Streamlining the process: A strategy for making NEPA work better and cost less
Abstract
When the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) was enacted in 1969, neither Congress nor the Federal Agencies affected anticipated that implementation of the NEPA process would result in the intolerable delays, inefficiencies, duplication of effort, commitments of excessive financial and personnel resources, and bureaucratic gridlock that have become institutionalized. The 1975 Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations, which were intended to make the NEPA process more efficient and more useful to decision makers and the public, have either been largely ignored or unintentionally subverted. Agency policy mandates, like those of former Secretary of Energy Hazel R. O`Leary, to ``make NEPA work better and cost less`` have, so far, been disappointingly ineffectual. Federal Agencies have reached the point where almost every constituent of the NEPA process must be subjected to crisis management. This paper focuses on a ten-point strategy for streamlining the NEPA process in order to achieve the Act`s objectives while easing the considerable burden on agencies, the public, and the judicial system. How the ten points are timed and implemented is critical to any successful streamlining.
- Authors:
-
- Hansen Environmental Consultants, Englewood, CO (United States)
- Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Assistant Secretary for Management and Administration, Washington, DC (United States)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 658276
- Report Number(s):
- SAND-98-0470C; CONF-980651-
ON: DE98005457; BR: YN0100000; TRN: AHC2DT06%%160
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-94AL85000
- Resource Type:
- Conference
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: National Association of Environmental Professionals (NAEP) conference, San Diego, CA (United States), Jun 1998; Other Information: PBD: May 1998
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 29 ENERGY PLANNING AND POLICY; US NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT; ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY; ECONOMICS; IMPLEMENTATION; POLLUTION ABATEMENT; POLLUTION CONTROL
Citation Formats
Hansen, R P, Hansen, J D, and Wolff, T A. Streamlining the process: A strategy for making NEPA work better and cost less. United States: N. p., 1998.
Web.
Hansen, R P, Hansen, J D, & Wolff, T A. Streamlining the process: A strategy for making NEPA work better and cost less. United States.
Hansen, R P, Hansen, J D, and Wolff, T A. 1998.
"Streamlining the process: A strategy for making NEPA work better and cost less". United States. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/658276.
@article{osti_658276,
title = {Streamlining the process: A strategy for making NEPA work better and cost less},
author = {Hansen, R P and Hansen, J D and Wolff, T A},
abstractNote = {When the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) was enacted in 1969, neither Congress nor the Federal Agencies affected anticipated that implementation of the NEPA process would result in the intolerable delays, inefficiencies, duplication of effort, commitments of excessive financial and personnel resources, and bureaucratic gridlock that have become institutionalized. The 1975 Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations, which were intended to make the NEPA process more efficient and more useful to decision makers and the public, have either been largely ignored or unintentionally subverted. Agency policy mandates, like those of former Secretary of Energy Hazel R. O`Leary, to ``make NEPA work better and cost less`` have, so far, been disappointingly ineffectual. Federal Agencies have reached the point where almost every constituent of the NEPA process must be subjected to crisis management. This paper focuses on a ten-point strategy for streamlining the NEPA process in order to achieve the Act`s objectives while easing the considerable burden on agencies, the public, and the judicial system. How the ten points are timed and implemented is critical to any successful streamlining.},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/658276},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1998},
month = {Fri May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1998}
}