The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is a key element of environmental law. The law regulates environmental impact by requiring all private, public, and non-profit institutions to comply with the standards, procedures, and protective measures set.
The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) report is an analytical and regulatory method used by all government and non-government projects they have to undertake. When a project is subject to a NEPA analysis report, the first step is to determine whether a Statement of Environmental Impacts (EIS) is required.
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An EIS is an analytical study that determines the scope of the project in relation to the environment and contains recommendations for alternative actions. Additionally, if an EIS is required, the project can be classified as a definitive exception.
A categorical Exception (CE) is issued when a project is deemed to be exempt from the EIS. If the project is approved for exemption from a detailed EIS analysis, a federal agency has determined that the project does not have a significant environmental impact.
Under the NEPA law, explicit exemptions can be a significant undertaking. But overall, the process is very effective and certainly effective in managing environmental impacts. The National Park Service (NPS) regularly issues categorical exemptions for its projects.