Brief HistoryThe Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act (IIJA), or the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law of November 2021 contained several provisions that altered the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review process for key environmental and infrastructure projects. These provisions streamlined the review process by shortening time limits for review milestones and proposing page limits for both Environmental Assessments (EAs) and Environmental Impact Statements (EISs), termed the One Federal Decision.
On May 11, 2022, the Biden-Harris Administration released the Permitting Action Plan to accelerate and deliver infrastructure projects on time, on task, and on budget. The Action Plan outlines the Administration’s strategy for ensuring that Federal environmental reviews (e.g., NEPA) and permitting processes are effective, efficient, and transparent. The Action Plan also emphasizes early and meaningful public engagement.
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Permitting Action Plan Goal |
Cloud-based, Interactive Digital Platform Capabilities |
Early cross-agency coordination |
► Enables real-time online collaboration |
Clear timeline goals and tracking of project info to improve transparency, accountability and certainty |
► Cloud-based interface and workflow management ensure all entities are working off the same document |
Early and meaningful outreach state/local/tribal and community stakeholders |
► More accessible, intuitive, and interactive format to enable earlier and deeper engagement |
Improved agency responsiveness and technical assistance |
► Real-time communication paired with visualization of proposals and alternatives improves understanding and higher quality of engagement |
Adequate resourcing of agencies so review processes improve environmental and community outcomes |
► Digital solutions reduce paperwork burden and improve workflow management | |
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Element of NEPA Process |
How AECOM Can Help |
The Lead agency has the authority to notify cooperating agencies unable to meet the schedule to take measures that are appropriate to comply with the schedule. |
Can support the Lead agency or cooperating agencies in the development and/or review of NEPA related documentation |
Applicants are encouraged to develop a single environmental document |
Decades of experience developing legally defensible NEPA documentation, including documents that support the decisions of more than one agency |
Environmental Assessment Page Limits/Deadlines:
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Shall not exceed 75 pages, not including any citations or appendices.
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In general, an EA shall be complete no later than one year after the NOI to prepare an EA is issued by the agency.
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AECOM’s Digital NEPA tools provide cloud-based interactive documents and graphical presentation that resonate with stakeholders, reducing pages and streamlining timelines. |
Environmental Impact Assessment Page Limits/Deadlines:
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Shall not exceed 150 pages, not including any citations or appendices. Extraordinarily complex EISs shall not exceed 300 pages, not including any citations or appendices.
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In general, an EIS shall be complete no later than two years after the Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare an EIS is issued by the agency.
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AECOM’s Digital NEPA tools provide cloud-based interactive documents and graphical presentation that resonate with stakeholders, reducing pages and streamlining timelines. |
Directs agencies to develop procedures for how, under Federal agency supervision, project sponsors may prepare EA and EIS documents. |
Supported project sponsors (Applicants or Proponents) in the preparation of hundreds of EAs over the years. We have worked for years with the Lead agency, in coordination with project sponsors and Cooperating Agencies to prepare EIS documents, bringing our strong understanding and successful approaches directly to project sponsors, helping to develop excellent NEPA documents while maintaining strong coordination with the Lead agency for a smooth and efficient process using our suite of digital NEPA and collaboration tools. | |
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Today
On June 3, 2023, President Biden signed into law the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 (FRA). The FRA, under the “Builder Act”, codified several changes to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) including changes that support and encourage the use of digital tools that create timely and unified Federal reviews; address delays in reviews; and improve public accessibility and transparency. Below we focus on some of the areas where AECOM helps our clients improve the timelines and efficiencies of the NEPA process.
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E-NEPA
Permitting Portal Study - Requires Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to conduct a study of online and digital technologies to help provide for efficient reviews and improve public accessibility and transparency
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Allow applicants to submit required documents or materials for their project; upload and collaborate with the applicable agencies to edit documents in real-time; upload and display visual features such as video, animation, GIS, and three-dimensional renderings; and track progress of individual applications
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Use a cloud based, digital tool for more complex reviews, allowing enhanced interagency coordination (including consultation) by:
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Centralizing the data, visuals, documents, GIS
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Streamlining communications between agencies and the applicant
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Allowing for comments and response in one unified ‘portal’
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Generating reports to aid in organizing and cataloguing public comments, and
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Be accessible on mobile devices
*Learn more on the U.S. Permitting Dashboard |
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Example NEPA Support and Permitting Projects |
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Sacramento Municipal Utility District |
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