National Environmental Policy (NEPA) Process

K.S. Murthy

• Editorial: CRC Press
• Año: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781351091794
• Edición: 1
• Categoría: Diritto
• Categoría: Diritto ambientale

This book is mainly about the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 and the process for its implementation. This is most often called theNEPA process. The need for this book arises because, although the awareness for faithful implementation of NEPA has now matured, the method of NEPA implementation is not always known, and hence, needs to be clearly laid out for the benefit of project engineers and the decision makers in government and industry. This book aims to do that.

Chapter 1
Introduction, Organization, and Summary

I. Introduction

The National Environmental Policy Act Process (NEPA process) offers a comprehensive and mature method of decision making to the leaders in government and industry. The NEPA process has matured into a useful decision-making technique during the past 17 years. It involves decision making after deliberate evaluation of the technical-economic-environmental-political aspects (with emphasis on environmental impacts) of any major action that would commit the use of the resources of the earth in a major way. In fact, NEPA began because of the question posed by many concerned Americans in the 1960s: is man progressing or regressing? The question may appear philosophical, but it is actually a realistic worry we should face squarely. The human population is constantly increasing, from about 340 million in 1000 A.D. to about 5 billion in 1986 A.D. Human wants and needs have also similarly multiplied. Human life expectancy has increased. These factors have forced the human being to use the resources of the earth at a much faster rate than ever before in our known history.

While human population has visibly increased, the wildlife and plant populations have decreased alarmingly in the past 100 years. Several animal species, including such magnificent creatures as the eastern wapiti, Audubon's bighorn, the graceful passenger pigeon, and the Carolina parakeet, have become extinct, and several more are diminishing to the point of extinction.¹ The habitat of the biological population is being taken over by the human population. About the year 1900, North America was still an Eden swarming with stags, Virginian deer, bison, and bears. In 1986, most of these species are nearly gone. More than 205 species, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and plants, are in danger of becoming extinct throughout its natural habitat.⁶

The level of carbon dioxide in the air has increased steadily from 315 ppm in 1958 to 343 ppm in 1986, increasing the threat of the greenhouse effect that could either warm the earth, causing widespread changes in climate, or cool the earth and drastically reduce agricultural output while increasing the already-growing energy consumption. The world population during this period increased by about 2 billion. World-wide releases of chlorofluorocarbons (like freon, used as a refrigerant) to the atmosphere has increased from zero in 1930 to 12 billion lb, contributing to the fear of depletion of the protective ozone layer. The use of pesticides has increased from 286 million lb in 1950 to about 1 billion lb in 1983, increasing the threat of groundwater pollution. These are some of the negative environmental events that happened without the direct knowledge of most of the human inhabitants of this planet; their consequences are still in the formative stages.

Contrary to these scientific facts, what most of us experience today in everyday America is quite positive and pleasant. We get up in the morning and turn a handle and hot water starts flowing freely to soothe us with hot showers; no more woodchopping to prepare the water. Milk is always ready in the refrigerator for our breakfast. No matter what the season, orange juice, fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, and plenty of other foods are readily available and close at hand. The weather outside is of no consequence because the weather in the home and in the car is always comfortable. So you, the reader, may wonder why even ask the rhetorical question, "Is man progressing or regressing?"

As thinking people we always must wonder, "Can this last? Are we doing something wrong?" Scientific evidence about the pollution of our cities, including for example the smog in Los Angeles, gave warning signals. The explosion of knowledge in every field and the easy access to that knowledge, through books, print media, and television, has led to a holistic understanding of the workings of nature on this "Spaceship Earth". This availability of knowledge and the serious efforts of dedicated people, including the scientists, ecologists, and environmental activists, to apply that knowledge to balance growth with environmental protection could yet result in a real and wholesome progress of the Homo sapien. The collective consciousness of the technical world seems to be compelling towards environmental preservation.

Enter NEPA — the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. NEPA is a milestone in man's understanding of the relationship between his own survival and the survival of the total ecology that has supported all life on earth, kept its water and air pure, and nurtured the soul-enchanting beauty of its wilderness areas. At last, the technological man realized that nature is an organic whole and no part of nature can be long insulted without damaging the whole. The human being lives in a dynamic environmental system whose efficient functioning has evolved over the ages. Into this system grew the modern man with his powerful industrial intellect which seemed for a while to ignore the long-term effects for the short-term goals of profit and pleasure. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is the harbinger of the dawn of a new age, signifying both the end of science and the beginning of science. NEPA heralds the end of the myopic era of the application of science for the mere immediate production of goods for comfort, and ushers in the new era of science which asks that industrial civilization develop in conformance with the overall needs of all of nature by understanding the higher dimensions of human experience and destiny. In short, the NEPA statute intends that man be in tune with nature for the good of his own future and the future of his progeny. The purpose of this book is to describe, in practical terms, the application of NEPA to our everyday decision making, so that the harmony of nature with man is achieved and preserved for generations to come.

Lest we rest easy thinking that faithful implementation of NEPA by decision makers is an inexorable promise, the author would warn you, the reader, that decision makers are human and, like the rest of us, first look for the line of least resistance. Tradition, institutionalized expectations, and habit compel the decision maker to place primary emphasis on the immediate need, i.e., success of the project, not on the altruistic goal of environmental protection which seems too unreal, abstract, and futuristic to commit funds or effort in this area, as easily as committing funds for, say, engineering design or cost estimation. The entrenched feeling is that NEPA is a law that must be obeyed, alas, since it cannot be avoided! Most decision makers do not at first appreciate that NEPA can actually help make better decisions. With rare exceptions, this misunderstanding at all levels of management renders the task of the environmental professional team doubly difficult since, instead of getting credit for contributing towards better decisions, the team may be looked upon as a nuisance at best and as peddlers of a soft science. The police officers of the nation can probably relate very well to this feeling. The author has had the good fortune to have met and worked with several of these rare exceptions among decision makers. Nevertheless, they are exceptions, not the rule. So good luck to you, the practicing environmental professional, and take heart because despite the mistrust, the environmental impact statement has often served as a useful, multifaceted decision-making tool for many major projects in America.

II. Organization

This book is organized to provide adequate and systematic insight to the implementation of NEPA. The main organizational flow of the book is thus:

Thus, the book first describes the environmental statutes and the Council on Environmental Quality Regulations to implement NEPA. Then, the application of NEPA is illustrated throughout the book by weaving in the experience of preparing NEPA documentation with an example, a coal-fired power plant. The selection of control technologies is also discussed using this power plant example. The importance of communicating with the public and methods to achieve it are described. The burning topic of the day — the safe disposal of nuclear wastes — is briefly addressed for the readers benefit. The author's hope is that this book provides the reader with sufficient methodological knowledge to implement NEPA so that man and nature can live in productive harmony.

III. Summary

Implementing the NEPA process requires an understanding and application of the principles of balancing the technology-environment-economics triad described in Chapter 2. To understand these principles, the environmental statutes should be understood from their implementation aspects by careful understanding of the technical aspects of these statutes as described in Chapter 3. The heart of the application of the NEPA process during the decision-making phase is an unbiased analysis of the alternatives to a proposed action. The NEPA professional becomes a policy analyst in providing to the decision maker an evaluation of alternatives. Discharging the responsibilities in this role of policy analyst requires an understanding of the ethics and obligations of the professional to the public. This is discussed in Chapter 5 (see guidelines for alternatives analysis). If the NEPA professional performs his task adequately, the NEPA process will help public officials make decisions after a full review and understanding of the environmental consequences. Then only will the process lead to actions that protect, restore, and enhance the environment as intended by the National Environment Policy Act of 1969. The continued viability of this important law depends entirely on the will of the decision makers, the scientific and technical professionals, and of an ever vigilant public, to all of whom this book is dedicated with hope and eager expectation of usefulness.

Chapter 2
The Environmental Statutes

I. Introduction

Environmental statutes are more simply called environmental laws. The early origins of such laws can be traced to government control over coal burning in the 16th century and regulation of sewage disposal in the 19th century.³ By the early 1900s, legislation set aside national parks and governed mining and timber activities. The current era of environmental statutes began at the end of the 1960s. By the early 1970s, it was clear that a law here and a law there would not be adequate to protect the environment. The public awareness of the damage to the environment by the immense industrial mammoth created by man led to an environmental statute of deceptive simplicity, the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (Public Law No. 91-190, approved January 1, 1970).

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) advocates a balanced triad of technology, environment, and economics schematically shown in Figure 1.

The NEPA could be considered as a paragon of legislations in that it is visionary, effective, and comprehensive, but brief (see Appendix A). Although deceptively simple, it has created a powerful medium for all societal entities to express and enforce their concern for the preservation and enhancement of environmental quality through an orderly process of public participation. NEPA is perhaps the only environmental statute that not only emphasizes the organic relationship between man and his environment, but also directs each agency of the federal government to insure that man's activities are conducted so as to preserve and enhance the environment. To this end, the NEPA makes some very important statements as summarized below:

1. It is the continuing responsibility of the federal government to use all practicable means, consistent with other essential considerations of national policy, to improve and coordinate federal plans, functions, programs, and resources to the end that the nation may
   1. Fulfill the responsibilities of each generation as trustee of the environment for succeeding generations.
   2. Assure for all Americans safe, healthful, productive, and esthetically and culturally pleasing surroundings.
   3. Attain the widest range of beneficial uses of the environment without degradation, risk to health or safety, or other undesirable and unintended consequences.
   4. Preserve important historic, cultural, and natural aspects of our national heritage and maintain, wherever possible, an environment which supports diversity and variety of individual choice.
   5. Achieve a balance between population and resource use which will permit high standards of living and a wide sharing of the amenities of life.
   6. Enhance the quality of renewable resources and approach the maximum attainable recycling of depletable resources.
2. The U.S. Congress recognizes that each person should enjoy a healthful environment and that each person has a responsibility to contribute to the preservation and enhancement of the environment.

FIGURE 1. NEPA advocates balanced triad of three considerations.

• 3. The U.S. Congress authorizes and directs that, to the fullest extent possible, all agencies of the federal government shall
  1. Utilize a systematic, interdisciplinary approach which will insure the integrated use of the natural and social sciences and the environmental design arts in planning and in decison making which may have an impact on man's environment.
  2. Identify and develop methods and procedures, in consultation with the Council on Environmental Quality, established by Title II of this Act, which will insure that presently unquantified environmental amenities and values may be given appropriate consideration in decision making along with economic and technical considerations.
  3. Include in every recommendation or report on proposals for legislation and other major federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment, a detailed statement by the responsible official on
     1. The environmental impact of the proposed action.
     2. Any adverse environmental effects which cannot be avoided should the proposal be implemented.
     3. Alternatives to the proposed action.
     4. The relationship between local, short-term uses of man's environment and the maintenance and enhancement of long-term productivity.
     5. Any irreversible and irretrievable commitments of resources which would be involved in the proposed action should it be implemented.

In essence, NEPA recognizes that our home, the "Spaceship Earth", has limited ability to cope with abuse. This thought is well put in the 11th annual report of the president's Council on Environmental Quality, as follows:⁵

• We can no longer assume that the earth will heal and renew itself indefinitely.
• Human numbers and activity are catching up with the ability of the earth to recover.
• Careful management of our resources of the planet — its water, soils, minerals, forests, fish, and air — should help sustain us in great numbers.
• The quality of our life will rest on careful stewardship and husbandry of the resources of our planet.

II. Attitudes to NEPA

The author conducted a survey as part of the short course that he teaches under the joint auspices of the University of Washington, Washington State University, and Oregon State University. The survey included the following questions:

1. Has the influence of NEPA on the awareness of environmental problems an...

Índice

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• FOREWORD
• THE AUTHOR
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• Dedication
• Contents
• Chapter 1 Introduction, Organization, and Summary
• Chapter 2 The Environmental Statutes
• Chapter 3 Technical Aspects of Statutes, Standards, and Regulations
• Chapter 4 The NEPA Process
• Chapter 5 How to Write Environmental Documents
• Chapter 6 Selecting Control Technologies for Compliance with Regulations
• Chapter 7 NEPA and the Nuclear Waste Policy Act
• Chapter 8 After the Record of Decision
• Chapter 9 Empathizing with the Public
• Chapter 10 Answers to Some Common Questions About NEPA Process
• Chapter 11 Control Technology Bibliography
• References
• Glossary
• Appendix A
• Appendix B
• Index