DOE Order for National Environmental Policy Act Compliance Program

The NEPA sets review and determination requirements for federal decision-making on actions that might impact the environment.  As LBNL is a federally-owned Laboratory, the DOE must consider the environmental consequences pursuant to NEPA for all actions taking place at LBNL in federally owned facilities (or on federally leased land), with federal funding, and/or with other federal permits or authorization.  Formal NEPA analysis and documentation may take the form of categorical exclusions, environmental assessments, or environmental impact statements.

A NEPA Determination Strategy Plan is an internal scoping procedure for categorical exclusions, environmental assessments, and environmental impact statements that include development of a schedule. For an environmental impact statement, the schedule, absent extraordinary circumstances, will provide for completion of a final environmental impact statement within 15 months of the issuance of the Notice of Intent.  An environmental assessment would typically take between 6 and 12 months; a categorical exclusion for a large project would typically take between 1 and 2 months.