DOE Environmental Assessment Checklist Document Title: Reviewed By: Document Number Office/Phone: Document Date: Date: Attached is a checklist to aid in preparing and reviewing DOE Environmental Assessments (EA’s), prepared pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Like any checklist, it has both value and limits. On one hand, a checklist may help EA preparers and reviewers to: overlooking required or recommended items; identify needed analyses and discussions; provide a record of an internal review. On the other hand, NEPA analysis does not reduce to a single formula or checklist. Each DOE proposal presents unique circumstances and potential impacts. This checklist should be applied carefully because: no checklist can be universally comprehensive or complete; it does not substitute for the original laws, regulations, and guidance; it cannot ensure that the EA will be adequate under, and in full compliance with NEPA and associated federal laws and regulations; addressing generic items on a checklist alone may not lead to a sufficiently rigorous analysis of potential impacts of a proposed action; checklist items are not always of equal importance or weight (e.g., if threatened and endangered species are not addressed, an EA is generally inadequate; however, omitting beneficial impacts usually is not critical). In short, a checklist should not be relied upon as the only way to build quality into a DOE EA. It does not replace good judgment. Finally, this EA checklist is not intended to promote the rote generation of standardized documentation. It is not meant to encourage an ethic of minimal compliance with environmental, safety, and health standards. It cannot measure whether resources are appropriately allocated, or the extent to which DOE decision makers use NEPA information in decisions and whether those decisions improve protection of environmental quality. In the long run, the focus should be on the ultimate of the NEPA process: high quality “product” decisions and sound environmental stewardship. Office of NEPA Oversight, U.S. Department of Energy August 1994
DOE Environmental Assessment Checklist Document Title: Reviewed By: Document Number Office/Phone: Document Date: Date: Attached is a checklist to aid in preparing and reviewing DOE Environmental Assessments (EA’s), prepared pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Like any checklist, it has both value and limits. On one hand, a checklist may help EA preparers and reviewers to: overlooking required or recommended items; identify needed analyses and discussions; provide a record of an internal review. On the other hand, NEPA analysis does not reduce to a single formula or checklist. Each DOE proposal presents unique circumstances and potential impacts. This checklist should be applied carefully because: no checklist can be universally comprehensive or complete; it does not substitute for the original laws, regulations, and guidance; it cannot ensure that the EA will be adequate under, and in full compliance with NEPA and associated federal laws and regulations; addressing generic items on a checklist alone may not lead to a sufficiently rigorous analysis of potential impacts of a proposed action; checklist items are not always of equal importance or weight (e.g., if threatened and endangered species are not addressed, an EA is generally inadequate; however, omitting beneficial impacts usually is not critical). In short, a checklist should not be relied upon as the only way to build quality into a DOE EA. It does not replace good judgment. Finally, this EA checklist is not intended to promote the rote generation of standardized documentation. It is not meant to encourage an ethic of minimal compliance with environmental, safety, and health standards. It cannot measure whether resources are appropriately allocated, or the extent to which DOE decision makers use NEPA information in decisions and whether those decisions improve protection of environmental quality. In the long run, the focus should be on the ultimate “product” of the NEPA process: high quality decisions and sound environmental stewardship. Office of NEPA Oversight, U.S. Department of Energy August 1994
DOE%20Environmental%20Assessment%20Checklist_092016.docx