Tyler Rychener
WSP

DESCRIPTION

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is a cornerstone of environmental law in the United States, requiring federal agencies to assess the environmental impacts of their actions before making decisions. The first part of this session will provide an introduction to NEPA's framework, purpose and procedures. Attendees will gain a foundational understanding of how NEPA works, from initial environmental assessments (EAs) to comprehensive environmental impact statements (EISs), public participation, and the legal obligations for federal agencies.

Our expert panelists will then cover the key components of NEPA in a hydropower context and provide practical insights into navigating a NEPA process, whether that be for a FERC relicensing, license amendment or other projects with federal funding or actions.  This discussion will include an overview of the environmental justice and climate-related provisions in the NEPA Phase 2 regulations.

This comprehensive overview will demystify NEPA and prepare hydropower owners, contractors and consultants to navigate its processes with confidence.

This Panel is within the Regulatory and Policy Track at the conference. 
 
This is a 101-level discussion looking to review the subject matter for those newer to the industry and update on the state of the industry in this topic area.  This session is also a 201-level discussion for those looking to take a deeper dive into this subject matter. 

Moderator:
Elizabeth McCormick, Troutman Pepper

Panelists:

• Matt Petersen, Senior Planning Technical Director, SWCA
• Tyler Rychener, Senior Environmental Scientist/Assistant Vice President, WSP

Speaker Bios:

• Tyler Rychener has over 15 years of experience working as a terrestrial biologist and project manager providing hydropower NEPA support to FERC. He has contributed to the preparation of approximately 50 FERC NEPA documents, including EAs and EISs for both the Division of Hydropower Licensing and the Division of Administration and Compliance. He also contributes to the development of study determinations under the IPL process and participates in meetings with applicants and resource agencies to resolve inconsistencies between proposed measures and fish and wildlife recommendations submitted to FERC under section 10(j).