Description: **If this course has Remote Live Attendance -- USA as the location, it is a live stream remote course. You will need a computer and an internet connection. This is now the “new” NEPA. Serious changes have been made to the NEPA practice whether we call these an update, streamlining, modernization, or clarification. This course will encompass all the changes to the NEPA regulations. If you have attended this course before, it’s time for your own update! Attendees will learn the fundamental principles of NEPA practice in this 2-day course from what NEPA is and where it came from, through how it works and when it applies, all the way through scoping NEPA documents and techniques to review the adequacy of NEPA documents. Completion of this course is excellent preparation for getting the most out of our Advanced NEPA** course. All NEPA processes are explained: Categorical Exclusion, Environmental Assessment/Finding of No Significant Impact (EA/FONSI), and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Included is a substantial handout with graphic models, updated case lists that support the models, and sample documents. All materials are based on statutes, regulations, and NEPA case law. Attendees may wish to keep the course material as a reference in the workplace. Major themes include: how to make the findings required by law; how to make the finding of no significant impact in particular; the giving of reasons; timing the NEPA process to the decision-making process; all good legal reasons not to prepare an EIS; scoping a reasonable range of alternatives; and an approach to the environmental impacts analysis now that the word “cumulative” has been deleted from the NEPA regulations. Discussions and questions are encouraged. DID YOU KNOW The categorical exclusion is an exclusion from an EIS but it is not an exclusion from NEPA. Instead, it is one of three processes for compliance with NEPA, the EA/FONSI and the EIS. This course covers each NEPA process. DID YOU KNOW Compliance with other environmental statutes are integral to the preparation of an EA or an EIS. Thus the findings necessary for the Endangered Species Act and the National Historical Preservation Act, for example, are woven into the course material along with other statutes and Executive Orders. DID YOU KNOW NEPA is the most litigated environmental statute in the United States, according to the CEQ. Prepare to defend your agency decisions with defensible NEPA documents, according to the NEPA models in this course. ** For an advanced, seminar-style discussion of NEPA issues, attend our one-day Advanced NEPA Workshop, immediately following this course. There is a $50 discount when purchasing the 2 courses together. ** Intended Audience: This workshop is designed to serve both as a comprehensive introduction for those new to NEPA and a refresher for more experienced professionals. The course is beneficial for federal agency staff and decision-makers, attorneys, consultants, as well as members of environmental organizations, and interested citizens who are concerned about the environmental effects of federal actions. Those who have taken this course in years past will benefit from updated materials based on the newest judicial opinions and new regulations. Even those who have worked with NEPA their entire careers will stand to learn more about the secrets to successful NEPA compliance.
Intended Audience: This workshop is designed to serve both as a comprehensive introduction for those new to NEPA and a refresher for more experienced professionals. The course is beneficial for federal agency staff and decision makers, attorneys, consultants, as well as members of environmental organizations and interested citizens who are concerned about the environmental effects of federal actions. Those who have taken this course in years past will benefit from updated materials based on the newest judicial opinions and new regulations. Even those who have worked with NEPA their entire careers will stand to learn more about the secrets to successful NEPA compliance.
Continuing Education Units: 1.60 CEUs
Course Topics
DAY 1
Writing the Perfect FONSI
Ultimate conclusions
Basic conclusions
Evidence
Reasons
Timing the NEPA process to the decision making process
Idea
Proposal
Recommendation or report
Decision action
Monitoring, supplements
Eight good reasons not to prepare an EIS
Writing the perfect EA or EIS
Eight plain-language questions any EA or EIS should readily answer
Writing the perfect ROD
Double winnowing
SCOPE: Alternatives
Proposal for action
Need underlying the proposal
Action alternatives:
- Alternative places to go
- Alternative ways to get there
No-action alternative
Mitigation not included in the proposal
Decision factors
Writing the perfect cumulative impacts analysis
Actions:
-Reasons to lump
-Reasons to split
Impacts:
-Direct, indirect, and cumulative
-Increments to past, other present, and reasonably
foreseeable future actions
Writing the perfect cumulative impacts analysis, continued
Administrative Record
DAY 2
SCOPE: Alternatives
Proposal for action
Need underlying the proposal
Action alternatives:
- Alternative places to go
- Alternative ways to get there
No-action alternative
Mitigation not included in the proposal
Decision factors
Writing the perfect cumulative impacts analysis
Actions:
-Reasons to lump
-Reasons to split
Impacts:
-Direct, indirect, and cumulative
-Increments to past, other present, and reasonably
foreseeable future actions
Writing the perfect cumulative impacts analysis, continued
Administrative Record
About the Instructor
 Owen L. Schmidt, BA, MA, JD, has more than 32 years of service with the Federal Government. He has served as Senior Counsel with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of the General Counsel in Portland, Oregon, where he advised the Forest Service, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and other USDA agencies in Washington and Oregon. He was also a Special Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Oregon. Before joining USDA in 1991, he was an attorney for the Bonneville Power Administration, where he joined the legal staff after several years as an Environmental Specialist. Mr. Schmidt received his J.D. from Northwestern School of Law of Lewis & Clark College (1977), and a B.A. (1969) and M.A. (1973) in biology from St. Cloud State University, Minnesota. Mr. Schmidt is a frequent author and lecturer on the National Environmental Policy Act. He served as a Vice-Chair of the American Bar Association’s Book Publication Committee for the Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources and as a Vice President for the Ninth Circuit, The Federal Bar Association. He was the Editor of Oregon Birds, a quarterly journal of Oregon Field Ornithologists, for 14 years (1985-99), and is a long-time member of the Oregon Bird Records Committee.
What to Bring
Pen or pencil, coffee mug, and a water bottle.
Billing Information
In order to guarantee a space in a course, the tuition must be paid in full TWO WEEKS before the first day of the course by either check or credit card. State and government agencies paying with a purchase order are allowed payment under the two-week time frame if a copy of the purchase order is received by NWETC.
If You Need to Cancel
Cancellations*-
With 31 or more days notice, we will offer a 100% refund or credit towards a future course. The credit is good for one year and may be applied to any course.
- With 30-8 days notice, we will offer a course credit towards a future course. The credit is good for one year and may be applied to any course.
- With fewer than 8 days notice, there is no course credit available
*Please note that attendee replacement is welcome at any time
Disability Accommodations
Disability Accommodations:To request disability accommodations, please contact us at info@nwetc.org or 425-270-3274 at least 30 days prior to the event.
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