Global Climate Change and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

In an October 8, 1997, memorandum, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) issued draft guidelines on how global climate change should be treated in NEPA documents.  The CEQ guidance calls on Federal Agencies to consider in NEPA documents both how major Federal actions could affect sources and sinks of greenhouse gases and how climate change could potentially influence such actions.

The CEQ bases this guidance on the NEPA regulations, which mandate that all “reasonably foreseeable” environmental impacts of the proposed Federal action have to be considered in the NEPA document.  The CEQ considers that there is adequate scientific evidence that indicates that climate change is a “reasonably foreseeable” impact of greenhouse gas emissions.  The most recent comprehensive report stating the scientific basis of climate change is the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report published in 2007.

 We considered greenhouse gas emissions in the programmatic EISs for the 1992-1997, 1997-2002, 2002-2007, and 2007-2012 leasing programs.  For an example, see the global climate section of the 2007-2012 programmatic EIS.

Other Information

        Climate Change (EPA website)

        U.S. Global Change Research Program

        Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

        Global Warming Trend (graph)

        Air Quality Impact Assessment