Considering Climate Change in NEPA Implementation
Abstract
Attention to anthropogenic aspects of global climate change has become widespread
in the United States where concern for this and related issues such as greenhouse
gas (GHG) emissions has increased through time from the 1990s to the present. This
has been of increasing concern among federal agencies. A number of federal government
undertakings have the potential to impact and be affected by this environmental aspect.
The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) has highlighted a relationship between
climate change and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by issuing draft guidance
on how it may be considered under NEPA. This paper reviews how climate change has
been considered in NEPA implementation in terms of CEQ guidance and a sample of environmental
planning documents, along with important federal court decisions relating climate
change to NEPA. It also provides information on recent federal executive branch and
legislative activity concerning climate change and discusses the near future outlook
for such action. I offer suggestions for how climate change may be addressed when
preparing a NEPA categorical exclusion, environmental assessment, and environmental
impact statement by considering climate change impacts separately from greenhouse
gas emissions. While the principal climate change focus in the NEPA process has been
GHG emissions and their relationship to global warming, it may be worthwhile to also
consider natural variation.
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Koski-Karell, Daniel (2012). Considering Climate Change in NEPA Implementation. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/5965.Collections
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Rights for Collection: National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Education and Certificate Program Capstone Papers
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