This course will provide an introduction to and overview of the key requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), including policies, procedures, and environmental documents necessary for successful compliance NEPA ensures that information on the environmental implications of any federal, federally-funded, or federally-permitted action is available to public officials and citizens before making decisions or taking actions. The course is designed to be useful for new NEPA practitioners looking for a comprehensive overview of the NEPA process, to more experienced practitioners desiring a refresher and update on some of the most recent statutory, regulatory, and judicial updates and changes.

Course topics include:

• NEPA’s legal and regulatory framework
• Determining whether NEPA applies to a proposed action
• Key steps in the NEPA environmental review process
• Determining which type of NEPA document to prepare
• Scoping for NEPA analyses
• Successful integration of NEPA with other environmental laws
• Direct, indirect, and cumulative impact analysis
• Determining significance of impacts
• Developing effective purpose and need statements
• Developing and evaluating a reasonable range of alternatives
• Integrating NEPA and CEQA analyses
• Writing adequate and feasible mitigation measures
• Legal adequacy of NEPA documents and NEPA case law
• Key statutory, regulatory, and judicial updates affecting NEPA practice