1. NEPA

2. What do they mean?  NEPA  EIS  EA  FONSI  CATEX  CEQ

3. National Environmental Policy Act  The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) was signed into law on January 1, 1970. NEPA requires federal agencies to assess the environmental effects of their proposed actions prior to making decisions. The range of actions covered by NEPA is broad and includes:  making decisions on permit applications,  adopting federal land management actions, and  constructing highways and other publicly-owned facilities.

4.  The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) was one of the first laws ever written that establishes the broad national framework for protecting our environment.  NEPA's basic policy is to assure that all branches of government give proper consideration to the environment prior to undertaking any major federal action that significantly affects the environment.

5.  NEPA requirements are invoked when airports, buildings, military complexes, highways, parkland purchases, and other federal activities are proposed.  Environmental Assessments (EAs) and Environmental Impact Statements (EISs), which are assessments of the likelihood of impacts from alternative courses of action, are required from all Federal agencies and are the most visible NEPA requirements.

6. Categorical Exclusion  Sec. 1508.4 Categorical exclusion.  "Categorical exclusion" means 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 in implementation of these regulations (Sec. 1507.3) and for which, therefore, neither an environmental assessment nor an environmental impact statement is required.

7.  Using the NEPA process, agencies evaluate the  environmental  related social  economic effects of their proposed actions.  Agencies also provide opportunities for public review and comment on those evaluations. Environmental Social Economic

8.  What is the social, economic, and environmental effects of the following projects?

10.  Brookline Bridge  Mt. Rushmore  Golden Gate Bridge  Empire State Building  New York City Central Park  Hoover Dam  Interstate System  LAX

11. What does NEPA require?  Title I of NEPA contains a Declaration of National Environmental Policy.  The policy requires the federal government to use all practicable means to create and maintain conditions under which man and nature can exist in productive harmony.

12. Title I  Section 102 in Title I of the Act  Requires federal agencies to incorporate environmental considerations in their planning and decision-making through a systematic interdisciplinary approach.  Specifically, all federal agencies are to prepare detailed statements assessing the environmental impact of and alternatives to major federal actions significantly affecting the environment. These statements are commonly referred to as Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) and Environmental Assessments (EA)

13. Title II  Title II of NEPA established the President's Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to oversee NEPA implementation. The duties of CEQ include:  Ensuring that federal agencies meet their obligations under NEPA  Overseeing federal agency implementation of the environmental impact assessment process  Issuing regulations and other guidance to federal agencies regarding NEPA compliance.

14. How do federal agencies carry out the NEPA requirements?  In 1978, CEQ issued regulations (40 CFR Parts 1500- 1508) to implement NEPA. These regulations are binding on all federal agencies.  The regulations address the procedural provisions of NEPA and the administration of the NEPA process, including the preparation of environmental impact statements.  In addition to the CEQ NEPA regulations, CEQ has issued a variety of guidance documents on the implementation of NEPA.

15.  Many federal agencies have also developed their own NEPA procedures that supplement the CEQ NEPA regulations.  These NEPA procedures vary from agency to agency since they are tailored for the specific mission and activities of the agency. Find NEPA procedures for specific federal agencies.

16. Lead Agency  The role of a federal agency in the NEPA process depends on the agency's expertise and relationship to the proposed action. The agency carrying out the federal action is responsible for complying with the requirements of NEPA.  In some cases, there may be more than one federal agency involved in the proposed action. In this situation, a lead agency is designated to supervise the preparation of the environmental analysis. Federal agencies, together with state, tribal or local agencies, may act as joint lead agencies.

17. Cooperating Agency  A federal, state, tribal or local agency having special expertise with respect to an environmental issue or jurisdiction by law may be a cooperating agency. A cooperating agency has the responsibility to:  assist the lead agency by participating in the NEPA process at the earliest possible time  participate in the scoping process  develop information and prepare environmental analysis that the agency has special expertise in  make staff support available

18. Referrals to CEQ  In addition, a federal agency may refer to CEQ interagency disagreements concerning proposed federal actions that might cause unsatisfactory environmental effects.  CEQ's role, when it accepts a referral, is generally to develop findings and recommendations, consistent with the policy goals of Section 101 of NEPA.  The referral process consists of certain steps and is carried out within a specified period.

19. National Environmental Policy Act Policies and Guidance  EPA has prepared policies and guidance for carrying out its responsibilities under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and reviews under Section 309 of the Clean Air Act.  These documents discuss the specific technical issues EPA looks for in NEPA documents.

20. National Environmental Policy Act Policies and Guidance  Air Quality  Children's Health  Crude Oil and Natural Gas  Cumulative Impacts  Ecological Processes/Impacts  Energy Efficiency  Environmental Justice  Fishery Management  Floodplain Management  Grazing  Habitat  Highway Development  Mining  Natural Gas Pipelines  Nuclear Power Plants  Policy and Procedures for the Review of Federal Actions Impacting the Environment Under Section 309 of the Clean Air Act  Pollution Prevention  Special Appropriation Grants  Wetlands

21. FONSI: Finding of No Significant Impact EA-1795: FINDING OF NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT Loan Guarantee to Diamond Green Diesel for Construction of the Diamond Green Diesel Facility in Norco, Louisiana The Department of Energy conducted an environmental assessment that analyzed the potential environmental impacts associated with the construction and operation of a biomass-based diesel facility adjacent to the existing Valero St. Charles Refinery in Norco, Louisiana.

22. Environmental Justice

23. What do they mean?  NATA  EO  ELSCREEN  RMP  TSDF  NPL  NPDES

24. Executive Order 12898, 1994 Federal Actions To Address Environmental Justice In Minority Populations and Low- Income Populations

25. Disproportionate Environmental Impacts  Since President Clinton signed EO 12898 in 1994, EPA has used a variety of information resources to help the agency comply with the executive order and assess the potential for disproportionate environmental impacts and other significant environmental justice concerns for populations across the country.  Several mapping tools have been developed and used by EPA, and EPA has made several of these available for public use.

26.  As computer mapping technology has advanced, EPA recognized the opportunity and the need to develop a single, nationally consistent tool that can be used by EPA, its governmental partners and the public to understand environmental and demographic characteristics of locations throughout the United States.  Thus, EPA developed EJSCREEN and made it available to everyone interested in environmental justice issues.

27. EJSCREEN is intended to better meet the Agency's responsibilities related to the protection of public health and the environment in a manner that is consistent with EO 12898 and the goals of Plan EJ 2014, EPA's roadmap to integrating environmental justice into the Agency's programs, policies and activities.

28.  The goal in developing EJSCREEN was to build on EPA's experience in developing screening tools, and provide a new, user-friendly screening tool that addresses stakeholder concerns in an informative manner.  An important part of this effort has been to ensure the screening tool reflects a balance between simple, screening-level information and high-quality data. EJSCREEN’s Goal

29. Development of EJSCREEN began in late 2010 and EPA began using an early version in 2012. EJSCREEN was peer reviewed in early 2014, and updated with newer data and an improved interface in mid-2014. EJSCREEN was released to the public in 2015, replacing EJView as EPA’s publicly-available EJ screening and mapping tool.

30. How Does EPA Use EJSCREEN?  A few examples of what EJSCREEN supports across the agency include:  Informing outreach and engagement practices  Implementing aspects of the following programs:  permitting  enforcement  compliance  voluntary  Developing retrospective reports of EPA work  Enhancing geographically based initiatives

31. EJSCREEN is not used by EPA staff for any of the following:  As a means to identify or label an area as an "EJ community"  To quantify specific risk values for a selected area  To measure cumulative impacts of multiple environmental factors  As a basis for agency decision-making or making a determination regarding the existence or absence of EJ concerns

32. EJ Indexes – air pollutants The EJ index is a combination of environmental and demographic information. There are twelve EJ Indexes in EJSCREEN reflecting the 12 environmental indicators. The 12 EJ Index names are:  National Scale Air Toxics Assessment Air Toxics Cancer Risk*  National Scale Air Toxics Assessment Respiratory Hazard Index*  National Scale Air Toxics Assessment Neurological Hazard Index*  National Scale Air Toxics Assessment Diesel PM (DPM)*  Particulate Matter (PM2.5)  Ozone * The National-scale Air Toxics Assessment (NATA) environmental indicators will be added into EJSCREEN during the first full public update after the soon-to-be-released 2011 NATA dataset is made available.

33. EJ Indexes – other than air pollutants  Lead Paint Indicator - Percent of housing units built pre-1960, as indicator of potential lead paint exposure  Traffic Proximity and Volume  Proximity to Risk Management Plan Sites - Count of RMP (potential chemical accident management plan) facilities within 5 km  Proximity to Treatment Storage and Disposal Facilities - Count of TSDFs (hazardous waste management facilities) within 5 km  Proximity to National Priorities List Sites -Count of proposed or listed NPL - also known as superfund - sites within 5 km  Proximity to Major Direct Water Dischargers - Count of National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) major direct water discharger facilities within 5 km

34. There are six demographic indicators:  Percent Low-Income:  ​ The percent of a block group's population in households where the household income is less than or equal to twice the federal "poverty level."  Percent Minority:  The percent of individuals in a block group who list their racial status as a race other than white alone and/or list their ethnicity as Hispanic or Latino. That is, all people other than non-Hispanic white-alone individuals. The word "alone" in this case indicates that the person is of a single race, not multiracial.  Less than high school education:  Percent of people age 25 or older in a block group whose education is short of a high school diploma.  Linguistic isolation:  Percent of people in a block group living in linguistically isolated households. A household in which all members age 14 years and over speak a non-English language and also speak English less than "very well" (have difficulty with English) is linguistically isolated.  Individuals under age 5:  Percent of people in a block group under the age of 5.  Individuals over age 64:  Percent of people in a block group over the age of 64.

35. Percentage A percentage is an absolute term. If you received 80% on a test of one hundred questions you had 80 correct answers. Percentile A percentile is a relative term, and tells you how you have done on the test in comparison to the others who took the test. A percentile of 80 means that you scored equal to or better than 80% of people who took the test.

36. EJSCREEN calculates the EJ Index by multiplying together three items: EJ Index = (The Environmental Indicator) X (Demographic Index for Block Group – Demographic Index for US) X (Population count for Block Group)

37. Excess Risk The EJ Index uses the concept of "excess risk" by looking at how far above the national average the block group's demographics are. For example, assume a block group with 1000 people in it. In that block group, one would expect 350 potentially susceptible individuals (1000 people here x US average of 35%). However, if the Demographic Index for that block group is 75%, well above the US average, then there are the equivalent of 750 potentially susceptible people in that block group, or 400 more than expected for a block group with a population of 1000. The national Demographic Index average is approximately 35%

38. Example 1:  Suppose that in a certain block group of 1000 people, 350 (35%) are minority and 350 (35%) low-income. There might be 200 (20%) who are low-income but not minority, and 200 (20%) who are minority but not low- income. In that case, there would be 150 (15%) who are both, and 450 (45%) who are neither. Therefore, there actually would be 550 (55%) who were either minority, low-income or both.  The Demographic Index would use 35% in this case, which falls between the 15% who were both minority and low-income, and the 55% who were in at least one of these groups. These detailed numbers cannot be obtained from the ACS by block group. Therefore, to represent both groups in a simple way, the average is used.

39. Example 2 (extreme example):  Suppose a block group has 1000 people but is 0% minority and 100% low-income. The demographic index would be 50%, or the equivalent of 500 "potentially susceptible individuals" in this case. The same would be true in a block group that was 100% minority but 0% low-income – it would treated as having the equivalent of 50% (500) "potentially susceptible" for the sake of these examples.

40. Let’s go to EJSCREEN!  http://ejscreen.epa.gov/mapper/ http://ejscreen.epa.gov/mapper/