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NAEP To Testify Before Congressional NEPA Task Force

Gary Kelman, NAEP President, has been invited to testify on behalf of NAEP before the Task Force on Improving the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The hearing will be held on September 17 at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va.

Kelman stated that, "NAEP is the perfect representative for the environmental professionals who carry out NEPA requirements. After all, we have been providing a home for NEPA professionals for over 30 years."

The NEPA Task Force is a bipartisan group of House Resource Committee members. It is charged with reviewing and making recommendations on improving the National Environmental Policy Act. The goal is to ensure that the original intent of NEPA - that federal decisions are made in an appropriate, environmentally sound manner, rather than being focused by litigation - will become the way the statute will be implemented going forward.

NAEP is a multidisciplinary organization representing environmental professionals, many of which are the ones that perform the environmental impact assessment for NEPA required projects. NAEP has represented environmental professionals for over 30 years. A complete copy of the testimony will be posted to the NAEP website following the Task Force hearing (www.naep.org).

The testimony will make the following points regarding improvements to the NEPA process:

1. NAEP unequivocally supports the environmental analysis process established by NEPA and the regulations of the CEQ, including the public's right to participate in that process.

2. NAEP opposes any revisions of NEPA or the CEQ regulations that would likely be detrimental to NEPA's established purpose, policy and procedures.

3. NAEP supports and intends to help implement the recommendations of the CEQ NEPA Task Force for "modernizing NEPA" that were made in 2003.

4. NAEP recommends that the Congress mandate significant increases in staffing, funding, and training to enable CEQ and the federal agencies to more efficiently and effectively fulfill their responsibilities for compliance with NEPA.

5. NAEP believes that it is essential to preserve and maintain the role of judicial review as the primary external NEPA compliance mechanism. The best way to reduce NEPA-related litigation is to improve existing NEPA capabilities within the agencies.

The testimony emphasizes that "many of the allegations raised against NEPA in recent years stem neither from NEPA or the CEQ Regulations, but from government agencies having failed to follow adequately the clear language and intent of both these documents. Nothing in either NEPA or the CEQ Regulations requires agencies to take years to complete environmental studies, or to produce multi-volume documents, or to spend millions of dollars to do so. Furthermore, the record of NEPA litigation shows that in most of the court cases that agencies have lost, the root cause has been their failure to perform the basic planning functions that NEPA requires."

The testimony recommends "that one or more additional professional positions be established at CEQ to provide the agencies with more ongoing NEPA-related technical advice, policy guidance and coordination," and that the Task Force conduct "an evaluation of the professional staff levels, funding, opportunities for training and advancement and work loads [within the NEPA compliance offices in the federal agencies] and should make appropriate recommendations for improving their capabilities."

For more information, visit www.naep.org.

     
   Administrator
   NAEP
   Bowie,    MD,    20718
   USA
   301-860-1140 (phone)
   301-860-1141 (fax)
   office@naep.org
   www.naep.org