Opinion ID: 4541138
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Statutory and Regulatory Frameworks

Text: NEPA requires federal agencies to analyze environmental consequences before initiating actions that potentially affect the environment. The Act has two broad aims. First, it “places upon an agency the obligation to consider every significant aspect of the environmental impact of a proposed action.” Forest Guardians v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Serv., 611 F.3d 692, 711 (10th Cir. 2010). Second, it ensures “that the agency will inform the public that it has indeed considered environmental concerns in its decisionmaking process.” Id. NEPA does not mandate any particular substantive result. Instead, it “prescribes the necessary process” that must accompany agency action. Robertson v. Methow Valley Citizens Council, 490 U.S. 332, 350 (1989). One of the hallmarks of NEPA is that agencies must prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) when a proposed project will “significantly affect[] the quality of the human environment.” 42 U.S.C. § 4332(2)(C). An EIS “involves the most rigorous analysis” that an agency may be required to perform. See Utah Envtl. Cong. v. Bosworth, 443 F.3d 732, 736 (10th Cir. 2006). NEPA’s implementing regulations establish a tiered framework for agencies to consider in -3- deciding whether an EIS is necessary. 2 The regulations contemplate three categories into which a proposed project might fall. First, the action may be of the type that is generally so significant that it “[n]ormally requires an environmental impact statement.” 40 C.F.R. § 1501.4(a)(1). Next, the action may be of uncertain significance, in which case the agency will prepare an environmental assessment (EA)—a more concise document designed to determine whether a full EIS is necessary. 40 C.F.R. § 1501.4(b)–(c). Finally, the action may be categorically excluded, meaning it normally does not require either an EA or an EIS. 40 C.F.R. § 1501.4(a)(2). Categorical exclusions come in one of two varieties: those established by regulations and those established by statutes. Implementing regulations define regulatory categorical exclusions as “a category of actions which do not individually or cumulatively have a significant effect on the human environment and which have been found to have no such effect in procedures adopted by a Federal agency . . . and for which, therefore, neither an environmental assessment nor an environmental impact statement is required.” 40 C.F.R. § 1508.4. 2 The Council on Environmental Quality is responsible for implementing NEPA’s requirements by promulgating binding regulations. See 42 U.S.C. §§ 4342, 4344(3); 40 C.F.R. §§ 1501–08. Agencies such as the Forest Service comply with the Council’s regulations by adopting supplemental procedures. See, e.g., 36 C.F.R. § 220.1 et seq. -4- Although regulatory categorical exclusions generally do not require an EA or an EIS, implementing regulations provide that where “extraordinary circumstances” exist such that “a normally excluded action may have a significant environmental effect,” the agency must engage in one of the more thorough forms of review before proceeding. See 40 C.F.R. § 1508.4; 36 C.F.R. § 220.6(b). Thus, when relying on a regulatory categorical exclusion, the Forest Service performs minimal procedures to assess whether such extraordinary circumstances exist. 36 C.F.R. § 220.6(b). We refer to these procedures as extraordinary circumstances review. 3 In addition to regulatory categorical exclusions, Congress has intervened to establish certain statutory categorical exclusions. See, e.g., 16 U.S.C. § 6591b. Many of these, including the provision at issue in this appeal, are codified in HFRA. 3 In conducting extraordinary circumstances review, the Forest Service considers the existence of certain “[r]esource conditions,” in the project area, including “[i]nventoried roadless area[s],” “potential wilderness area[s],” and “Forest Service sensitive species.” 36 C.F.R. § 220.6(b)(1). The mere presence of resource conditions does not preclude the agency relying on a categorical exclusion. Instead, it is the “degree of the potential effect of a proposed action on the[] resource conditions that determines whether extraordinary circumstances exist,” warranting an EA or EIS. Id. -5-
HFRA was originally enacted in 2003 “to reduce wildfire risk to communities, municipal water supplies, and other at-risk Federal land through a collaborative process of planning, prioritizing, and implementing hazardous fuel reduction projects.” 16 U.S.C. § 6501(1). In 2014, Congress amended HFRA, establishing the statutory categorical exclusion at issue here—the Insect and Disease exclusion. See 16 U.S.C. § 6591b. This categorical exclusion authorizes “priority projects” to protect forests from insect infestations and disease. See 16 U.S.C. § 6591a–b. It contemplates a two-step process for approving such projects. The Forest Service must first designate certain “landscape-scale areas” part of an insect and disease treatment program. 16 U.S.C. § 6591a. Then, the Forest Service may carry out projects within those areas provided they meet the statutory criteria. Id. § 6591b. To qualify, a project must (1) meet certain limitations related to the building of new roads, location, and size, excluding projects of more than 3,000 acres; (2) “maximize[] the retention of old-growth and large trees, as appropriate for the forest type, to the extent that the trees promote stands that are resilient to insects and disease;” (3) “consider[] the best available scientific information to maintain or restore the ecological integrity;” (4) be “developed and implemented through a collaborative process;” (5) “be consistent with the land and resource -6- management plan” for the area; and (6) involve “public notice and scoping.” 16 U.S.C. § 6591b. Where such requirements are met, HFRA provides that the project “may be . . . considered an action categorically excluded from the requirements of [NEPA].” Id. § 6591b(a)(1).