NEPA COMPLIANCE

ERO works closely with federal and state agencies and nonfederal project proponents to navigate the NEPA process and complete responsive, well-supported, and legally defensible compliance documents, including environmental impact statements, environmental assessments, and categorical exclusions. Our clients rely on our experience and expertise to provide a straightforward approach to completing the required level of NEPA compliance and associated permitting. Our goals are to support project proponents, agencies, and partners throughout the process as efficiently as possible and to find creative “no action” solutions that eliminate the need for NEPA documentation whenever possible.

Scoping and public involvement
Cumulative impact evaluation

Alternatives development
Agency coordination and permitting

Biological, cultural, socioeconomic resource assessments
Paleontology

Areas of Expertise

Scoping and public involvement

ERO plans and implements effective public involvement strategies, including public meetings, stakeholder outreach, and written materials (e.g., websites and newsletters). We use customized databases to efficiently manage and respond to public comments.

Project purpose and need and alternatives development

We help define a purpose and need that focuses project objectives and clearly addresses the project need. ERO also helps our clients identify a viable and sufficient range of project alternatives for accomplishing project objectives.

Biological resource assessment

ERO’s expertise in biological resource assessment and permitting (e.g., vegetation, noxious weeds, wetlands, wildlife, and threatened and endangered species) is often a core element of NEPA compliance and documentation. Visit our Biological Resources section for more details on ERO's services.

Cultural resources

Federal projects require compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. ERO’s archaeologists are qualified to complete the necessary surveys and consultations, and provide expertise integrating these issues into NEPA compliance and documentation. For more information visit our Cultural Resources page.

Water resources

ERO’s hydrologists and geologists are well versed in water rights, surface water, ground water, and water quality analyses. We provide expertise in evaluating impacts on streams, lakes, floodplains, and aquifers. Additional information regarding our hydrology-related areas of expertise and experience is available in our Water Resources section.

Other environmental resources

To meet NEPA requirements, ERO provides expertise in evaluating recreation, socioeconomics, environmental justice, geology, soils, climate change, and other environmental resources specific to project needs. In addition, we address hazardous material concerns, including site assessments and remediation as described on our Environmental Due Diligence page.

Cumulative impacts

Increasingly important is the need to thoroughly consider the cumulative effects of the proposed action in combination with past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future actions. ERO has considerable experience conducting reasonable and effective cumulative impact evaluations to ensure all potential effects are disclosed.

Paleontology

ERO has a long-standing relationship with on-call paleontological experts to team with us to perform paleontological surveys, construction monitoring, and fossil mitigation services including excavation, preparation, and curation of fossil specimens, as well as paleontological resource mitigation/treatment plans when necessary. These services include submeter Global Positioning System (GPS) technology capabilities, combined with our Geographic Information Systems (GIS) team, to provide accurate resource locations for better resource management and long-term planning. Also included in these services is phased planning of projects that allows cost and scheduling flexibility to our clients.