The decision-making process for public lands in the Eastern States is conducted in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). NEPA requires that all federal agencies involve interested publics in their decision-making, consider reasonable alternatives to proposed actions, develop measures to mitigate environmental impacts, and prepare environmental documents which disclose the impacts of proposed actions and alternatives. Your participation in the management of your public lands is important! We hope you'll find this area of our website a useful tool to help you get involved. You'll find information on meetings, open comment periods and other public participation opportunities, NEPA documents available for download or online reading, lists of NEPA documents and other environmental records completed or in preparation in each Field Office, and general information about NEPA.
Information for commentors: NEPA comment periods are established based on some type of official notice. Comment periods may be initiated through notices in the Federal Register or notices in newspapers. Neither the date a NEPA document is placed on this website nor the date you open a document on this website constitutes delivery or the start of a comment period. It is your responsibility to frequently check this site to ensure that you have the maximum time allowed for comment on a specific NEPA document. Or you may contact the Field Office initiating the NEPA document and request to have your name added to a mailing list to ensure that you receive copies of NEPA documents in a timely manner.
Comments provided to the BLM in response to any Scoping Notice or NEPA document comment period, including names and street addresses, will be available for public review at the Field Office initiating the request for comments during regular business hours, Monday through Friday, except holidays. Individual respondents may request confidentiality. If you wish to withhold your name or street address from public review or from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, you must state this prominently at the beginning of your written comment. Such requests will be honored to the extent allowed by law. All submissions from organizations or businesses, and from individuals identifying themselves as representatives or officials of organizations or businesses, will be made available for public inspection in their entirety.