Update: Principles and Guidelines for Water and Land Related Resources Implementation Studies

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) held a meeting May 25-26 to receive public comments on the changes to the Principles and Guidelines, an effort being undertaken by the White House based Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). 

InsideEPA reported that many of the comments were critical of the draft document’s vagueness and the emphasis it places on non-structural projects.   CEQ administered public comment periods took place July 1-17, 2009 and December 9, 2009-April 5, 2010. 

Changes to the Principles and Guidelines, as well as NAS participation in them, were required under the Water Resources Development Act of 2007.  The goal of the changes is to modernize the approach to water resources development across all of the federal government.  Up until now the Principles and Guidelines have applied to just four agencies: the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation, Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Final NAS review of the updated Principles and Guidelines is slated to be complete in November 2010.

For more information, see the CEQ’s website on the issue here.