Science And The National Environmental Policy Act

"The National Environmental Policy Act has grown more, not less, important in the decades since its enactment. No one knows more about NEPA than Lynton Caldwell. And no one has a clearer vision of its relevance to our future. Highly recommended." —David W. Orr, Oberlin College What has been achieved since the National Environmental Policy Act was passed in 1969? This book points out where and how NEPA has affected national environmental policy and where and why its intent has been frustrated. The roles of Congress, the President, and the courts in the implementation of NEPA are analyzed. Professor Caldwell also looks at the conflicted state of public opinion regarding the environment and conjectures as to what must be done in order to develop a coherent and sustained policy.

Environmental Policy and NEPA is a concise study of environmental policy-where we have come from, what we are facing and where we can go in the future. An outgrowth of initiatives taken by the Council of Environmental Quality (CEQ), and edited by the current Associate Director, this publication studies the effectiveness and efficiency of the implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Divided into three main sections, part one covers the historical background and trends of NEPA. Part two addresses current substantive and conceptual issues associated with the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process. Part three discusses future opportunities including impact on humans, effective public participation in the EIA process and the need for sustainability. This excellent reference brings together 28 contributing authors who combine their expertise to address a multitude of topics. Environmental Policy and NEPA is mandatory reading for the professional, researcher, government policymaker, activist, student or anyone looking for a complete presentation of the EIA process.

Prior to the 1960s, little formal consideration was given to the potential impact of human activity on the environment. Beginning in the late 1950s and into the 1960s, the public became increasingly aware of and concerned about those impacts. During that time, Members of Congress debated the need for national policy on the environment and for an executive-level council or committee that could provide advice to the President on environmental policy issues. The statute that ultimately addressed these needs was the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). This book provides an overview of the background and history of NEPA, as well as its implementation protocol for disaster response, recovery and mitigation projects.

The goals of the National Environmental Policy Act are to declare a national environmental policy, provide federal agencies with action-forcing provisions intended to ensure that the goals of the policy are implemented, establish the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to provide advice to the President on environmental matters and to monitor the state of the environment, and require the President to submit to Congress an annual report on the state of the environment. This book describes information on the number and type of NEPA analyses; costs and benefits of completing those analyses; and frequency and outcomes of related litigation.

Environmental degradation and the compromised integrity of the earth's ecological system were growing public concerns in the mid to late 1960s. These issues spurred Congress to pass the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), the first law to focus such environmental concerns into a comprehensive national policy. The new legislation encompassed an array of environmental values and ethics, as well as administrative tools to achieve the ecological goals of the nation while taking into account other important societal needs. Though NEPA has had a positive effect on U.S. environmental policy and the national quality of life, this challenging new book shows how federal courts and agencies have failed to implement many of the values and goals fundamental to the success of NEPA. To explain this divergence, authors Matthew J. Lindstrom and Zachary A. Smith examine NEPA's origins, address how NEPA has been implemented and enforced, and highlight the shortcomings of its practice. Lindstrom and Smith strongly argue that if NEPA were fully and properly implemented, it would prove to be a valuable and realistic tool for balancing the needs of the world population and the protection of the earth's environment. They offer a new, hopeful look at how the law's structure can be properly utilized in order to give future generations hope of living on a sustainable planet. This book is well suited for audiences interested in public policy formation and implementation, especially environmental policy administrators, environmental historians, and those involved in environmental law, its policy, and its politics.