Advanced NEPA Decision-Making & Defensible Project Delivery: DOT Specific

Description

Former FHWA NHI 142076 Equivalent

Designed to Meet or Exceed the Learning Outcomes of Former FHWA National Highway Institute Course NHI 142076 – Achieving Appropriate Consideration in NEPA Decisionmaking

This advanced, seminar-style course prepares experienced NEPA practitioners to make legally defensible, well-reasoned, and strategically sound NEPA decisions throughout the transportation project lifecycle. Participants strengthen their ability to identify, evaluate, justify, and document critical NEPA decisions under real-world conditions involving uncertainty, time pressure, interagency coordination, litigation risk, and evolving project circumstances.

The course is structured to directly replace the former FHWA National Highway Institute Course NHI 142076 – Achieving Appropriate Consideration in NEPA Decisionmaking, and is designed to meet or exceed its learning outcomes. Participants apply NEPA decision-making principles through scenario-based analysis, risk evaluation, documentation labs, and interdisciplinary collaboration exercises.

Special emphasis is placed on:

  • Avoiding arbitrary and capricious decisions

  • Documenting sufficiency of information

  • Managing changing project circumstances

  • Integrating related environmental laws

  • Strengthening litigation resilience under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA)

Objectives

Upon completion of this workshop, participants will be able to do the following:

• Apply the core purpose and intent of NEPA to complex transportation decisions

• Identify and justify key decision points across the NEPA process

• Apply formal principles of good decision-making and critical thinking to NEPA practice

• Evaluate how changing project circumstances affect NEPA compliance and documentation

• Integrate NEPA with related environmental laws and permitting processes

• Understand where and how case law shapes NEPA decision-making

• Assess whether interagency coordination and stakeholder communication are legally sufficient

• Apply FHWA project delivery and scheduling strategies while maintaining environmental stewardship

• Determine when sufficient information exists to support defensible action

• Explain the purpose and legal importance of NEPA documentation

• Identify, assess, and reduce decision-making risk under the APA

Audience

This course is intended for NEPA practitioners including:

  • State DOT Environmental and Project Development Staff

  • Local and Tribal Transportation Agencies

  • Federal Agency Environmental Planners

  • Environmental and Engineering Consultants

  • NEPA Assignment States and Candidate States

  • Project Development Managers and Attorneys

Process

“Advanced NEPA Decision-Making & Defensible Project Delivery: DOT Specific” is a 2 or 3-day interactive workshop designed to build practical skills for effective NEPA compliance. For optimal learning, class sizes are limited to 20-30 participants. The training combines:

• 60% Lecture

• 40% Discussion and Hands-on Exercises

Materials

Participants receive the following:

  • Comprehensive workshop manual

  • Workshop Resources workbook