Preparing NEPA Environmental Assessments : A User’s Guide to Best Professional Practices

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations provide surprisingly little direction for preparing environmental assessments (EA). This book addresses this problem by providing a step-by-step guide for preparing EAs. Bridging the regulatory gap, it draws on information scattered throughout NEPA regulations and guidance documents, as well as best professional practices (BPP) and case law. The book progresses from the fundamentals to successfully more advanced topics, making it suitable for beginners, students, and experienced practitioners alike. It provides an indispensable guide for managing, analyzing, and writing legally defensible EAs.

Although upwards of 50,000 environmental assessments (EAs) are prepared annually—compared to some 500 environmental impact statements (EISs)—the focus of U.S. National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations is on defining requirements for preparing EISs. Written by Charles Eccleston and J. Peyton Doub, who have established themselves among the top environmental experts in the world, Preparing NEPA Environmental Assessments: A User’s Guide to Best Professional Practices fills the need for an authoritative and comprehensive guide on how to prepare EAs.

Bridging the regulatory gap, this book identifies relevant EIS regulatory requirements that can be logically interpreted to also apply to EAs. It compiles and synthesizes information scattered throughout NEPA’s regulations, executive orders, and guidance documents, and incorporates case law to provide additional clarification. The authors also draw on the professional experiences and best professional practices (BPP) of NEPA practitioners.

From the fundamentals to more advanced topics, the book presents a consistent methodology to help beginners, students, and professionals manage, analyze, and write legally sufficient EAs. It addresses dilemmas that have traditionally plagued preparation of EAs, provides BPPs, tools, and approaches for resolving problems, and introduces methods for streamlining the EA process.

Building on Eccleston’s previous guide to EAs, Effective Environmental Assessments: How to Manage and Prepare NEPA Assessments (2001), this book reflects the rapid changes in government policy over the past ten years. An indispensable source of practical information, it provides readers with step-by-step direction and best practices for preparing defensible EAs.