Lecture 2: EIS legislation/regulation, legal/political/implementation aspects of EIAs, cumulative impacts, case study

Question 1

Define scoping

Answer 1

using stakeholder input, identify the range of known or potential nontrivial env impacts or alternatives

Question 2

What are the reasons that you would need to do an EIA? 5 major, 3 minor, 1 stupid.

What is the overall reason you do EIS? (2)

Answer 2

Major: Human health risk assessment / management, ecological risk assessment, life cycle analysis, risk reduction research / policy strategy, hazard assessment

minor: planning and engineering, prognostic molding, to make good decisions,
stupid: when required by law (NEPA, CAA, SARA)

you do an EIS to see what the cumulative adverse environmental effects are. provides a framework for decision makers if something goes wrong

Question 3

Define Human health risk assessment / management

Answer 3

RA: determining the short and long term adverse consequences to individuals or groups from the use of a certain technology.
RM: administrative political and economic actions taken to determine the level and cost of reduction of a risk

Question 4

describe the steps in a human health risk assessment / management

Answer 4

1) hazard assessment (is it toxic)
2) dose response (how toxic)
3) exposure assessment (who, where, when, how often/long, how much)
4) risk characterization (so what)
5) risk management steps (what to do about it)

Question 5

Describe an ecological risk assessment

Answer 5

estimate of severity and extent of ecological effects associated with exposure to an anthropogenic pollutant. food webs

Question 6

Describe a life-cycle analysis in the NEPA context, describe the steps (3)

Answer 6

quantify all env impacts of a product through its life, cradle-to-grave. includes raw materials, energy, water use/.

inventory analysis, impact analysis, improvement analysis

Question 7

Describe the current risk reduction research / policy strategy in the US

Answer 7

shift from end-of-pipe controls to pollution prevention

Question 8

Define hazard assessment, define the steps (7)

Answer 8

minimize consequences of substances causing acute health effects

compile data, develop scenarios, determine concs and duration, determine P(exposure), compile toxicity, review effects of control and prevention, perform sensitivity analysis

Question 9

How does NEPA classify environmental impacts? (8)

Answer 9

primary, secondary, magnitude, duration, timing and season, irreversible and irretrievable commitment of resources / reversible impacts (half life)/ mitigated impacts (i.e., recovery time), scale (boundary), significance

Question 10

Describe some secondary environmental impacts (5)

Answer 10

economic modifications, erosion leading to water contamination and fish kills, traffic which leads to air pollution, non point pollution, social changes

its important to look at the boundaries of your project

Question 11

What does irreversible and irretrievable commitment of resources mean?

Answer 11

resources that have been permanently altered and cannot be restored (a habitat, endangered species), can also be cultural

Question 12

How do we determine impacts of future projects? what parameters should be considered to make these decisions?

Answer 12

comparable actions at similar sites, and predictive models (either empirical (correlations) or physical (simulations))

to determine what outcomes should be studied, develop criteria (i want to protect this habitat), select indicators for each criteria (i’ll measure habitat by bird pop), examine trends

Question 13

Define environmental indicator What determines a good environmental indicator?(3) What are the 5 major types of env indicators? What are the types of environmental criteria?

Answer 13

measures selected for the purpose of tracking env trends. selected based on relevance and practicality

scientifically justified, reflect system attributes, measurable

types: chem exposure makers, emissions, stressors (stream flows), impacts/injury, perception/public response

water quality, air quality, noise, human health, ecology

Question 14

How can you compare env indicators (3)

Answer 14

compare in time, spatially and locally (upstream vs downsteam), spatially and cross-sectionally (affected area vs comparable area)

Question 15

What are the 5 key issues that arise when you consider evaluating environmental impacts?

Answer 15

1. participants
2. establishment of baseline
3. formulation of alternatives
4. predict impacts of alternatives
5. compare impacts to baseline, determine significance
6. determine criteria for selection

There are many EIS checklists for various types of projects

Question 16

What is the main reason given for a court saying that an EIS is insufficient? (3)

Answer 16

incomplete cumulative impact assessment, the preparing agency leaves out obvious past present or future obstacles. the most deadly enviro impacts occur from interaction of several minor effects over time

Question 17

What 4 lessons can be learned from the overturning of cases based on insufficient cumulative impact assessment?

Answer 17

1) include a cumulative impact assessment include past present and future 2) no unsubstantiated claims 3) assessments have to be thorough and rational, not perfect 4) “do not tie cumulative impact analysis to either a programmatic NEPA that does not contain site-specific analysis or to a non-NEPA document”

Question 18

What 4 recommendations does Jay et al (2007) make for the reform of EIS?

Answer 18

Consider approaches to improving EIAs on a performance basis: 1) capacity building (education on those filing EIAs), 2) integrate EIAs more closely with the process of development planning, see the effect of proposals on the immediate future, 3) institute a principle of no net environmental deterioration, 4) greater application of the precautionary/sustainability principles within EIA,

Question 19

How does the Heritage foundation feel about NEPA? What reasons do they give to support their feelings? What recommendations do they give (6)?

Answer 19

They want NEPA to be shut down. They think that project delays and costs imposed by the formation of EAs and EISs hurt the process as a whole.- Arguing for the lost business that happens in NEPA if a project is delayed by any opposition, and that its not a substantive law.

Recommendations: Narrow NEPA reviews to just those major actions not policed by other agencies, mandate time limits, establish functional equivalence, limit alternatives studied, establish a lead agency, eliminate GHG determinations (…..)

Question 20

how do env impacts, criteria, indicators all relate?

Answer 20

you assess impacts using changes in criteria which you measure using indicators