The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) announced in the March 23 Federal Register (76 FR 16391) that it is seeking nominations from the public and federal agencies for innovative pilot projects to increase the efficiency of environmental reviews conducted under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). CEQ hopes the best ideas could become part of revised procedures across the NEPA program. The NEPA Pilot Program will also facilitate CEQ’s review of provisions of NEPA regulations that may be outmoded, ineffective, insufficient, or excessively burdensome, as required under Executive Order 13563, "Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review.'' Pilot project nominations will be accepted until June 15.
In February, CEQ introduced several initiatives to “modernize and reinvigorate” NEPA. First it issued two memoranda to federal agency heads: "Appropriate Use of Mitigation and Monitoring and Clarifying the Appropriate Use of Mitigated Findings of No Significant Impact" and "Establishing, Applying and Revising Categorical Exclusions under the NEPA." The memoranda are intended as final guidance to federal agencies on these issues.
CEQ also released for comment Draft Guidance on the Consideration of Greenhouse Gases,aimed at describing when and how federal agencies must consider greenhouse gas emissions and climate change in their proposed actions that are covered under NEPA. The draft document is open for comment until May 18.
Additional information on all of these items is online.