During development of long-range transportation MPOs and States must consult "as appropriate" with State and local agencies responsible for:
- Land-use management
- Natural resources
- Environmental protection
- Conservation
- Historic preservation
For Statewide plans, States must also consult with Tribal agencies

Slide 4

Consultation Provision (cont)

The consultation shall involve, "as appropriate"
- Comparison of transportation plans with State conservation plans or maps, if available; or
- Comparison of transportation plans to inventories of natural or historic resources, if available

Slide 5

Plans and Inventories

What are the other plans or inventories that might be considered?

Diagram of the following:

A bubble with Transportation Plan is in the center, with spokes around it connecting to Wildlife Action Plans, Multi-species Habitat Conservation Plans, Natural Heritage Databases, Land Use Plans, Green Infrastructure Planning, Watershed Plans, Historic Resource Inventories, and Special Area Management Plans.

Slide 6

Mitigation Provision

Long-range transportation plans must include a discussion of potential environmental mitigation activities and potential locations to carry them out
- Must be developed in consultation with Federal, State and Tribal wildlife, land management, and regulatory agencies

Slide 7

How do the planning provisions relate to project development, NEPA and 106?

Slide 8

A few differences ...

Local and State elected officials — driven process
High level (systems-perspective)
Produces Long Range Plan/TIP
Process Certified by FHWA/FTA
Not a Federal Action or reviewable by courts
Lead agency/FHWA driven
Project-Alternatives specific
NEPA document/MOA
Approved by FHWA
Federal Action, reviewable by courts

Slide 9

Consideration of Cultural Resources

Preservation plans
Data/inventories
General assessment
Fuzzy, systems-level
Project-specific inventories
Project-specific analysis
Focused consideration of significance & eligibility

Slide 10

Mitigation

General discussion of mitigation "activities"
Avoidance and minimization during plan development
Eco-system-level, banking (most value)
Fuzzy, systems-level
Project-specific impact mitigation, avoidance and minimization
Project-level, at project site and in-kind (may be costly and low value)

Slide 11

What's in it for you?
Better Plans, Projects and Stewardship

Early involvement in planning envisioned as part of NEPA to ensure better decisions
Planning products are being encouraged to be used in NEPA, given that they are done appropriately
Projects from a "environmentally-considerate" planning process will be better projects
If resource agencies are not involved, may have problems down the road

Slide 12

Some next steps

NPRM for Planning is currently out for comment until September 7, 2006
Deadline for Planning Agencies to comply with provisions is July 1, 2007
Agencies will likely be developing approaches to meet requirements soon

Slide 13

Thank You! michael.culp@dot.gov

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