Agricultural News
NCBA & PLC Secure NEPA Improvements For Livestock Producers
Wed, 18 Nov 2020 16:15:22 CST
The National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) Executive Director of Natural Resources and the Public Lands Council (PLC) Executive Director Kaitlynn Glover today released the following statement on the U.S. Forest Service's (USFS) final rule to update the agency's National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations:
"Today's announcement represents decades of work by livestock producers who have told the Forest Service and other federal agencies for years that NEPA regulations need serious improvement. This rule formalizes changes that will allow USFS to be better partners to ranchers and stakeholders who depend on healthy forests and grasslands. These are common-sense changes that add clarity by streamlining NEPA processes and ensuring that agencies are not spending time on unnecessary duplicative NEPA reviews. Thank you to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and USFS for following through with this process."
The final rule contains a series of new categorical exclusions (CEs) and a Determination of NEPA Adequacy. CEs are a NEPA process that are completed when a determination is made that the proposed action will not have a significant impact. The proposed rule released by the USFS in June 2019 was broader than the contents of the final rule. NCBA and PLC will continue to work with USFS officials and NEPA experts across the administration to finalize other components of the 2019 proposed rule, as directed by the updated NEPA regulations finalized by the White House Council on Environmental Quality in July 2020.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI
Top Agricultural News
More Headlines...