This is a year of "firsts" for the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Committee.

As the first Chair of the recently established EIA Committee, I have the pleasure being the first to greet you, the charter members, and of introducing you to the EIA Leadership.

Our newsletter is, spearheaded by the talented Joan Drake with Modrall, Sperling, Roehl, Harris & Sisk P.A., Albuquerque, NM. As with any periodical, it takes a key person working diligently behind the scenes to identify writers, set and monitor deadlines, and organize and proof all the pieces before rushing it to press. I would like to thank Joan for the tireless effort that she has made to launch this publication. I know we will all look forward to receiving the newsletter in the years ahead.

On another front our first program committee — comprised of RJ Lyman with Goodwin Procter LLP in Boston, MA, Nick Yost with Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, LLP, San Francisco, CA, Norman F. Carlin with Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, San Francisco, CA, and Michael Gerrard with Arnold & Porter LLP -- have been meeting regularly to bring you a special one-day "Little NEPA" conference to be held in Cambridge, MA on May 30, 2005, co-sponsored by the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) on the occasion of its 25th Anniversary. Approximately twenty states have their own "little NEPA" programs for preparing environmental impact assessments of proposed governmental and private actions. In the aggregate, these programs are responsible for the preparation of far more impact assessments than are created under the National Environmental Policy Act. The conference will provide a unique opportunity to compare the impact assessment practices in different states, identify best practices, highlight emerging analysis techniques and understand the role of courts in the impact assessment system. Other important co-sponsors of the program are the environmental law sections of New York, Connecticut, Virginia, Minnesota, Hawaii and the City of New York and The Environmental Law Institute. These impressive, hard working committee members have devoted countless hours to bringing together some of the most knowledgeable practitioners in the US in the little NEPA area. My hat is off to them. Please mark your calendars and be sure to attend.

Another notable first will be the appearance of an EIA Committee article in The Year in Review 2004. This valuable contribution was made possible by Norman Carlin with the able assistance of several associates at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP who simply refused to be stumped by the almost impossible last minute deadline that I gave them. I am indebted to them for their rapid response to my call for help.

Our Vice Chair of Technology, Laura Beveridge with Stoel Rives in Seattle, Washington, has also been quick to respond. In short order she has set up the first EIA Committee website. Laura's responsive "can do" attitude is a real asset to our committee. Please feel free to explore with her your ideas as she expands this important committee resource tool in the months ahead.

Anyone who has spoken to Christina Wisdom of Brown McCarroll, LLP in Austin, Texas, our Vice Chair for Membership, knows that she has never met a stranger. In a few short months she has helped us to reach our goal of 50 Charter EIA members. As you browse through this and subsequent issues of the newsletter you will see our members featured in the "About You" column in each issue. Note how fortunate we are to have a diverse membership base that comes from a wide variety of geographic, cultural, ethnic and practice settings. Christina's enthusiasm is contagious, which makes her the perfect person to head our membership initiative and to author these short but interesting pieces for the newsletter.

In the future, I will be introducing you to others of our leadership team, including Jomar Maldonado, Vice Chair for Public Service, JB Ruhl, Vice Chair for Trends, and Margret (that's right Margret) Kim, our liaison to the Energy Facilities and Siting Committee. Each of these individuals has work in process that deserve to be highlighted.

As you see these first few months have been busy and productive thanks to the collective hard work of so many. There is always room for more volunteers, however, so please let me know if you have any interest in being active. I am always glad to tailor a niche for someone who has a specific interest or time restriction. If not, sit back and enjoy the newsletter and The Year in Review.

Chair:
Norman F. Carlin

Vice Chairs:
Committee Newsletters
Joan Drake

Membership
TBD

Programs
TBD

Public Service
TBD

Technology
Jeffrey Knight

The Year in Review
Norman F. Carlin