National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) compliance is a core service at Transcon. We routinely prepare EAs and EISs, assist agencies in preparing Findings of No Significant Impacts and Mitigated Negative Declarations, and have written or contributed to EISs or Environmental Impact Reports. Many of our NEPA projects in California are joint NEPA/CEQA projects. One such project is without a lead NEPA agency, and the involved federal and state agencies have asked the Transcon team to take on a larger third-party project management role in addition to our third-party NEPA/CEQA preparer role, allowing Transcon to combine processes and complete project permitting in an expedited, streamlined fashion. We are very aware of the nuances between these roles and are strategizing with agencies on how to consolidate permitting for these two separate but similar processes.

Our staff has contributed to NEPA and CEQA projects as managers, technical resource specialists, authors, and expert witnesses. We have NEPA and CEQA experience on a variety of project types, including linear utilities, transportation, agriculture, mixed-use residential, and municipal projects. Most recently, we supported Humboldt County with processing and permitting applications for cannabis projects. Through this contract, we work within a CEQA framework and regularly evaluate permits for conformance to local ordinances and the County’s General Plan.