We are committed to helping our clients successfully implement environmental laws and regulations. We created The Impact Report to keep you informed of the latest developments in this arena. This issue includes:

• CEQA Findings Can Make or Break a Project
• Keeping Page Counts Manageable in Environmental Documents
• Green Building Funding and the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act
• Summary of CEQ's First Two Status Reports to Congress on NEPA Compliance for Economic Recovery Projects

To receive The Impact Report as part of our Thinking Forward newsletter, subscribe here.

Transportation projects across the country are facing budget cuts coupled with increased environmental rigor. And yet, outstanding projects are being undertaken across the country. Our experts are partnering with agencies and industry nationwide to develop innovative, sustainable transportation solutions.

• The New York Times recently featured the Sacramento Railyards project, the largest urban infill project in the country. We support the NEPA process for this effort to create a world-class intermodal station to reunite the new city with the old. View the video highlighting this national model for transit-oriented smart growth.
• We are supporting Caltrans to develop a "Smart Mobility Framework" tool to further integrate smart growth concepts into transportation. The tool will help agencies implement sustainable transportation strategies in urban, suburban, and rural areas. Visit Caltrans’ Smart Mobility Framework site for more information, including a draft SMF handbook and workshop materials.

Contact Maggie Townsley to learn how we can address your transportation challenges.

Assessing and improving energy efficiency—on the state, corporate, and personal level—can generate cost efficiencies and make an impact on climate change. Our experts offer pioneering approaches to help you achieve your climate change and energy efficiency goals.

• Local governments considering general plan updates or specific climate action plans can review CAPCOA’s Model Policies for Greenhouse Gases in General Plans, which our experts helped prepare to provide background, examples, references, links, and a systematic worksheet on addressing GHGs in general and specific plans.
• Access an ICF webcast about the technical and economic potential for mid-scale distributed wind, including a technique to analyze potential renewable energy technologies.
• View our Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Local Government Waste Management presentation and abstract on inventorying waste-related emissions and evaluating waste management practices for GHG reduction presented at EPA’s recent Emission Inventory Conference.
• Our experts recently published a framework for determining the minimum separation distance between proposed transmission lines in Wyoming. Increasing demand for renewable energy requires long-distance lines to connect renewable resources to distant load centers. Access this study that recommends minimum line separation distances for new transmission lines.
• Involve your stakeholders in an overall carbon reduction strategy with a branded Do Your Part! Web site. Access an ICF webcast to learn how Do Your Part! can help calculate and track GHG emissions, pledge emission reductions, and report the results in real time.
• ICF is hosting a free Energy Forum in October in Alberta, Canada. Our experts will present on U.S. climate change and North American energy policy. Topics include implications of energy policy on the oil and gas and power sectors, and environmental analysis in an integrated policy environment. Click here for more information or to register.

Contact Patty Cook to learn about how we can address your climate change challenges.

Helping communities manage their natural resources is our passion. We look forward to helping you develop award-winning solutions like those outlined below.

• We are proud to have been honored by U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar with a “Partners in Conservation Award” for a collaborative partnership to develop operational guidelines for managing the Colorado River.
• Our experts presented “Restoring Physical and Ecological Processes in an Agricultural Setting” at the recent National Conference on Ecosystem Restoration, and moderated the session on ecosystem modeling.
• ICF is supporting development of Alaska’s statewide adaptation strategy, including developing evaluation criteria and identifying methods for quantifying costs and benefits. Learn more about our adaptation work at the upcoming Symposium on Climate Change Research.

Used wisely, technology can analyze data and predict various outcomes, offering the support needed for complex decisions. Our Ecosystem Diagnosis and Treatment (EDT) model is a premier example of such a decision-support tool. EDT allows resource managers to examine stream conditions from the perspective of the fish. Access our EDT webcast  to learn how EDT can help contribute to project impact analyses, develop ESA species recovery plans, evaluate habitat enhancement benefits, and identify mitigation priorities.

EDT in the news: Fisheries magazine July 2009 “Making the Best use of Modeled Data: Multiple approaches to Sensitivity Analysis of a Fish-Habitat Model” compares three types of sensitivity analysis as applied to an ecosystem model linking salmon and their habitats.

Contact Chip McConnaha to learn how EDT can strengthen your analysis and support your decisions.

Public documents generate public comments. Public comments can be challenging to manage. We have the answer: CommentWorks, ICF’s Web-based solution for tackling public comments. CommentWorks can streamline the labor-intensive process of accepting and resolving public feedback and integrating it into projects and programs. Use CommentWorks to thoroughly, efficiently, and transparently

• process,
• analyze,
• document, and
• respond to public comments.

Take our free e-Tour to discover what CommentWorks can do for you.