i I i i 

QUERY BY A

FOR MORE INFORMATION 

EXAMPLE NEPA DOCUMENT COLLECTION QUERY BY G

NREL is a national laboratory o

and Renewable E

Geothermal NEPA Database on OpenEI 

BACKGROUND DOCUMENT SOURCES 

DOCUMENTS COLLECTED 

Types of documents collected include: 

 Application Files  Casual Use Documents  Determination of NEPA Adequacy (DNA) Worksheets  Categorical Exclusion Approvals  BLM Serial Register Pages  Environmental Assessment Reports  Environmental Impact Statement Reports  Decision Record Documents  Findings of No Significant Impact (FONSI) 

Documents 

T 

Source Type of Data Comments on Available Data Internet Search EA and EIS reports Some EA and EIS reports were available via the internet, 

largely because they were temporarily being made 

available for public comment 

BLM eNEPA Database https://www.blm.gov/epl-frontoffice/eplanning/nepa/nepa_reg 

ister.do 

CX and DNA Worksheets, EA and EIS reports for BLM projects 

Records date from 2011; contains links to CX, DNA, EA, and EIS documents; not complete for all offices 

BLM LR2000 http://www.blm.gov/lr2000/ 

BLM serial register pages with dates 

BLM serial register pages (Case records for transaction records of leases, Rights of Way, Notice of Intent for 

exploration); records date from 1970s 

Individual BLM Field Office Websites 

EA and EIS reports open for public comment for BLM projects 

NEPA documents that are temporarily available. Some 

offices’ records date back to 2008; not complete for all offices, must know that documents exist, offices do not maintain a list of geothermal projects 

Field Office Paper Files BLM reports, applications, 

FONSIs, decisions 

Geothermal project files, records date from 1980s, most complete source, document numbers are required for request 

DOE NEPA Database 

http://energy.gov/nepa/nepadocuments 

Reports, FONSIs, decisions, for DOE projects 

Reported to have a complete set of data for DOE-led NEPA analyses from 2008 to the present 

Type of Document Collection 

# of Database 

Entries 

Perm t 

Applications1 Reports FONS s Dec s ons 

Casual Use 26 18 19 NA 20 Determinations of NEPA Adequacy 30 1 27 NA 27 

Categorical Exclusions 53 17 13 (not common) NA 53 

Environmental Assessments 61 2 50 39 17 

Environmental Impact Statements 6 0 5 NA 4 TOTALS 178 38 114 39 70 

Document # Analysis Type 

LLNVWO1000-2009-0034-CX 

CX 

TDC

NVN-087791 CU 

TDC

NVN-087811 CU T

D

NVN-087812 CU T

D

DOI-BLM-NVW010-2010-0004-EA 

EA T

L

DOI-BLM-NVW010–2012– 

0005–EA 

EA T

L

QUERY BY 

 Data were collected to inform analyses of NEPA timelines.  Collected data were made publically available via NEPA Database in case others might find the data useful.  NREL used a wiki platform to allow industry and agencies to maintain the content in the future (if desired) so that it 

continues to provide relevant information to users. 

 The long-term success of the NEPA Database will depend on the willingness of federal agencies, industry, and others 

to populate the database with NEPA and related documents, and to use the data for their own analyses. 

 As the information and capabilities of the database expand, developers and agencies can save time on new NEPA 

reports by accessing a single location to research related activities, their potential impacts, and previously proposed and imposed mitigation measures. 

Goal Review historical geothermal NEPA timelines to identify potential areas for reducing timelines while maintaining goals of NEPA. 

Barrier Collective NEPA timeline for a single project can be long and can take up a significant portion of the geothermal development timeline. 

Review potential impacts 

to nearby resources along 

with applicant-proposed and 

agency-imposed 

mitigation 

Have a project you’re 

Use the database to review p

in the same area as your proj

Read the full paper at: Young, Katherine R. and Aaron Levine, Geothermal National Environmental Policy Act Database on Publically Available Open Energy Information Website, Geothermal Resource Council, Transactions, Volume 38. (2014) 

Document # Analysis Type DOI-BLM-CA-670-2010-CX CX 

DOI-BLM-ID-T020-2012-

0003-CX CX 

DOI-BLM-NV-C010-2010-0008-CX CX 

DOI-BLM-NV-C010-2011-0004-CX CX 

DOI-BLM-NV-CO1000-2010-0010-CX CX 

DOI-BLM-NV-CO1000-2010-0022-CX CX 

DOI-BLM-NV-W010-2010-0041-CX CX 

DOI-BLM-NV-W010-2010-0043-CX CX 

DOI-BLM-NV-W030-2010-0021-CX CX 

DOI-BLM-NV-W030-2011-0007-CX CX 

DOI-BLM-OR-P000-2010-0003-EA EA 

EXAMPLE: New York C

EXAMPLE: Seismic Su

Visit the NEPA Database on the RAPID toolkit http://en.openei.org/wiki/NEPA 

1Note that we expect the number of permit applications collected in our database to be low (compared to the collection of other documents), because many of these are 

proprietary. Only publically available permit applications were included in the database. 

NEPA Document Collection for: DOI-BLM-NV-C010-2010-0006-EA Gabbs Valley and Dead Horse Wells Geothermal Exploration Projects EA 

View documents in 

the document 

collection 

Scan (and query by) metadata 

collected for the activity 

Review the proposed action 

Document # 

Analysis 

Type 

Project Type 

DOI-BLM-CA670-2010-CX EA GeothermDOI-BLM-NVC010-2010-

0008-EA 

EA Geotherm

DOI-BLM-NVC010-2010-

0008-CX 

EA Geotherm

EXAMPLE: Air Quality 

CU – Casual Use CX – Categorical Exclusion DNA – Determination of NEPA Adequacy 

EA – Environmental Assessment EIS – Environmental Impact Statement FONSI – Finding of No Significant Impact 

Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO) under Contract No. DE-AC36-08-GO28308 with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE),