Helping Communities Navigate NEPA Reviews

Episode Transcript

Mollie (Host)
Welcome to {Brief}ly Speaking, the SEH podcast that delivers essential AEC insights in just a few minutes. No fluff, just the essentials. Let's dive in. Today we're focusing on a topic that quietly shapes nearly every major infrastructure project in the country, the National Environmental Policy Act, or more commonly known as NEPA. It might not be flashy, but it's one of the most important regulatory frameworks when it comes to protecting our environment while still making progress on roads, bridges, water systems, and more. So why does NEPA matter to local governments, planners, and developers, and how can you navigate it without getting buried in paperwork or delays? Here to walk us through the process is someone who's helped communities and agencies across the country meet NEPA requirements while keeping their projects on track. Natalie is a botanist and wetland scientist with a background in biology, permitting, and environmental review, making her the perfect person to break this down. She helps clients navigate state and federal regulations, coordinate with agencies, and plan projects in sensitive natural areas. Natalie White, welcome to {Brief}ly Speaking.

Natalie (Guest)
Thank you for having me.

Mollie (Host)
Let's start simple. What exactly is NEPA? When does it apply and what kind of projects does it impact?

Natalie (Guest)
NEPA impacts any project that has a federal action. So that is anything that is a project owned or implemented by the federal government, but also projects that need federal approvals or have federal funding. As you can imagine, when you get into larger projects, almost all of them will have some sort of federal connection in that way.

Mollie (Host)
Absolutely. It's pretty all-encompassing, it sounds like. But let's say that a community has never been through NEPA before. What are your best tips for getting started on the right foot and who should they reach out to?

Natalie (Guest)
An important thing to note about NEPA is there's always a lead federal agency in charge of the review. So if a federal agency was implementing the project, it would be theirs. If it's a federal permit, then it's the agency that issues the permit or reviews the permit. So for a local government that's never been through it before, first they need to understand who is that lead federal agency and who is their contact and that will really help them get off on the right foot with understanding the level of review, what's going to be needed from them, and what the schedule looks like.

Mollie (Host)
How can they find who that lead person is?

Natalie (Guest)
We at SEH work with a lot of municipalities that end up in this situation and often the first call then is to us and we can help them navigate, especially if they have maybe a federal permit, but also federal funding from a different agency. How do they figure out who that lead federal agency is? And that's something that we at SEH can help with and we love to help with is figuring out who they need to contact and who is going to be the best person to help them through that review.

Related Content: NEPA 101 – How Environmental Review Creates Better Projects

Mollie (Host)
One of the other confusing things about NEPA is the different types of documents. We have environmental impact statements, environmental assessments, categorical exclusion. Walk me through what each of those are and what's typically required with them.

Natalie (Guest)
As you can imagine, based on the scale and potential impacts of a project, there are different levels of review. The environmental impact statement that you mentioned first, the EIS, That is kind of that very top level, very intensive, long review for a project that has the potential to have significant environmental effects. You could think of that as like a new mining operation, a new commercial service airport. These are big projects that require pretty intensive review to figure out what the environmental effects might be. And that could be, we often think about that as effects to the natural environment or water resources. It can also be socioeconomic effects. How is a project like that going to affect the people in the surrounding neighborhood? So that's that high level. And then as you get into projects that are maybe smaller, they have less potential for significant environmental effects. The categorical exclusion that you mentioned is a project that might be pretty routine or the impacts are very well understood. To keep going with an airport example, that could be reconstruction of an existing runway. doesn't have a lot of potential environmental effects. It's actually excluded from NEPA, but you have to document in a form how you understand that it doesn't have potential for significant effects. And that can be a really quick exercise. Maybe it takes a day or less for someone to check boxes on a form.

Mollie (Host)
It feels like it's the term that we always have in engineering or I guess specifically at SEH is right-sizing projects. And so that to me is kind of the environmental NEPA version of right sizing the work that needs to be done to your project, correct?

Natalie (Guest)
Yeah, and that's something where if you have a project or a community that's looking at some work that they have some flexibility to change it a little bit to reduce the environmental effects, it could really help streamline a project. If someone in the know about how NEPA is reviewed can say, if you were able to dial back wetland impacts with this project, or if you were able to structure this in a little different way for stormwater treatment, you could actually be eligible for a categorical exclusion. And that might save six months to a year on schedule and environmental review. So it can be critical for communities looking at projects in this area.

Mollie (Host)
That's huge for a timeline. Six months is significant. With time being one of our concerns here, how long can the NEPA process take and are there ways to streamline it without cutting corners? This is very serious because it's talking about our environmental health of our communities, but how can you make it shorter without necessarily cutting those corners?

Natalie (Guest)
Maybe to build on one of the things I just mentioned; different federal agencies have different thresholds for different levels of environmental review. We do work a lot with the FAA on airport projects, and one of their triggers for different levels of environmental review is wetland impacts. And if a project can reduce its wetland impacts to be eligible for a categorical exclusion, then that saves a ton of time on environmental review. It's also good for the natural environment, and it'll ultimately save the project on permit and wetland credit costs as well. So looking at those potentials to minimize environmental effects can benefit projects in kind of a long list of ways.

Mollie (Host)
Tell me a little bit about what goes into the NEPA process. So you figured out which variety is going to match the project best or which one they qualify for. What goes into that process in terms of paperwork, public involvement, that kind of thing?

Natalie (Guest)
It's a little different for each level of NEPA, but there are some similarities. One of the steps that we always want to go through is in any area where there's a potential for cultural or historic resources, we reach out to the state historic preservation office in the state where the project is located. If it's an area where there's potential tribal interest, we would do the same with tribal historic preservation offices. offer an opportunity to comment. Similarly, if there are other agencies. that might review a project, we'll reach out to them and get kind of an early input on their views on the project and that can really help streamline and also uncover if there are issues that need to be explored in more detail. So that tends to really keep things on track and is a great first step.

Mollie (Host)
What about public involvement? You have to let the public know about this, correct?

Natalie (Guest)
For, say, a categorical exclusion, there is not necessarily a public involvement element. Often those, depending on the project, it might have some city council action or other local government action that would be open to the public, but it's kind of a check form. Turn it in and there's not a lot of public involvement. When you get into environmental assessment or environmental impact statements, then there is a prescribed process for public involvement. And usually it's a 30-day or 45-day comment period. The project proposaler will put it out there for comment. One thing that I really like that I've seen over the course of my career, so in the last 14 years or so of doing this, We used to print documents, and it might be 1000-page document and it would go to a city hall or go to a government office somewhere and gather dust. And increasingly we are reaching out to people where they are, especially for a controversial project to bring meetings to community centers in the neighborhoods where the project will happen. have the documents available on web links that we can share with QR codes, really making the public involvement more meaningful and easier for people to engage with.

Mollie (Host)
What are some of the more common mistakes or misunderstandings surrounding NEPA that you've seen from communities?

Natalie (Guest)
I mentioned earlier some of the early coordination with other agencies, early coordination with municipalities or other contacts, agencies, regulators in the project area. That's so important and having those folks who are knowledgeable of different permit areas, different resources, raising issues early is just the most critical piece in my mind because if you find out about something, an important issue, say later on on in the process, maybe in the public comment period or after a document has been released, can really set you back. Whereas doing that early coordination, getting it daylighted and worked on early in the process, it really keeps things going smoothly.

Mollie (Host)
Perfect. Be proactive.

Natalie (Guest)
Exactly.

Mollie (Host)
You talk about as you're starting NEPA, you work with multiple different agencies and there's some overlap there. Do clients need to plan to submit items to both or is it streamlined into one?

Natalie (Guest)
One nice thing that can happen with a well-run NEPA process is say you have a project that needs a NEPA review. and then later it needs a grading permit from a city. Having the city engaged during the NEPA review can get them thinking about the project, thinking about maybe permit conditions that they would put on the project, and really help smooth the permitting process and inform the permitting process. So it tends to be a potential advantage of NEPA, and often project proposers are, especially if they're caught off guard by the requirement, can see it as nothing but a negative, whereas I do see a couple of positives which is getting those permit questions and conditions daylighted early. Also having that public information and public comment piece taken care of with NEPA, that can really smooth things out later. We had a project in Duluth with a somewhat controversial start with the airport on Park Point, which is kind of a beachfront community with an active community group, and they had a lot of concerns about the project. They got to meet with the project proposer and the FAA during the NEPA process, provide formal comments during the process. And then when we actually got to permitting for that project, they had no comments. Folks would kind of show up at the last meeting and say, no, we've worked with you on this and we're good. And that really was a benefit to the project that came from the NEPA process.

Mollie (Host)
Sounds like it really just has a formal set process that then brings all of this to light at the front end of the project. Once you get that all cleared up and situated, then you can move forward, ideally smoothly. So NEPA has gone through some regulatory updates in recent years. What changes should agencies or developers be aware of, especially as they start planning for 2025 and future?

Natalie (Guest)
Yeah, comes back to communicating with that lead federal agency because over the years, NEPA and the regulations that set up the process have been challenged in court. And as court cases are resolved, that can lead to changes in the implementation, some of the resource categories or precisely how it's supposed to be handled. So coordinating with that lead federal agency and being in frequent communication with the contacts there will help make sure that you're following the current process, that you're using current templates. Like I mentioned, the categorical exclusion. There are forms and templates, and you just want to make sure you're using the most recent. It sounds very basic, but that's definitely something that trips people up is you put a lot of work into a document. It turns out that maybe half of it isn't needed anymore. You don't want to be in that situation. So that's really my key advice for keeping up with the current rules and regs.

Related Content: NEPA 101 – How Environmental Review Creates Better Projects

Mollie (Host)
Save time, do it right the first time, and then you don't have to worry about it. We talked about being proactive. We talked about how it can be a benefit, but what is one thing you wish more clients understood about NEPA before they dive into it?

Natalie (Guest)
One of the biggest misconceptions is that the NEPA review approves or denies a project, and that really isn't the intent. It's meant to inform decision makers about the issues raised by a project and the potential effects. If it does daylight potential adverse effects, they can be avoided or they can be mitigated, but folks as they're going through this process, I think sometimes feel maybe kind of adversarial towards it, feeling like they're in danger of getting their project denied. But really the purpose is to evaluate these effects and see if the effects can be minimized or avoided. It helps to come into it with a less adversarial and more cooperative attitude and understanding that the process is not meant to deny a project.

Mollie (Host)
So Natalie, clients, people listening to this have questions about starting NEPA, about if they're in the middle of NEPA and they have questions, what is the best way to reach out to you?

Natalie (Guest)
Folks can reach out to me by e-mail. That's probably the easiest way. I am at nwhite@sehinc.com.

Mollie (Host)
I really appreciate you walking us through this. NEPA might be more of a behind-the-scenes process, but it definitely plays a huge role in shaping the future of our communities. Hopefully this conversation helps planners and public leaders feel more confident tackling it head on. So as always, thank you for listening to {Brief}ly Speaking.