National Environmental Policy Act
The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) has been known as the mother of all modern environmental laws and regulations in the United States. It was designed to engage stakeholders and to provide the potential environmental effects to help inform leaders in their major federal decisions.
Over 100 countries worldwide have adopted the NEPA framework in creating their environmental impact assessment processes.
The Council on Environmental Quality oversees implementation of NEPA in the U.S., and has developed NEPA regulations and guidance.
CEQ NEPA Regulations and Guidance
- NEPA and Regulations
- NEPA, the law
- CEQ NEPA Regulations 40 CFR 1500-1508
- 40 Questions & Answers on CEQ's NEPA regulations
- NEPA Efficiency and Effectiveness
- NEPA- Study of its Effectiveness after 25-years
- Memorandum for Heads of Federal Departments and Agencies: Improving the Process for Preparing Efficient and Timely Environmental Reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act, 6 March 2012
- Programmatic NEPA
- Mitigation and Monitoring
- Memorandum for Heads of Federal Departments and Agencies: Appropriate Use of Mitigation and Monitoring and Clarifying the Appropriate Use of Mitigated Findings of No Significant Impact- CEQ 14 Jan 2011
- Environmental Indicators
- Cumulative Effects
- Adaptive Management
- Collaboration and Public Review
- Joint OMB-CEQ Memorandum on Environmental Collaboration and Conflict Resolution - Sep 2012
- Collaboration in NEPA: A Handbook for Practitioners- CEQ 2007
- Environmental Management Systems
- Categorical Exclusions
- Memorandum for Heads of Federal Departments and Agencies: Establishing, Applying, and Revising Categorical Exclusions under the National Environmental Policy Act - CEQ 23 Nov 2010
- Climate Change/GHB/Resiliency
- Ecosystems
- Cultural Resources
U.S. Department of Energy NEPA Lessons-Learned
Cohen NEPA Summit
The U.S. Department of Energy has one of top sites for NEPA expertise. Their NEPA Lesson's Learned Quarterly Report is particularly excellent for NEPA practitioners.
Bill Cohen NEPA Summit Report and updates from National Association of Environmental Professionals (NAEP.org). World-renowned NEPA experts convened a NEPA summit in honor of former U.S. Department of Justice environmental attorney, Bill Cowen. They tackled some of NEPA's most challenged issues. They continue the effort as NEPA is approaching its 50th anniversary with updates at the web site of the National Association of Environmental Professionals (NAEP.org).