Practical NEPA is a hands-on, two-day rebuild of NWETC's foundational NEPA course — built around guided practice instead of lecture, with real work product due from every attendee.
You'll cover where NEPA actually stands today, not in a textbook world where CEQ's old regulations are still in force. The NEPA statute hasn't changed, but CEQ's implementing regulations are gone — struck down in 2024, formally rescinded in 2025–2026, with CEQ now issuing only non-binding guidance. Individual agencies are writing their own procedures in that vacuum, and a 2025 Supreme Court decision narrowed how closely courts scrutinize agency NEPA work. We cover what that actually means for you, day to day, in the field — and how to work within your own agency's process and culture, since every agency (and every recipient of federal funds, not just federal agencies themselves) runs its own version of NEPA.
You'll also see real examples of NEPA documents — both strong and weak — and help build the evaluation rubrics used to judge them, rather than being handed one. Working in small groups, you'll apply those rubrics to your own guided writing practice — a purpose and need statement, an alternatives section, a cumulative impacts analysis, or similar excerpt — with today's best tools woven into the process throughout, for understanding the material and for writing it.
This course is built to work as a solid refresher for experienced NEPA professionals and as an accessible on-ramp for people just starting out — a wider range of learners than most single NEPA course can serve well.
DID YOU KNOW — NEPA is still the most litigated environmental statute in the country, and the rules governing how it's reviewed have shifted more in the past two years than in the two decades before that. This course keeps you current, and leaves you with documents — and habits — that hold up regardless of which handbook your agency uses this year.
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.
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- Where NEPA stands right now: the statute, CEQ's lost rulemaking authority, and the Supreme Court's 2025 narrowing of judicial review
- Does NEPA apply? The CE / EA / EIS pathway — and why it reaches beyond federal agencies to anyone using federal funds
- Purpose and need, alternatives, and cumulative impacts, through hands-on scenario work
- Real NEPA documents, strong and weak — building your own evaluation rubric as a group
- Guided writing practice: purpose and need, alternatives, and cumulative impacts sections, with real work product from every attendee
- Working within your own agency's NEPA process and culture — skills built to travel back to your desk
- Today's best tools, woven throughout — for understanding and for writing