Development Of A Management System For Implementing The Nepa Process In The Department Of Energy Executive Summary Year One Technical Progress Report PDF Download

In carrying out its mission, the Department of Energy is responsible for complying with both the broad policy goals and the procedural requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The departmental unit charged with overseeing DOE conformance with NEPA and related environmental protection statutes is the Office of Environment (EV), whose Assistant Secretary (ASEV) establishes policies and procedures to assure that environmental considerations demonstrably influence agency decision processes at the policy, program, and project levels. In support of ASEV's mission, a comprehensive NEPA Management System (NMS), which would integrate NEPA policy requirements and the production of NEPA documents with basic DOE functions and activities is being developed and tested. To the extent that this objective was achievable in the context of the Department's formative state, the NMS design was to simplify and regularize NEPA activities agency-wide and thereby permit ASEV and the NEPA Affairs Division (NAD/EV) to concentrate on the supervision of system function and specialized problem-solving. As a related management objective, the NMS was to clarify the NEPA-related roles of units within EV and the nature of their interactions with other elements of the Department. As a three-year effort, the development of the NEPA Management System is evolutionary. This report documents the progress made during the first project year and presents findings on the NEPA Management System design in terms of a six-part framework for its future development. In addition, the report treats key logistical considerations related to system implementation and provides an overview of work to be accomplished in the second project year.