Retreat Alternatives in NEPA: A Tool for the Perplexed

Abstract

This symposium essay explores the leverage that our National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) can provide to those aiming to change the direction we have been heading in our wildfire epidemic. The epidemic has resulted from decades of policy choices at the local, state and federal levels. Changing directions across that broad and deep a field of policies is necessarily a long-term agenda. But the essay explores some "retreat" alternatives where these fire policies are concerned as they have arisen in our national wildfire policy and planning spheres. Ultimately, the aims are modest because there is no quick fix on wildfire. But careful planning and careful uses of NEPA, with special attention to NEPA doctrines in the Ninth, Tenth, and D.C. Circuits, can empower those convinced that changes are needed. Advocates with this kind of countervailing power can help reshape our wildfire policies in a variety of agency contexts.