1 / 15

WA State Environmental Policy Act

WA State Environmental Policy Act. Presented by Heather Page February 9, 2009. What is SEPA?. Provides a way to identify possible environmental impacts that may result from governmental decisions Issuing permits for private projects Constructing public facilities, or

maille
Télécharger la présentation

WA State Environmental Policy Act

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. WA State Environmental Policy Act Presented by Heather Page February 9, 2009

  2. What is SEPA? • Provides a way to identify possible environmental impacts that may result from governmental decisions • Issuing permits for private projects • Constructing public facilities, or • Adopting regulations, policies or plans • Identify impacts, then avoid, minimize, or mitigate

  3. Who does SEPA review? • “Lead agency” • For most private projects: city or county where the project is located • Located on Ecology’s SEPA register for the public • For public projects: agency proposing the project

  4. What is the SEPA review process? • Determine if project is categorically exempt • If SEPA review required, applicant fills out environmental checklist and submits to lead agency • Lead agency reviews to ensure impacts are properly documented and mitigated • Lead agency makes determination • Public reviews determination

  5. Process for SEPA Threshold Determination • Responsible Official makes the threshold determination • Determination of Nonsignificance, no EIS required • Mitigated Determination of Nonsignificance (DNS), no EIS required due to mitigating conditions • Determination of Significance (DS) and Scoping Notice, EIS is required • Notice is required for DNSs for certain types of development such as those where another agency has jurisdiction and clearing or grading permits (substantive authority)

  6. Appeals of SEPA Determination • Appeal determination to local legislative body (for example, Hearing Examiner) • You must exhaust administrative remedies before filing a judicial appeal • A SEPA appeal must be combined with an appeal of the substantive decision, except for an appeal of a DS • May use a notice of action taken to set a final deadline for a SEPA judicial appeal, 21 days from the second publication of the notice

  7. Case Study: WSDOT/WSF v City of Bainbridge Island

  8. Case Study: Electrical Line Relocation Project

  9. SEPA Considerations • Construction impacts • Traffic • Parking • Noise • Groundwater Dewatering • Archaeological Resources • Utility Conflicts

  10. Why was a SEPA Checklist Prepared? • Categorical exemption (repair, remodel, and maintenance) • National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit requires SEPA determination

  11. SEPA and Climate Change • Ecology’s Climate Action Team Efforts • King County Efforts • California and Massachusetts have policies in place regarding assessing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions

  12. Ecology’s Climate Action Team • SEPA Implementation Working Group • SEPA Final Report and Recommendations (October 2008): • Clear guidance and revised checklist • Regularly updated guidance and materials • Emissions tool development • Qualitative analysis • Mitigation guidance • Approach to threshold determination standard • Leveraging SEPA

  13. King County Efforts • King County is the first local government in the nation to officially add greenhouse gas emissions to the environmental review of construction projects (King County Executive Order 7-10-1 (AEO)) • King County has developed a greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions worksheet that can assist applicants in answering the SEPA checklist question relating to GHG emissions

  14. IN CLASS EXERCISE

More Related