PNNL

Join the PermitAI team from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for their second annual workshop (read about last year's workshop) at the NAEP Annual Conference and Training Symposium. This year’s workshop will equip environmental professionals with the knowledge and tools needed to succeed under the latest National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review and other major federal and state permitting guidance. With agencies gaining greater discretion in determining review requirements, applying categorical exclusions, and managing Environmental Assessments and Environmental Impact Statements, the need for technology-driven permitting strategies has never been greater. In the workshop, participants will learn how emerging AI technologies can streamline workflows and support more consistent decision-making. Through expert-led sessions and hands-on demonstrations, attendees will gain insight into agency-developed solutions and explore how these AI tools can be extended to address broader permitting challenges. 

Workshop Agenda and Schedule

2:45 – 2:55 p.m. | Welcome & Opening Remarks

• Speaker: Sameera Horawalavithana (PNNL) (5 mins)

2:55 – 3:10 p.m. | Keynote: Recent Federal Advances in AI for NEPA

• Speaker: Eric Beightel (ESA) (15 min)

3:15 – 3:30 p.m. | NAEP Working Group: Recent AI for NEPA Advances in Industry

• Speaker: Lauren Schramm (ESA) (15 min)

AI solutions Towards Review and Permitting Processes in Agencies

3:35 – 4:00 p.m. | PermitAI: Federal and State Permitting Data for Geothermal and Critical Minerals projects in Nevada and Alaska

• Speaker: Dan Nally (PNNL) and Jim Jackson (PNNL) (20 min)

4:00 – 4:25 p.m. | Modernization and AI in Practice: Quantified Impacts from Real-World NEPA Implementation

• Speaker: Matthew Aumeier (INL) (20 min)

4:30 – 5:00 p.m.  |  Lightning talks on AI solutions from Academia

Happy hour Session (5:15 pm to 6:15 pm AKDT)

5:15 – 5:30 p.m. | Live demonstration of INL ERP tool for streamlining NEPA Reviews

• Speaker: Matthew Aumeier (INL) (15 min) 

5:30 – 6:15 p.m. | Live demonstration of Google AI tools (NotebookLM) for extracting actionable insights from Review/Permitting documents

• Speaker: Jeffrey Ouimette (Google) (45 min)

Event Organizers

• Sai Munikoti (PNNL)
• Sameera Horawalavithana (PNNL)
• Lauren Schramm (ESA)
• Matthew Aumeier (INL)
• Jeffrey Ouimette (Google)
• Pranava Raparla (DOE)
• Jack Titus (DOE)
• Dan Nally (PNNL)
• Jim Jackson (PNNL)
• Anastasia Bernat (PNNL)
• Sarthak Chaturvedi (PNNL)
• Kaustav Bhattacharjee (PNNL)