NEPA Fundamentals: Using AI Tools to Write, Review & Verify
NEPA work requires more than knowing the process. Professionals also need to find and evaluate the right sources, develop clear and defensible analysis, review other people's work, revise weak material, and increasingly understand how AI tools can—and cannot—support that work.
NEPA Fundamentals: Using AI Tools to Write, Review & Verify is a practical, two-day course that combines foundational NEPA instruction with guided practice in writing, review, evaluation, and responsible AI use.
NEPA remains the subject-matter foundation throughout the course. Participants work with the NEPA process and document pathways; purpose and need; alternatives; evidence and environmental effects; mitigation and findings; source selection and currentness; and the roles different professionals play in developing, reviewing, and managing NEPA work.
Rather than treating writing and review as separate skills, the course weaves them into the NEPA material. Participants have structured opportunities to inspect examples, compare stronger and weaker work, apply evaluation criteria, write and revise selected passages, develop review comments, and connect conclusions back to supporting evidence and sources.
AI tools are integrated into this same work rather than taught as a stand-alone technology topic. With no prior AI experience required, participants explore basic, portable uses of AI for tasks such as explaining unfamiliar material, extracting and organizing information, comparing sources or documents, critiquing draft language, supporting bounded drafting and revision, checking consistency, and generating useful review questions.
Verification is part of the process. AI-generated material is checked against authoritative sources, project facts, agency procedures, stated criteria, and professional judgment. The course emphasizes that AI is a tool—not legal authority, technical expertise, agency procedure, or a substitute for human responsibility.
Throughout the two days, participants build a Working File from their practice activities. Exercises may include pathway and source notes, purpose-and-need revision, alternatives analysis, evidence and traceability work, mitigation or findings revision, prioritized review comments, AI verification records, case-law source exercises, and integrated case work.
The course is designed both for people building a NEPA foundation and for experienced practitioners who want an integrated refresher that reflects today's writing, review, source-management, and AI-assisted workflows.
Federal and state agency staff and decision-makers, attorneys, consultants, environmental organization members, and interested citizens concerned with the environmental effects of federal actions — and anyone whose projects touch federal funding, even outside a federal agency itself. Equally suited to attendees new to NEPA and to experienced professionals looking to update their skills.
None. Equally suited to attendees new to NEPA and to experienced professionals looking to update their skills. No prior AI skill is required.
- NEPA foundations, decisions, and document pathways — the practical logic of the NEPA process, sources, roles, and the relationship among categorical exclusions, environmental assessments, environmental impact statements, and agency decision-making.
- Finding and working from reliable sources — identifying authoritative and current information, maintaining source discipline and traceability, and recognizing when agency procedure, legal research, technical expertise, or counsel is needed.
- Purpose, need, and alternatives — examining how purpose and need shape an analysis, evaluating alternatives, identifying common weaknesses, and practicing revision using stated criteria.
- Evidence, environmental effects, mitigation, and findings — connecting project information and supporting evidence to environmental analysis, mitigation commitments, findings, and decision documentation.
- Writing, review, and evaluation — inspecting real and realistic NEPA work, comparing stronger and weaker examples, developing useful review criteria, prioritizing comments, and revising selected passages.
- Using AI for bounded NEPA tasks — applying basic AI tools to explanation, extraction, organization, comparison, critique, drafting, revision, consistency checking, and review while keeping the work grounded in supplied sources.
- Verifying AI-assisted work — checking outputs against authoritative sources, project facts, agency requirements, evaluation criteria, and professional judgment rather than treating AI output as authoritative.
- Integrated hands-on practice — applying NEPA fundamentals, writing and review skills, source discipline, and AI-assisted workflows through guided exercises and case-based work across the two-day course.