Environmental, NEPA & Water (Day 3) Flashcards
True/False: NEPA is a direct decision-making process
False - it is an evaluation and notification process
In 1969, Congress passed ___________ and President Richard Nixon signed it into law in 1970.
NEPA
NEPA established a national policy for the __________________.
Environment
Wetlands, wildlife, streams, acquatic life are considered what kinds of development in the NEPA document?
Natural resources
What is an affirmative mandate under NEPA?
requires fed. agency to make decisions that restore and enhance the environment
What is supplemental mandate under NEPA?
adds to the existing authority and responsibility of every Federal agency to protect the environment when carrying out its agency mission
What is a substantive mandate under NEPA?
requires the fed. agency that each person should have a healthy environment, as trustees of the environment, contribute to the fullest extent possible to the protection of the environment for the present and future generations
What is a procedural mandate under NEPA?
requires the fed agency to use its planning and decision making process to give “appropriate consideration to environmental values and amenities”
What is a balancing mandate under NEPA?
requires the Fed. agency to the fullest extent possible “consistent with other essential policy considerations, make decisions to achieve productive harmony between people and nature.
The NEPA process and documents must be available to the public and the decision maker duringwhich part of the decision making process?
before a decision is made.
What are the types of environmental documents?
Categorical Exclusions (CEX), Environmental Assessments (EAs), Environmental Impact Statements (EIS), and a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI)
The __________________ is the first opportunity for the agency to involve the public in its planning efforts?
scoping process
The scoping process provides and opportunity for citizens to ___________________?
provide input on the range of issues to be addressed in the EIS
An EIS is required to describe?
- environmental impacts of the proposed actions
- Any adverse impacts that cannot be avoided should the proposal be implement
- The reasonable alternatives to the proposed action, including addressing a “No Action” option
- Any irreversible and irretrievable commitments of resources which would be involved if the proposed action is implemented
- Relationship between local short term uses of man’s environment and the maintenance and enhancement of long-term productivity
Aside from the scoping process, when else is the there public involvement in an EIS?
comment period for the draft EIS, comment on the final EIS prior to the record of decision (ROD)
The Clean Air Act regulate what type of sources?
non stationary sources
The Safe Drinking Water Act was enacted in 1974 to protect ________________?
the nation’s drinking water, public health and underground water sources.
The Clean Water Act controls what kinds of sources of water pollution?
all sources, including industrial waste, municipal waste, and agricultural waste.
True/False: Permits are not required to discharge in water.
False
The amount of water discharges are regulated for both Ambient and Effluent water quality. What is the different between the two?
Ambient is for receiving body water quality and effluent is for sending source water quality.
Section 404 of the Clean Water Act is controlled by whom and controls what?
The US Army Corps of Engineers and it controls the pollution from dredged or filled materials into navigable waters
The Resource Conservation Recovery Act classifies hazardous waste into 4 categories based on ____________?
ignitability, reactivity, corrosivity and toxicity
What act regulates the landfill solid waste regulation?
RCRA - resource conservation recovery act
Which act requires responsible party to remove or pay for cleanup of superfund sites?
SARA - Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act
A _______________ is a property, expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of hazardous substance, pollutants, or contaminants.
Brownfields
To manage, develop, and protect water and related resources in an environmentally and economically sound manner in the interest of the American public, is the mission statement of which federal agency
Bureau of Reclamation
The Bureau of Reclamation functions on states west of the ___________?
Mississippi River
_______________ is the maximum population size of a species that an environment can sustain indefinitely, given food, water, habitat and other necessities.
carry capacity
Which part of the US has rights to water?
Western U.S.
A permeable geological formation, either a rock or sediment, that when saturated with groundwater is capable of transporting water through formation is a ____________?
Aquifer
The surface of a body of unconfined groundwater at which the pressure is equal to that of the atmosphere; defined by the level where water within an unconfined aquifer stands in a well is a _____________?
Water table
What technique would be most effective for a community to employ as it seeks to protect its reservoir from contamination?
purchase 25% of the undeveloped land in the watershed for passive conservation
The Town of Warm Springs is experiencing rapid development within the zones of contribution to their public supply wells. Which of the management techniques are best suited for limiting the overall construction of dwellings within the zones of contribution?
A moratorium on the issuance of building permits is a useful, short term technique to allow the community to adopt or implement other management techniques to protect water quality
The term “critical habitat” is most likely found in which federal act?
Endangered Species Act
What is the water that saturates the pore space between gravel, sand, or in bedrock fractures called?
Groundwater
In preparing a federal environmental impact statement (EIS), it is essential to analyze and describe impacts on which of the following? (Select all that apply)
I. The community’s fiscal condition
II. Historic and cultural resources
III. Community participation
IV. The quality of air, water, flora, and fauna”
II and IV
The mission of the Bureau of Reclamation is BEST stated as:
To manage, develop, and protect water and related resources in an environmentally and economically sound manner in the interest of the American public
What are the four principles of emergency management?
Preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation
This act gives FEMA the responsibility for coordinating government-wide relief efforts.
Stafford Act
Events or physical conditions that have the potential to cause fatalities, injuries, property damage, infrastructure damage, agricultural loss, damage to the environment, interruption of business, or other types of harm or loss is defined as a ___________?
Hazard
_____________ is defined as any sustained action taken to reduce or eliminate the long-term risk to life and property from hazard events. It is an ongoing process that occurs before, during, and after disasters and serves to break the cycle of damage and repair in hazardous areas.
Hazard mitigation
What are the steps of a Hazard mitigation plan?
Organize resources, assess risks, develop a mitigation plan, implement plan and monitor progress
The ability to resist, absorb, recover from or successfully adapt to adversity or a change in conditions.
Resilience
The ____________ is a federal program enabling property owners in participating communities to purchase insurance protection against losses from flooding.
National Flood Insurance Policy
Planners should approach Climate Change planning issues from a perspective of: (Select one)
I. Full Compensation
II. Total Avoidance
III. No Regrets
IV. Agenda 21
III. No Regrets
The Zones of “Defensible Space” Concept:
Zone 1: encircles the structure and all its attachments (wooden
decks, fences, and boardwalks) for at least 30 feet on all sides.
Zone 2: is 30 to 100 feet from the home, and plants in this zone
should be low-growing, well irrigated and less flammable.
Zone 3: Is how many feet from the home and how should plants in this zone be maintained?
is 100 to 200 feet from the home and this area should be thinned, although less space is required than in Zone 2
A _______________ is land that been or may be covered by floodwater during the regional flood.
Floodplain
Climate Action plans address: (Select all that apply)
I. GHG reduction targets
II. Mitigation
III. Greenhouse gas emissions inventory
IV. Adaptation
all of the above
What Agency can be described as an independent agency reporting to the Secretary of Homeland Security and tasked with responding to, planning for, recovering from and mitigating against disaster?
FEMA
As the planning director for a large urban community, you are interested in the risks posed by the chemical manufacturing plant located in the abutting city. What is the federal law regulating the chemical plants use of hazardous materials?
A) The Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act
B) Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
C) Safe Drinking Water Act
D) Clean Air Act
A. Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act
- Planning and Natural Hazard Mitigation:
(A) Are best coordinated through the comprehensive plan
(B) Should not be combined without first working through a disaster
(C) Are increasingly coordinated since the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000
(D) Are typical departments within a municipality
C. Increasingly coordinated since the disaster mitigation act of 2000.
