YES!!

## Farm Bill Programs

- Security Program

- CSP: Does EE Apply?
- EE’s are part of the planning process
- CSP provides for follow-up and field-based verification
- If you need to go to the field to check, go to the field!

## Cooperative Conservation

- Executive Order 13352, “Facilitation of Cooperative Conservation” (August 26, 2004)
- “actions that relate to use, enhancement, and enjoyment of natural resources, protection of the environment, or both, and that involve collaborative activity among Federal, State, local, and tribal governments, private for-profit and nonprofit institutions, other nongovernmental entities and individuals.”

## Slide 22

## Slide 23

## Cooperative Conservation

- Cooperating Agency Reports to CEQ
- Now required only annually!
- The report for the period October 1, 2004 through September 20, 2005 will be due no later than January 3, 2006

## Cooperative Conservation

- Cooperating Agency Reports to CEQ
- Minor changes in reported information
- EAs completed during reporting period
- EISs started during reporting period

## Cooperative Conservation

- Environmental Conflict Resolution
- Addresses contentious disputes and controversies related to natural resources, development and growth, individual and community health, and similar concerns
- A process of negotiation allowing stakeholders in a dispute to reach a mutually satisfactory agreement on their own terms
- Tools include facilitation, mediation, and conflict assessment

## Cooperative Conservation

- Environmental Conflict Resolution
- US Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution -- Udall Institute
- Alternative Dispute Resolution Staff
- Deputy Chief, Management
- Linda Varner Mount, Acting Director

## Modernizing NEPA

- Adaptive Management and Environmental Management Systems
- Aligning NEPA and Other Laws
- Categorical Exclusions
- Collaboration

## Modernizing NEPA

- Environmental Assessments
- Programmatic Analyses
- Training

## What do you want to see 
on the web?

*on the web?*

## Slide 31

## Questions?