Environmental Impact Statement Glossary

This reference book sets out to provide a useful glossary to writers, reviewers and citizens interested in the EIS process. Over the last decade, environmental impact statements have devel oped a rich, but sometimes confusing vocabulary. The purpose of this book is to help people understand and communicate more effec tively by presenting, analyzing and comparing terminology used by various EIS organizations. This book is not a technical glossary or the standard glossary, but rather the first complete effort to assemble and examine the translation of complex technical EIS lan guage into a vocabulary aimed directly at the lay reader. Two major factors are responsible for the confusion over EIS terminology: the diversity of professional vocabularies and multiple interpretations of federal regulations. Due to the di versity and breadth of professional jargons needed to describe the wide range of EIS subject matter, both quantitatively and qualita tively, EIS terminology has become a complex amalgam of profession al languages. The second factor of multiple interpretations of federal regulations contributes to the confusion over EIS procedur al terminology--providing a disjointed vocabulary charged with in dividual interpretation. As a ~esult of this complexity and con fusion, the need for a uniform or standard terminology has been advocated by many organizations, ranging from the Council on En vironmental Quality on the federal level, down to city planning departments on the local level.

This book describes the importance of the goal and scope phase for the entire LCA study. In this first phase of the LCA framework (ISO standardized), the purpose of the assessment is defined and decisions are made about the details of the industrial system being studied and how the study will be conducted. Selecting impact categories, category indicators, characterization models, and peer review is decided during goal and scope definition. The book provides practical guidance and an overview of LCIA methods available in LCA software. Although not specified in the ISO standards, Attributional LCA and Consequential LCA are presented in order to appropriately determine the goal and scope of an assessment. The book closes with the interconnection between goal and scope definition and the interpretation phase. Example goal and scope documents for attributional and consequential LCAs are provided in the annexes.

Documents the effects of adopting standards for public land health and guidelines for livestock grazing management on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) administered land in New Mexico. The standards and guidelines would be incorporated into eight BLM resources management plans (RMP) that cover approximately 13.5 million acres. In addition, for each alternative there are existing land use decisions that are in conformance with the standards. These decisions would be changed to bring them into conformance"--Page xiii.

Environmental Impact Statements, Second Edition has been extensively revised and updated to cover all the requirements for a wide variety of EISs on the federal, state and local levels, including a new chapter devoted to Environmental Justice. An Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) must be completed for any major action that requires a federal permit and may have an adverse effect on the environment. Each federal agency has its own requirements regarding what must appear in the statement. Furthermore, many state and local agencies have their own versions of EISs that must be done for any proposed construction. This book provides a thorough explanation of EISs so that the personnel responsible for preparing these documents will be able to understand the fundamentals of a wide range of environmental factors - ecological and socioeconomic - that comprise an Environmental Impact Statement. This may be the only place that an understandable explanation of the EIS process is located together with a detailed description of how to do an EIS. This is the only book to spell out the EIS process in a straightforward, easy -to-understand style. Written at a level that allows the reader to grasp the fundamentals of EISs, it avoids technical jargon and addresses the topic in layperson's terms. Environmental Impact Statements is an indispensable book for architectural and engineering firms, industrial firms and regulatory agencies on all levels.