INTRODUCTION

- Environmental impact assessment is an integral (and inescapable) component of the decision-making process for proposed programs and projects

- Most basically, it is an analysis of the change produced by particular human policies, programs or actions

Impact assessment is an recognition that human and physical environment are spatially and temporally linked in a systemic way and are constantly seeking dynamic equilibrium… this recognition is complicated by the fact that both interaction and change takes place on a number of scales

(1) biological/organic change is generally slow(2) physical/earth system change can be

immediate and catastrophic(3) human system change can occur immediately

and abruptly

This assessment procedure is a direct child of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) which requires that a statement of environmental impacts of proposed projects be prepared as part of the development process of federal projects--- specifically:

(1) federal funded(2) federally constructed(3) federally policed

These impact regulations and various local, state and federal statutes and permits affect almost every construction project and planning activity in the U.S. – as well as many other parts of the world

Sometimes the impacts of human activities are not positive ans may not end up the way that we envision them… or may not affect us, but be catastrophic to the wider physical/biological environment

Environmental impact assessment identified changes associated with a proposed policy or project and evaluates the degree of these changes:

short-term or long-termpositive or adversedirect or indirect

--- in ensures:(1) that alternatives are developed that

minimize adverse environmental impacts

(2) mitigation measures to reduce associated impacts

The goal of this assessment analysis is to help make better decision

Text tells us that an understanding of the essential aspects of the NEPA process and requirements is fundamental to future environmental policy workers, to those in the construction field, to public officials and to the general public to be affected by the environmental impact process

Aside

Unfortunately, an idea that sounds relatively straight-forward on the surface can be anything but…… issues of national interest can override impact assessment (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge)… aspects of economics can override impact assessment (sugarcane industry in So. Florida)… policy evolves and thus changes on us

(Reserve Mining Company; urban O3 emissions; SOx and Nox emissions)

Aside, cont

… policy emphasis alters expected impact(Mexican Cowbird migrating into Great

Plains – must be protected… now implicated in the strong decline of the native Cowbird (kill them off to protect the indigenous Cowbirds?)

… scientific knowledge racing ahead [or actually it can be left behind at

times] (particulates from 10 microns down to 2.5 microns;

with our current ability to measure, everything is a hazard/threat)

Despite the potential social and environmental complications that might accrue from a particular program or policy, the importance of the impact assessment process provides insurance that decisions are made in consideration of all interests--- this consideration is carried out through

the procedure of multi-disciplinary assessment teams

Interesting

A potential additional complication is the fact that the judicial basis for the laws of assessment (environmental law) did not even exist until 1946 with the Federal Administrative Procedure Act (APA)[Public Law 89-554, 80 Stat. 381]

Agencies such as the EPA, CEQ, BLM, etc. use administrative law

Federal agencies must comply with APA

Interesting

The APA was enacted to designate general procedures to be used by Federal agencies when exercising lawmaking, adjudicatory and enforcement powers

Technically, in 1946 Congress gave Federal agencies the right and format to do what they had been doing since post-colonial time… so a lot of the things they eventually would oversee were already in place

Interesting

And if that wasn’t bad enough, states often differ from both the federal govt and each other in the way they interpret, implement, and enforce federal laws and each has its own administrative guidelines governing and defining how the state will act

• Federal agencies follow APA• State agencies implementing federal programs

must follow both federal APA and state APA (thence some of the problems at Ft. Campbell)

In this introduction the author lays out her planned structure and methodology--- text will:

(1) explain the basics of required documentation levels

(2) identify analysis requirements in the disciplines that should undergo

evaluation(3) the process for public and govt agency

participation(4) the timing and processing of

environmental activities within the context of overall project development

Author says that she is not going into deep, detailed coverage of current regulations and methodologies--- particular analyzing agencies will have their own expertise and procedures

… she is looking to tell we beginners the overall principles, content and

processes that we will need to be fundamentally intelligent

Man and His Interests Remain the Central Characters in Environmental Protection and Assessment

Look at these excerpt from the NEPA:(1) Prevent or eliminate damage to the

environment and biosphere and stimulate the health and welfare of man

(2) Create and maintain conditions under which man & nature can exist in productive harmony & fulfill the social, economic & other requirements of present & future generations of Americans

(3) Utilize a systematic interdisciplinary approach which will insure the

integrated use of the natural & social sciences and the environmental design arts in planning and in decision making which may have an impact on man’s environment

(4) Assure for all Americans safe, healthful, productive & aesthetically pleasing surroundings

(5) Attain the widest range of beneficial uses of the environmental without degradation, risk to health or safety, or other undesirable or unintended consequences

(6) Preserve important historical, cultural & natural aspects of our national heritage

(7) Achieve a balance between populations & resource use which will permit high standards of living & a wide sharing of life’s amenities

Environmental impact assessment is fundamentally an analysis of the changes produced by a particular project or action

(1) Humans define the “context of change”i.e.: the “how” of how the environment changes

through the program/project

In the predominant number of instances, the change analyzed is in “resources”

(2) Ultimately, humans will define what is a resource… a substance is a “resource” only if defined so by human populations… idea of use for/by humans makes a resource

- A Resource is defined by:--- level of technology--- cost--- political factors--- substitution--- society’s more

(3) Costs (resources; aesthetics; pollution clean-up; etc), and procedures for determining costs, are Man derived

Borrowing from the realm of pollution clean-up and the theoretical optimal level of pollution we can hypothesize an optimal cost of a project

This would be a graphic that in theory represents a benefit-cost balance between Costs to Society of a project (an external costs curve) and Environmental Costs (a curve marking the costs to the environmental of a project)

… at the lowest point of these curves lies the optimal cost of the project …

(4) Man simultaneously acts in “real time” and in social time--- today a “good” project/policy idea…

tomorrow, who knows?ex: dam building on major rivers nuclear power proscribed forest fires

--- and unfortunately acts in issue au jour

Aside

Humans (and our activities, procedures and processes) are part of the Earth system of interrelated physical, biological and economic components--- change in one element (component) of the system invariably leads to change in many components – many of which are often unseenex: how are California sea otters related to coastal

erosion?how are spiny urchins negative off the

California coast, and necessary in the Caribbean?

Aside, cont

System component change is frequently on a time-scale incomprehensible to humansex: plate tectonics

Or so subtle that it too is incomprehensible to humansex: CO2 or O3 change

Like all systems, the Earth seeks dynamic equilibrium… change it and the system seeks a new “balance”… human activity can result in a change we cannot predict – or perhaps even live with

Environmental impact assessment identifies associated changes produced by a proposed project or action--- and evaluates the degree of these changes/impacts or the basis of

short-term or long-term, adverse or beneficial, direct or in-direct, effects

(cost-benefit)--- it insures that:

(1) alternatives are developed that minimize adverse environmental impacts(2) mitigation measures to reduce associated impacts are included in the planning

process[alternatives formed and assessed, including impact of doing nothing]