ANALYSIS OF OIL SPILL ACCIDENTS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENTS

1975 ◽  
Vol 1975 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-45
Author(s):  
Bruce Beyaert
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Technical Information ◽  
Petroleum Exploration ◽  
National Environmental Policy Act ◽  
State Laws ◽  
Oil Transportation ◽  
Environmental Impact Statements ◽  
Exploration And Production ◽  
National Environmental

ABSTRACT Environmental impact statements (EISs) are often required under the National Environmental Policy Act or similar state laws for proposed activities such as petroleum exploration and production or for new oil transportation facilities such as marine terminals and pipelines. One of the critical concerns which must be properly addressed in an EIS for such activities or facilities is the risk of an accidental oil spill and the environmental impact which would result. This paper describes a comprehensive approach to analysis of oil spill accidents in such EISs. It identifies sources of relevant data and technical information while also pointing out areas where knowledge is incomplete. Techniques are recommended for determining the probability and size of a spill, the fate of the oil, and the resulting environmental impacts. The paper is intended to serve as a useful guide for those preparing or reviewing EISs for proposed large projects which involve appreciable oil spill risks.

Educated Guesses: Health Risk Assessment in Environmental Impact Statements

1990 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 399-427
Author(s):  
Pamela D. Harvey
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Disease Risk ◽  
National Environmental Policy Act ◽  
The Public ◽  
Environmental Impact Statements ◽  
National Environmental ◽  
Scientific Tool ◽  
Predicted Risk

Environmental pollution threatens public health. The search for solutions has advanced the frontiers of science and law. Efforts to protect the environment and public health begin with describing potential adverse consequences of human activities and characterizing the predicted risk. The National Environmental Policy Act requires the preparation of environmental impact statements to describe the effects of proposed federal projects and provide information for agency decisionmakers and the public.Risks to public health are particularly difficult to quantify because of uncertainty about the relation between exposure to environmental contamination and disease. Risk assessment is the current scientific tool to present estimates of risk. The methodology has created controversy, however, when underlying assumptions and uncertainties are not clearly presented. Critics caution that the methodology is vulnerable to bias. This Note evaluates the use of risk assessment in the environmental impact statement process and offers recommendations to ensure informed decisions.

scholarly journals US Forest Service Implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act: Fast, Variable, Rarely Litigated, and Declining

2020 ◽  
Vol 118 (4) ◽  
pp. 403-418
Author(s):  
Forrest Fleischman ◽  
Cory Struthers ◽  
Gwen Arnold ◽  
Mike Dockry ◽  
Tyler Scott
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Policy ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Fast Variable ◽  
National Environmental Policy Act ◽  
Environmental Impact Assessments ◽  
Environmental Impact Statements ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Forest Service ◽  
National Environmental ◽  
National Environmental Policy

Abstract Abstract This paper draws on systematic data from the US Forest Service’s (USFS) Planning, Appeals and Litigation System to analyze how the agency conducts environmental impact assessments under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). We find that only 1.9 percent of the 33,976 USFS decisions between 2005 and 2018 were processed as Environmental Impact Statements, the most rigorous and time-consuming level of analysis, whereas 82.3 percent of projects fit categorical exclusions. The median time to complete a NEPA analysis was 131 days. The number of new projects has declined dramatically in this period, with the USFS now initiating less than half as many projects per year as it did prior to 2010. We find substantial variation between USFS units in the number of projects completed and time to completion, with some units completing projects in half the time of others. These findings point toward avenues for improving the agency’s NEPA processes.

The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, the Rise of Environmental Protection in the 1970s, and the Political Drama of the Next Three Decades

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
James K. Conant ◽  
Peter J. Balint
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Policy ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Environmental Impact Statement ◽  
National Environmental Policy Act ◽  
Environmental Impact Statements ◽  
Run Up ◽  
National Environmental ◽  
National Environmental Policy

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) was approved unanimously in the Senate and with near unanimity in the House of Representatives in December 1969. President Nixon signed the act into law on January 1, 1970. The new statute was both brief and farsighted. In fewer than 3,500 words the congressional authors of NEPA articulated for the first time a national policy on the environment, set in motion an innovative regulatory process centered on environmental impact statements, institutionalized public participation in federal environmental decision making, and introduced the requirement that the president report annually to Congress on the nation’s environmental status and trends. NEPA also included a provision that established a new agency, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), in the Executive Office of the President. The CEQ’s assigned statutory role was to implement the environmental impact statement process, prepare the president’s annual environmental report on the condition of the environment, develop policy proposals for solving environmental problems, and coordinate efforts across the federal government to address environmental concerns. As stated in the law, NEPA is designed to “encourage productive and enjoyable harmony between man and his environment”; to “promote efforts which will prevent or eliminate damage to the environment and biosphere and stimulate the health and welfare of man”; and to “fulfill the responsibilities of each generation as trustee of the environment for succeeding generations.” The references to promoting harmony between people and the environment, protecting the biosphere, and affirming the nation’s responsibility for environmental stewardship illustrate an understanding of the scope, scale, and significance of environmental matters that was significantly ahead of its time. The language in NEPA quoted above anticipated by twenty years the concern for the Earth’s biosphere and the concept of environmental sustainability that would become more widely articulated in the run-up to the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Moreover, NEPA has had an enduring global impact. By the law’s fortieth anniversary, a majority of U.S. states had established their own environmental impact statement requirements and more than 160 nations worldwide had adopted similar legislation.

A SNAPSHOT OF GERMANY'S EIA APPROACH IN LIGHT OF THE UNITED STATES ARCHETYPE

2012 ◽  
Vol 14 (04) ◽  
pp. 1250022 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOHANN KÖPPEL ◽  
GESA GEIßLER ◽  
JENNIFER HELFRICH ◽  
JESSICA REISERT
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Environmental Impact Assessment ◽  
Role Model ◽  
The United States ◽  
Current Status ◽  
National Environmental Policy Act ◽  
25Th Anniversary ◽  
20Th Anniversary ◽  
National Environmental

November 2010 marked the 25th anniversary of the EU Environmental Impact Assessment Directive and the 20th anniversary of its implementation in Germany via the Environmental Impact Assessment Act (EIAA) in 1990. Reflecting back to the original role model for these pieces of legisiation, the 1969 US National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) can bring some interesting differences to light. Four decades of experience from the more mature US EIA system may hold some important lessons for Germany's younger EIAA. While an outright comparison is impossible at this present time, this article aims to contribute a comparative perspective to show the current status of the original US model, NEPA, and the differences in development and practice to Germany's younger EIAA.

Administering Public Participation

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Eckerd ◽  
Roy L. Heidelberg
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Policy ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Impact Analysis ◽  
The Other ◽  
Public Administrators ◽  
National Environmental Policy Act ◽  
Environmental Impact Analysis ◽  
Participation Process ◽  
National Environmental

Participation and administration have long had an uneasy coexistence. On one hand, public participation in decisions that affect citizens is consistent with citizenship and democracy; on the other hand, much of what government does is complex and requires some level of technical understanding to make decisions. In this article, we report on public administrators’ perceptions of public participation and the ways that they understand the participation process. We find that public participation is managed by public administrators; they determine the extent of participation, shape the ways that the participation takes place, and decide whether or not participation is valuable for their work. In some cases, the process is rather democratic, whereas in others, it is not. We find that it is up to administrators to shape the spaces for participation and select the participants in a manner consistent with their understanding of the task to be accomplished. We explore this process in the context of Environmental Impact Analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act.

The Internship as a Vehicle to Identity

1993 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-18
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Schlotter
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Public Involvement ◽  
Federally Funded ◽  
National Environmental Policy Act ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Highway Projects ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Environmental Impact Assessments ◽  
National Environmental

Since July 1986, my place of employment has been a small, for-profit consulting firm of civil engineers and urban planners called H. W. Lochner, Incorporated. Lochner was founded in the mid-1940s as a civil engineering design firm. When the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) became law in 1969, Lochner, like many other engineering firms, broadened its services to include NEPA-required environmental impact assessments of federally funded infrastructure projects. For the kind of highway projects conducted at Lochner, these impact assessments involve detailed comparisons of alternative roadway designs and locations. Such comparative evaluations are undertaken by a combination of engineers, environmental scientists, and social scientists (usually urban planners). My niche within the Lochner organization is centered around two general NEPA-related activities: impact assessment (both social and environmental) and public involvement.

Environmental assessment for wastewater reclamation and reuse projects

1996 ◽  
Vol 33 (10-11) ◽  
pp. 473-486
Author(s):  
Nick Kontos ◽  
Takashi Asano
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
The United States ◽  
Wastewater Reclamation ◽  
National Environmental Policy Act ◽  
Wastewater Reclamation And Reuse ◽  
National Environmental ◽  
Specific Project

The purpose of an environmental review and assessment is to incorporate environmental considerations into the planning process. Prior to the selection of a specific project alternative, a thorough and unbiased analysis of the environmental impacts of every reasonable project alternative should be made. It is intended that environmental concerns be considered on an equal basis with engineering feasibility, economics, and social considerations in wastewater reclamation and reuse. This paper discusses the “procedural” and “substantive” provisions of environmental law in the United States; National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and more specifically the law in California; California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The procedural aspects require the preparation of an environmental document such as an environmental impact statement (EIS) or an environmental impact report (EIR) and the substantive provisions require mitigation of harmful environmental impacts. Suggested outlines of the content of an EIS and an EIR are provided. Specific impacts associated with wastewater reclamation projects such as groundwater impacts and growth inducing impacts are discussed. This paper is intended to be a useful tool for the planning of any wastewater reclamation and reuse project. Two examples are given for this purpose.

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