Item 24 - On-Call Environmental Review Services for Federally Funded Programs

Home Browse Search

RFP #24-038A: On -Call Environmental Review Services for CHAMBERS the Housing Division City of Santa Ana GROUP NEPA We assume that a majority of the environmental documents for the City will be required to comply with CEQA; however, we have prepared an overview below focusing on compliance with NEPA, should the projects have federal funding or permitting. NEPA Approach The NEPA climate is quickly changing under the current administration, with NEPA regulations being updated more in the past few years than they have since enaction in 1970. Chambers Group staff work hard to stay up to date on the changing regulatory environment surrounding NEPA in order to utilize streamlining opportunities to deliver more concise documents, faster timelines, and lower costs than their competitors. Below is a brief summary of the recent updates to the NEPA regulations and how Chambers Group has adapted. Executive Order (EO)13807 EO 13807 was signed on August 15, 2017 with the purpose of streamlining environmental review and authorization decisions for major infrastructure projects to 2 years. Following EO 13807, the Department of the Interior signed Secretarial Order (SO) 3355 on August 31, 2017 to streamline the NEPA process for all projects in all Interior Departments, followed by many other Secretaries. In a series of memorandums on implementation of SO 3355, page numbers and timelines of EIS and EA documents were limited. EIS documents are required to be 150 pages or less for a standard project and 300 pages or less for unusually complex projects. Additionally, EIS documents must be completed within 1 year from the issuance of a Notice of Intent (NOI). EA documents are required to be 75 pages or less, excluding appendices, and review of the document is required to be concluded within 180 calendar days from commencement. Chambers Group will actively coordinate with the City and other reviewing agencies to create a detailed schedule including submittal deadlines and review periods in order to maintain compliance with SO 3355 time limits. Further, Chambers Group has internal processes in place to budget page limits in accordance with SO 3355. E01392 7: On June 4, 2020, an EO was signed to provide federal agencies the foundation, under the National Emergencies Act, to speed up environmental permitting in response to the National Emergency Concerning the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Outbreak. The EO allows agencies totake all reasonable measuresto accelerate actions that will strengthen the economy and return Americans to work, while providing appropriate protection for public health and safety, natural resources, and the environment, as required by law. The leaders of all agencies are directed to use, to the fullest extent possible and consistent with applicable law, emergency procedures, statutory exemptions, categorical exclusions, analyses that have already been completed, and concise and focused analyses, consistent with NEPA, the Council for Environmental Quality's NEPA regulations, and agencies' NEPA procedures. With this knowledge, Chambers Group staff will pursue streamlined NEPA processes and push project timelines to the greatest extent possible to take full advantage of the allowances under EO 13927. Council on Environmental Quality Revisions to NEPA Rules: On July 16, 2020, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) published their final rule to update the regulations for Federal agencies to implement NEPA for the first time in 40 years. The final rule revises, modernizes, and clarifies the regulations with the intention to facilitate more efficient, effective, and timely NEPA reviews by federal agencies in connection with proposals for agency action. Some key changes to NEPA involve the use of Categorical Exclusions, as well as cumulative impacts and GHG analyses. The final rule provides that agencies may use Categorical Exclusions to define actions that normally do not have a significant effect and may adopt another agency's Categorical Exclusion determination or portions thereof if the two actions subject to the determinations are substantially similar. Additionally, the cumulative impacts analysis is no longer required as part of a NEPA review. With respect to GHG, CEQ explains in the preamble to the final rule that "the analysis of the impacts on climate change will depend on the specific circumstances of the proposed action" and that agencies "will consider predictable trends in the area in the baseline analysis of the affected environment." Although cumulative impact analyses are not required, CEQ clarified that consideration of the cumulative and indirect effects of climate change are not precluded by the final rule. NEPA Literature Review and Scoping Meeting(s): After receiving a NTP from the City, Chambers Group will be prepared to meet with the City and project Applicant(s), when applicable, at a Project Initiation/Kick-off Meeting to discuss the project. Chambers Group will receive project plans, and other project related information and studies. This information will be reviewed in order to determine the appropriate NEPA documentation to be prepared. Chambers Group will