NAEP Webinar: CEQ Revised Draft Guidance on Integrating Analysis of GHG and Climate Change in NEPA Documents

NWAEP will be hosting this NAEP webinar at the following locations:

Portland: Louis Berger (700 NE Multnomah St. #900)

Seattle: Anchor QEA (720 Olive Way, #1900)

Note: the webinar will not be available from your own computer unless you register directly through NAEP, here.

Registration Fees:

- NWAEP and NAEP members = free

- Non-members = $10 (become a member now and attend the rest of NWAEP's events for free!)

This webinar will present a synopsis of how courts are addressing the questions of when and how agencies consider climate change in their NEPA reviews and then focus on the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) Revised Draft Guidance on Integrating Analysis of Greenhouse Gases and Climate Change into environmental documents prepared pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).  The Revised Draft Guidance was released by CEQ for a 60-day public review and comment on December 24, 2014, with comments due through February 23, 2015 ( https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2014/12/24/2014-30035/revised-draft-guidance-for-federal-departments-and-agencies-on-consideration-of-greenhouse-gas ).  The Revised Draft Guidance describes how Federal departments and agencies should consider the effects of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change in their NEPA reviews.  The guidance supersedes the draft greenhouse gas and climate change guidance released by CEQ in February 2010.  This guidance explains that agencies should consider both the potential effects of a proposed action on climate change, as indicated by its estimated greenhouse gas emissions, and the implications of climate change for the environmental effects of a proposed action.  The guidance also emphasizes that agency analyses should be commensurate with projected greenhouse gas emissions and climate impacts, and should employ appropriate quantitative or qualitative analytical methods to ensure useful information is available to inform the public and the decision-making process in distinguishing between alternatives and mitigations.  It recommends that agencies consider 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions on an annual basis as a reference point below which a quantitative analysis of greenhouse gas is not recommended unless it is easily accomplished based on available tools and data.  Unlike the 2010 draft guidance, the revised draft guidance applies to all proposed Federal agency actions, including land and resource management actions.  It reflects CEQ’s consideration of responses to the questions regarding land and resource management actions and the comments received on the 2010 draft guidance in addition to other Federal agency and affected stakeholder input.  The revised guidance also discusses the relationship of the proposed action to the consideration of preparedness (adaptation) to climate change.  It does not create new or additional regulatory requirements.  It instructs agencies on how to address the greenhouse gas emissions from and the effects of climate change on their proposed actions within the existing NEPA regulatory framework.

Moderator:  

Speakers:

- Horst Greczmiel, Associate Director for NEPA Oversight, Council on Environmental Quality

Related Readings:

New York Environmental Impact Statements Beginning to Address Climate Resiliency (October 2014). http://web.law.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/microsites/climate-change/files/Publications/Fellows/strell.pdf

Consideration of Climate Change in  Federal EISs, 2009-2011 (2012). https://web.law.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/microsites/climate-change/files/Publications/Students/Woolsey%20NEPA%20report.pdf