NEPA and Permitting Data and Technology Standard

A foundational step in modernizing National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and permitting systems is to establish a government-wide data and technology standard for NEPA that provides agencies with a common digital language to facilitate interoperability and automatic data exchange among systems.

The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) is issuing this initial data and technology standard as part of the Permitting Technology Action Plan. CEQ will periodically update the data and technology standard and make it available on permitting.innovation.gov. CEQ will notify agencies when updates are published.

What is a data and technology standard?

A data and technology standard is a representation of knowledge within a particular domain (i.e., a field of knowledge such as environmental review) that defines concepts, categories, and relationships. In the context of NEPA and permitting, the data and technology standard organizes and standardizes various concepts, or “entities” (e.g., projects, processes, and documents) that go into or help define the NEPA or permit review, and how they relate to each other. By establishing a shared vocabulary and structure, a data and technology standard supports data interoperability and improves the ability of different systems and organizations to understand and use data.

What is the purpose of this NEPA and Permitting Data and Technology Standard?

This data and technology standard outlines a recommended approach for agencies to use to structure system architecture and data in their software systems for managing environmental review processes conducted under NEPA, as well as other related permits and reviews. This data and technology standard provides a set of consistent definitions, formats, and protocols for agencies to use for the most common entities (e.g., projects, processes, documents) related to NEPA reviews and other reviews or permit processes. The goal of this data and technology standard is to improve efficiency, transparency, and integrity in the NEPA and permitting processes by facilitating data interoperability and enhancing decision-making.

How should agencies implement this NEPA and Permitting Data and Technology Standard?

CEQ encourages agencies to implement this common data structure in the architecture of existing or new software systems. Agencies should do this by cross-walking the entities and properties in this data and technology standard with their current system architecture and identifying which concepts are included and which are not. CEQ is not requiring agencies to initiate new data requests or reporting. Agencies should implement the portions of this data and technology standard that are relevant to the types of reviews, permits, or actions that the agency typically conducts and the level of detail they require. In implementing this data and technology standard, agencies should maintain consistency with the requirements of Title II of the Evidence Act and the open standards listed in Office of Management and Budget memorandum M-25-05.

This data and technology standard may contain types of entities or specific details that are not directly applicable to certain agencies. This data and technology standard provides flexibility for agencies to use it for permits, authorizations, and reviews that typically occur in parallel with NEPA reviews, although the examples and descriptions provided primarily relate to NEPA processes. Subject to properly marked sensitive data received from applicants, agencies have discretion to determine which information about specific projects or processes to make available publicly, make available to artificial intelligence (AI), and which to make available to agencies they are collaborating with. Agencies should handle sensitive or otherwise protected data, such as Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) and Personally Identifiable Information (PII), according to their policies and procedures.

This document should be used in combination with the technical resources made available on GitHub, including various implementations of this data standard in common formats such as json and csv. For guidance to Federal agencies on implementation steps and timing, refer to CEQ’s Permitting Technology Action Plan.