National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

All Office of Electricity (OE) projects are reviewed under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 – 42 U.S.C. Section 4321 et seq.

The Department of Energy regulations that implement NEPA require OE to determine whether a proposal requires preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), an Environmental Assessment (EA), or a Categorical Exclusion (CX). 

Additional information on the Department of Energy's National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) implementation, including details about current DOE NEPA events, an electronic archive of DOE NEPA documents, and other NEPA resources, is available for practitioners and members of the public in the NEPA section of the Department of Energy's website.

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)
An EIS is required for every recommendation or report on proposals for legislation and other major federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment.

Environmental Assessment
An Environmental Assessment (EA) is a concise public document that provides sufficient evidence and analysis for determining whether to prepare an environmental impact statement or a finding of no significant impact.

Categorical Exclusion
A Categorical Exclusion refers to a category of actions that the Department of Energy has determined do not individually or cumulatively have a significant effect on the human environment.