The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), signed into law on January 1, 1970, was enacted to “declare a national policy which will encourage productive and enjoyable harmony between man and his environment.” Unfortunately, NEPA has not only become a roadblock to getting critical work done on the ground, but is taking years longer than ever intended and costing more than is necessary.
That is why the U.S. Forest Service is currently seeking to modernize their NEPA regulations for the first time in a quarter century; which, with over 100 million acres of USFS lands at some risk of catastrophic wildfire, the modernization can’t come quick enough.
Simply put, NEPA needs to be more responsive to the needs of our forests and communities. Guidance from the Council on Environmental Quality recommends that Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) should only be used for projects that will have significant environmental impacts, and they should be completed in one year or less, and be less than 300 pages.
Nowadays, it takes the USFS 1,300 days and over 1,000 pages to complete an EIS. So, instead of getting work done on the ground, USFS employees spend significant amounts of time and funding writing and defending documents. In order to reduce the “analysis paralysis” that has plagued the agency’s NEPA process, things needs to change.
I encourage all of you who are frustrated with the lack of work getting done on federal lands to submit comments to the FS by February 2nd using the following link: http://bit.ly/2DMVP7t.
Molly Pitts
Salida
