The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) established a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Task Force to review the current NEPA implementing practices and procedures in the following areas: technology and information management and security; federal and intergovernmental collaboration; programmatic analyses and subsequent tiered documents; and adaptive management and monitoring. In addition, the NEPA Task Force reviewed other NEPA implementation issues such as the level of detail included in agencies' procedures and documentation for promulgating categorical exclusions; the structure and documentation of environmental assessments; and implementation practices that would benefit other agencies. CEQ Memorandum (04/10/2002)
CEQ envisions the information gained and disseminated by the NEPA Task Force will help federal agencies update their practices and procedures and better integrate NEPA into federal agency decision making. The NEPA Task Force prepared a report with recommendations to CEQ regarding potential guidance and potential regulatory changes based upon the information collected. In addition, a publication highlighting case studies and useful practices used to facilitate the effective NEPA implementation is being prepared.
The NEPA Task Force report was presented to CEQ (Memorandum 09/24/2003) and is posted on this web site. The CEQ is considering the report and hosted several roundtables open to the public to raise awareness of the recommendations and hear from the public and from experts on which of the recommendations should be implemented. Information about those public roundtables will be posted under "Regional Roundtables" on this web site, and a report from each roundtable will be posted under "Input Received on the Report" on this web site.
