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Office of Environmental Management Office / NEPA Assignment
Section 6005(a) of the SAFETEA-LU established a Surface Transportation Project Delivery Program that allowed the Secretary of the United States Department of Transportation to assign to certain states the USDOT Secretary's responsibilities under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321, et seq.) and all or part of the USDOT Secretary's responsibilities for environmental review, consultation, or other action required under any Federal environmental law with respect to one or more highway projects within the State. As modified by MAP-21, this assignment of responsibility became applicable to all states.
Pursuant to 23 United States Code (U.S.C.) 327, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) has assumed Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA's) responsibilities under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for highway projects on the State Highway System (SHS) and Local Agency Program (LAP) projects off the SHS. In general, FDOT's assumption includes all highway and roadway projects in Florida whose source of federal funding comes from FHWA or which constitute a federal action through FHWA. This includes responsibilities for environmental review, interagency consultation and other regulatory compliance-related actions pertaining to the review or approval of NEPA projects. Therefore, whereas FHWA was previously identified as the Lead Federal Agency, this function is now served by FDOT with approval authority resting in the Office of Environmental Management (OEM).
Assignment Scope:
Jason Watts is the primary FDOT contact leading the NEPA Assignment effort for FDOT.
Please contact Jason with any questions.
Jason Watts, Director, Environmental Management Office 850-414-4316 Jason.Watts@dot.state.fl.us
During the end of October - November 2016, FDOT, conducted District face-to-face trainings and follow-up webinars to brief Department staff and consultants on the NEPA Assignment Program and the implications on the FDOT project delivery processes.
On November 18, 2015, FDOT, in coordination with FHWA Florida Division, conducted a webinar to brief our agency partners on our endeavor to seek NEPA assignment. Our introductory webinar was to inform attendees about the application process for assignment of the NEPA program.