Planning & Assessment

NPS Environmental Planning

While there are many types of planning initiatives undertaken by the NPS, a large number of these fall under the requirements NEPA.  All federal agencies, including the NPS, are required by NEPA to assess and consider the environmental impacts of proposed activities.

Environmental Impact Assessments

These should include a clear methodology for assessing all impacts, including criteria for evaluating the context, intensity, and duration of the impact for a specific resource. Impact assessments identify the environmental consequences of a decision and help identify mitigation measures required to minimize or avoid adverse effects. Under our mission and mandate, NPS is also required to ensure that internal projects do not impair park resources or values (see Section 1.4 of the NPS Management Policies [pdf, 2.5 MB]).  The DO 12 Handbook (pdf, 567 KB) provides more information on NEPA specific to the NPS.

Guidance

For some projects, air quality is an important resource topic, and must be addressed in the NEPA analysis. The NPS Air Resources Division assists parks with this analysis by providing:

• the most recent and best available information on air quality conditions and trends,
• relevant scientific studies, and
• regulatory and policy expertise.

Generally, there are standard analysis parameters that should be applied in a NEPA analysis that considers air quality for NPS units. Therefore, ARD has developed guidance documents to assist parks and regional NEPA planners in determining:

1. whether an air quality analysis is necessary for the project of concern;
2. what level of analysis is appropriate for the project;
3. what factors should be considered in the analysis;
4. a description of appropriate types of data and methods that should be used and sources of this information.

Most importantly, this guidance helps NPS staff, contractors and external agencies evaluate whether predicted air quality effects in national parks are "negligible," "minor," "moderate," or "major."

Reaching Out

The NPS provides scientifically based guidance and related thresholds that are based on known resource effects in national parks. The guidance and thresholds are used for evaluating internal and external actions that affect air quality and resources sensitive to air pollution (also known as Air Quality Related Values – AQRVs) in national parks. This direction is applied to all planning processes including NEPA and Clean Air Act (CAA) permitting. Guidance and thresholds are useful for assessing and evaluating the severity of air pollution impacts in parks. The NPS guidance provides other agencies with a consistent and objective approach to, and methods for, evaluating air pollution impacts in national parks.

Guidance specific for NEPA assessments is available in our Technical Guidance on Assessing Impacts to Air Quality in NEPA and Planning Documents, 2011 (pdf, 1.3 MB). Among other things, this document provides guidelines on (1) determining the appropriate level of air quality analysis, (2) locating air quality information and analysis tools, and (3) interpreting the analysis results and describing the severity of air quality impacts in NEPA terms. The NEPA guidance is meant to compliment our FLAG guidance. The FLAG guidance, among other things, provides technical recommendations on appropriate AQRV modeling methods and metrics. This guidance is useful for PSD permitting analyses, but is also applicable to NEPA analyses. Recommendations in these documents are applicable to both internal and external NEPA analyses.

How does the NPS work with partners?

The NPS monitors air quality and comments on the proposals of other federal and state agencies that have the potential to affect NPS resources. The NPS participates in planning activities to ensure that significant air quality impacts are adequately addressed, and that national park resources are protected.  Working with external partners is important for protecting air quality and AQRVs in national parks because the majority of air pollution impacting parks is generated outside of park boundaries. This presents an interesting challenge because, although the NPS has legal responsibility for protecting park AQRVs, it has no direct authority to control sources of pollution located outside of parks. Responsibility for developing air pollution control plans rests with the States, Tribal governing bodies, and EPA.  Some NPS planning activities include:

• State Implementation Plans
• Regional Haze Planning
• Permit Review
• External Planning Partnerships
• Smoke Management Coordination
• NEPA analyses performed by other federal agencies

NEPA - Working with external partners

The Clean Air Act (CAA), NPS Organic Act, and the Wilderness Act provide the NPS with an important role for protecting national park resources affected by air pollution from external sources. More on NPS Law and Policy »

The CAA in particular provides the NPS with a specific role and opportunity to protect parks from the effects of air pollution. However, actions implemented by other federal agencies under the purview of NEPA, such as oil and gas development, can also impact air quality and AQRVs in national parks. NPS management policies call for "cooperative conservation beyond park boundaries," recognizing that the NPS must work with federal, state and local partners to avoid or minimize external threats to park resources.The ARD works collaboratively with these agencies to ensure that air quality effects are adequately addressed in NEPA analyses and decision documents, and to achieve the maximum degree of protection possible for affected parks.

Oil & Gas Development on Federal Lands

Federal oil and gas planning and development, often addressed through the NEPA process, is a common example of the type external project the NPS reviews for air quality effects. In an effort to expand domestic oil and gas production safely and responsibly, the Department of the Interior, the Department of Agriculture, and the Environmental Protection Agency on June 24, 2011 released an interagency approach to address air quality issues associated with onshore oil and gas development on public lands. A new memorandum of understanding (MOU) establishes a common process for the agencies to follow in analyzing the potential air quality impacts of proposed oil and gas activities on federally managed public lands. The MOU's collaborative approach is designed to increase efficiency, certainty and transparency in the process—benefitting industry, federal agencies, states, and tribes. This agreement infers responsibility on the NPS to work collaboratively with an interagency group when oil and gas planning and development projects could affect National Parks. The full press release and links to information about the MOU are available through a Department of the Interior press release.

• The MOU (pdf, 3.2 MB)
• Air Quality MOU Appendix (pdf, 220 KB)
• Questions and Answers about the MOU (pdf, 80 KB)

Natural Resource Condition Assessments & Resource Stewardship Strategies

“What is good air quality and is air quality good in my park?”

National Park managers need to know the answers to these questions in order to effectively manage air quality in parks. Natural Resource Condition Assessments help parks answer these questions about air quality and other resources. A Resource Stewardship Strategy describes how to measure resource health over time to assess progress toward achieving management goals.

Learn how to evaluate park air quality conditions and set management goals that will achieve good air quality in parks. The Guidance for Evaluating Air Quality in Natural Resource Condition Assessments (pdf, 37 KB) describes assessment methods and provides helpful links to information and data resources for air quality assessments. See Rating Air Quality Conditions (pdf, 90 KB) to find out what levels of ozone, atmospheric deposition of nitrogen and sulfur compounds, and visibility are considered good, moderate, or of significant concern. “Good” air quality conditions are recommended for management goals. Air Quality Estimate Data Tables provide interpolated 5-year average values for ozone, nitrogen deposition, sulfur deposition, and visibility at 271 NPS units.

Each year, ARD assesses and reports on air quality conditions and trends in about 150 parks. Parks with on-site or nearby air quality monitoring are included in the Air Quality in National Parks: Annual Performance and Progress Report.

Planning and Assessment Resources

Evaluation and Assessment

• Technical Guidance on Assessing Impacts to Air Quality in NEPA and Planning Documents – 2011
  (pdf, 1.3 MB)
• Guidance on Nitrogen and Sulfur Deposition Analysis Thresholds (pdf, 62 KB)
• Evaluating Air Quality in Natural Resource Condition Assessments (pdf, 37 KB)
• Rating Air Quality Conditions (pdf, 90 KB)
• Air Quality Estimate Data Tables
• Air Quality in Parks–Park-Specific AQRV information
• AQRV Inventory
• NPS Ozone Risk Assessments
• NPS Acidification Sensitivity Assessments
• NPS Nitrogen Sensitivity Assessments
• Annual NPS Air Quality Condition and Trend Reports
• NPS Natural Resource Condition Assessment Program

Laws and Regulations

• Clean Air Act (CAA)
• NPS Organic Act
• EPA National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Homepage
• EPA’s Policy and Guidance Web page
• Council on Environmental Quality NEPA Homepage
• Council on Environmental Quality NEPA Regulations
• State Implementation Plans
• Regional Haze Planning

Policy and Management

• NPS Policy Office
• NPS Policy Documents
• NPS Management Policies (pdf, 2.5 MB)
• DO 12 Handbook (pdf, 567 KB)
• Federal Land Managers’ Air Quality Related Values Workgroup (FLAG)
• Smoke Management and the NPS