Public involvement and transparency are vital to the NADBank project development process, which is at the core of its project certification criteria. These activities encourage an interactive relationship between the project sponsor and those impacted by the project.
The level of public participation efforts varies for each project and is determined based on the anticipated environmental and community impacts of the project. Project sponsors can receive support from NADBank personnel in coordinating outreach efforts and facilitating a broad public dialogue through public meetings, workshops and other information sharing forums.
In addition to any outreach efforts carried out by the project sponsor, NADBank releases a summary of the draft project proposal, including a list of the most relevant project documents available, for a 30-day public comment period, except for projects funded through the Community Assistance Program (CAP), which are submitted for a 14-day period. Any comments received during this period, along with the corresponding response (if applicable), are incorporated into the proposal prior to submission to the Board of Directors for approval.