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Course Details

Course Information
  • smart_display Format

    On-Demand

  • signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level

    Intermediate

  • work Practice Area

    Environmental

Date & Time
  • event Date

    Tuesday, November 14, 2023

  • schedule Time

    1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT

  • timer Program Length

    90 minutes

Credit Information

  • This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.

$297.00
CLE
ALL

This CLE webinar will provide a detailed discussion of the recent NEPA amendments under the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 and the Council on Environmental Quality's (CEQ) Phase 2 proposed rule. The panel will discuss how the amendments attempt to streamline the NEPA review process and how the proposed rule will advance the current administration's environmental goals. The panel will also provide best practices for compliance for counsel and their clients who have ongoing projects subject to NEPA review.

Faculty

Alexander Arensberg
Partner
Squire Patton Boggs

Mr. Arensberg advises clients on complex litigation and regulatory compliance issues before federal and state agencies. His practice focuses on public lands and natural resource law, renewable energy development, and environmental compliance. He also has extensive experience litigating challenges to administrative decision-making, drafting appellate briefs in both federal and state courts, advising on large-scale infrastructure development projects, and conducting internal investigations and compliance reviews in response to government enforcement actions. Mr. Arensberg advises clients on permitting and regulatory compliance issues arising under a broad array of federal and state environmental laws, including the NEPA, Clean Water Act, Federal Land Policy and Management Act, Mining Law of 1872, Mineral Leasing Acts, Oil Pollution Act, CERCLA, Endangered Species Act and National Historic Preservation Act. This work involves close coordination with federal land managers and other permitting agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the EPA, and various state agencies.

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Tad J. Macfarlan
Partner
K&L Gates, LLP

Mr. Macfarlan advises the firm’s energy, industrial, utility and commercial sector clients on compliance with federal, state and local environmental and land use laws. He has extensive experience working with the regulatory regimes governing wastewater and stormwater discharges, wetland and stream protection, air emissions, solid and hazardous waste management, water withdrawals, chemical and toxic substance controls, release reporting and response, and preservation of endangered species, cultural resources and historic properties. Mr. Macfarlan's practice includes project development, transactional, litigation, enforcement defense and regulatory compliance matters.

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Description

In recent months, Congress passed the first major amendments to NEPA since the statute's enactment in 1969 and the CEQ published its Phase 2 proposed revisions to NEPA's implementing regulations. While the NEPA amendments seek to streamline the NEPA review process, the proposed rule could undermine certain aspects of the statutory amendments' purpose and intent, in order to advance the current administration's broader policy goals.

On June 3, 2023, NEPA was amended in significant ways as part of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023. Among other changes, the NEPA amendments establish new limits on the types of "Major Federal Actions" that trigger NEPA and allow for more liberal adoption and utilization of "categorical exclusions" from NEPA review. The amendments also set new procedural deadlines and page limits for both Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) and Environmental Assessments (EAs).

On July 31, 2023, CEQ published its Phase 2 proposed rule, which would comprehensively revise CEQ's NEPA-implementing regulations. The Phase 2 proposed rule would emphasize NEPA's "action forcing" procedural provisions to achieve certain environmental and human health goals and require agencies to integrate climate change and environmental justice considerations into their analyses of environmental effects. CEQ is reserving the right to apply any finalized regulations to pending applications. Therefore, counsel should be aware of the revisions for project planning purposes even though the proposed rule is not yet in effect.

Listen as our expert panel discusses the NEPA amendments and CEQ proposed rule and the impact these may have on projects subject to NEPA review. Our panel will also provide best practices for compliance.

Outline

  1. Introduction
  2. NEPA amendments
  3. CEQ Phase 2 proposed rule
  4. Effects on project planning
  5. Best practices for compliance

Benefits

The panel will review these and other key considerations:

  • What effect do the NEPA amendments have on the NEPA review process?
  • Will the NEPA amendments actually streamline the review process?
  • What effect could CEQ's Phase 2 proposed rule have on current and future projects subject to NEPA review?
  • How may the proposed rule undermine the streamlining of the NEPA review process that the statutory amendments seek to achieve?