Minnesota Department of Transportation

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Project development

Environmental process | Environmental review

Environmental Management Plan (Green Sheet)

Purpose

An Environmental Management Plan (EMP) is a process for tracking environmental commitments and regulatory requirements through the entire life of a project. It also serves as a design tool to ensure that all construction-related commitments get incorporated into the contract. During construction it is used as a communication tool and reference document to convey and locate needed information about commitments.

When to use this subject

Currently, the EMP process applies only to MnDOT-led and MnDOT-let transportation construction. It does not yet apply to state aid projects, locally led projects, negotiated maintenance contracts, or state-funded building facilities projects.

All MnDOT-led and MnDOT-let transportation construction projects will have EMPs by January 1, 2026. During the intervening phase-in period the choice of projects that use EMPs is determined by each district, although projects that have an Environmental Impact Statement, Environmental Assessment, or Environmental Assessment Worksheet will include an EMP. 
For specific process information, see the process, other guidance and legal authority pages or contact the individuals on the contacts page.

How this subject fits into the overall project development process
Environmental review

The EMP is initiated during environmental review. During this process various regulatory requirements and other commitments are listed in the spreadsheet EMP template. 

Plan Development

Each commitment on the project EMP is updated with reference information as it becomes known. Commitments that need to be addressed before construction, such as environmental investigations, can be tracked for completion on the EMP. Commitments that will be addressed during construction are incorporated into the plan and provisions, with corresponding reference information added to the EMP. The spreadsheet EMP is filtered to only display construction related commitments. This becomes the construction EMP and is imported into the project plan set.

Construction

Project staff and contractors use the construction EMP as a reference to guide and track the implementation of environmental commitments. The project supervisor updates the EMP to check off commitments that are completed and adds notes explaining any changes that were needed during the project. 

Project closeout

The project supervisor and the project manager review the full EMP before project closeout. Completed commitments are checked and dated. Any changes that were required during construction are explained in the Notes column. Any commitments that will require preservation or ongoing maintenance are communicated to maintenance supervisors. The ‘as-built’ EMP is provided to Central Office for storage as an e-document according to the retention schedule.

Organizations involved