Opinion ID: 613914
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Service's Policy Regarding NEPA and Split Estates

Text: The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, Pub.L. No. 91-190, 83 Stat. 852 (NEPA) requires federal agencies to file an environmental impact study (EIS) before taking any major federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment. 42 U.S.C. § 4332(C). The Service completed EISs in 1986 and 2007 in connection with adoption of a Forest Plan for the ANF, which governs the Service's management of the forest. The Service did not suspend the issuance of NTPs during these EISs. The Service also occasionally conducted an Environmental Assessment (EA)a summary environmental analysis less demanding than an EISwhen issuing certain NTPs. Although only limited information on these EAs is available, they appear to have been completed quite promptly and within the 60-day Minard Run I framework. However, until recently, the Service took the position that issuance of an NTP to a mineral rights owner was not a major federal action requiring environmental analysis under NEPA because the Service's rights as surface owner were so limited. (J.A. 182-83 (testimony before Congress), 185-86 (legal opinion provided to Congress).) When interacting with mineral rights owners in the ANF, the Service viewed itself as a resource management agency negotiating use of jointly owned land, not as a regulatory agency issuing permits.