Day 1:
- NEPA Primer: Basics/Overview
- The Finding of No Significant Impact in particular
- The proposed action and alternative actions: Purpose and need in plain language; Projects versus programmatic decisions; How to review the question of
alternatives for EAs and EISs - Alternatives: proposed action, alternative action, no action
Day 2:
- Impact assessment: cumulative impacts, direct and indirect impacts; connected, cumulative, and similar
actions: How to review the assessment and comparison of environmental consequences in EAs and EISs - Lessons learned: Case Studies (Cube-set payloads…desire to maximize payloads, “~last minute” loading of launch vehicles with small payloads
in “cube-sets”, NEPA exposure if anomalous? What is adequate NEPA process, public notice…etc? Case study overview & lessons learned from “NEPA Gone Wrong,” the federal Mineral Mining Service (MMS) and the Deepwater Horizon disaster. CEQ report overview of the MMS NEPA treatment of what they did and didn’t do right, consequences -MMS loss of mission & dissolution…evolving to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), and post MMS changes/improvements at BOEM regarding NEPA. Any lessons learned, changes to our procedures & documents we should be looking at within NASA and FAA – licensing of commercial Spaceports and launch cycle? NASA using “ACME” rocket companies for Govt payload launches to ISS…astronauts next…NEPA treatment…recent NASA Wallops Island, MD commercial launch Space-X, (with NASA re-supply payload).
