Poster: What to Make of the Trump Administration NEPA Directives Toward Obtaining Incidental Take Permits
26 Mar 19
4:30 PM
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5:30 PM
Tracks:
USFWS and the Wind Industry
In August 2017, an Executive Order entitled “Establishing Discipline and Accountability in the Environmental Review and Permitting Process for Infrastructure" was issued by President Trump. More details followed in supplemental directives issued by the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of the Interior regarding content for National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) environmental impact statements (EISs) and environmental assessments (EAs). Collectively, this order and directives were intended to improve implementation of the NEPA process. Perhaps the most notable parts of the directives were limitations on page counts and expediting of the NEPA schedule. As the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has not typically been able to complete NEPA for incidental take permits (ITPs) in a timely manner, the directives on expediting the schedule may be beneficial toward attaining permit issuance. Real concerns remain about USFWS staff "bandwidth" to address the number of eagle and T/E species ITP applications though. The limitations on page counts may be more problematic, as they seem to conflict with the NEPA requirement to take a “hard look” and could result in more public comments and legal challenges. The lack of grandfathering to NEPA EAs already in process is another troublesome aspect facing the wind industry. Thus, there appear to be both advantages and disadvantages of this expedition attempt. The expectation is that there will be a better understanding of how these directives are working by the time of the Wind Project Siting & Environmental Compliance Conference and an updated review of the advantages and disadvantages, as well as recommendations to the applicants and preparers on coordinating, scheduling, and page counts, will be provided. It often comes to a company's business decision regarding risk tolerance and/or overall project permitting need as to whether to pursue a take permit; these recent changes may alter the evaluation process.