ENVIRONMENTAL/NEPA 
News from across the Agencies

" In the 21st century, the nation’s forests and grasslands face four threats. Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth names them as: (a) fire and fuels, (b) invasive species, (c) loss of open space, and(d) unmanaged recreation.”
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” In the next step advancing the Bush Administration’s efforts to develop the world’s largest oil shale resource, the Department of the Interior has issued research, development and demonstration (RD&D) leases for five oil shale projects on public lands in Colorado’s Piceance Basin managed by the Bureau of Land Management.” 
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“Advances in wind turbines technologies and increased interest in renewable energy sources have resulted in rapid expansion of the wind energy industry in the United States.”
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Seven Principles of Quality

Successful NEPA documents must be 100 percent clear. No lay reader, including the judge, should miss key conclusions or misunderstand supporting facts. How can NEPA teams guarantee that their documents are 100 percent clear and effective? The seven principles below provide some answers.

1. Collaboratively develop a vision of the final EIS or EA and all its supporting information-  A vision of the final EIS, EA, and supporting information is the critical starting point. Without a vision, however provisional, even simple project details will not fit into the final EIS or EA.  
    
2. Set the page layout and document structure to match this vision- A specific page layout should precede any text and any graphics. A writer working on even a single paragraph needs to know if text in the EIS or EA will be in columns.  
    
3. Use CEQ’s recommended outline to ensure that your EIS or EA is analytic, not encyclopedic- Use the outline that the CEQ strongly recommends in Section 1502.10 for EIS's. CEQ’s recommendations are important because the current CEQ Regulations (1992) reflect many of the crucial case law decisions concerning compliance with NEPA.  
    
4. Mock-up/storyboard the entire EIS or EA, including projected graphics for major NEPA conclusions and supporting facts- The NEPA team leader, the assigned writer/editor, and all major contributors should convene an early meeting to mock-up the entire EIS or EA. 
    
5. Then, and only then, begin to draft the full text- Resist the temptation to write text before you have thought through and completed most of the steps described above for principles 1 through 4.  
    
6. Review the evolving text and graphics to verify their relevance and effectiveness- Review the evolving text and graphics early and continue to review text and graphics as writers complete subsections. 
    
7. Shepherd the drafts (print-ready copy, CD, or web version) through production and assemble all supporting information- Production is always a time-consuming surprise. Writers and editors have worked for months or even years on an EIS or EA only to find out that it may take another month or perhaps two or three to get the document out of production. 
    

Jacksonville, FL
January 23-26, 2007
How to Manage the EIAP/NEPA Process: Air Force Specific

Las Vegas, NV
January 22-23, 2007
NEPA Process Management *
Las Vegas, NV
January 24-26, 2007
NEPA Writing Workshop *
* Register for the entire week of Jan. 22-26 and receive a 15% discount.

Las Vegas, NV
February 6-8, 2007
Advanced Writing for NEPA Specialists

Upcoming Workshop 
in Salt Lake City, UT
NEPA Cumulative Effects
Analysis and Documentation
February 6-8, 2007

Customized and Tailored 
ONSITE interactive training