Environmental Assessment

U.S. National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

Most developed countries and governing agencies—such as the United Nations, the European Union, and the World Bank—have modeled their environmental policies after the United States' National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), enacted in 1969. NEPA requires that any action by a federal agency must be examined for its impact on the environment; in practice, many state and local government agencies also perform similar examinations. Originally, NEPA was administered by the Council on Environmental Quality, which reports directly to the president of the United States; over time, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) became the primary reviewer for environmental impact statements (EISs) prepared by other federal agencies. The EPA also maintains a national filing system for all EISs, now available on its Web site. NEPA law seeks to encourage “productive and enjoyable harmony” between humans and their environment. Indeed, NEPA is often referred to as the environment's Magna Carta, ensuring a more balanced relationship by integrating environmental considerations with economic and individual interests.

Under NEPA, if a proposed action is assessed as potentially having a significant impact on the environment, the proposed action must be considered with a range of alternatives, including a “no-action” alternative. In the United States, two different public documents are created: an “environmental assessment” (EA) and, if needed, an EIS. The EA is written to determine if there is a significant impact. At least two “reasonable alternatives” (including one alternative of no action) must be identified.

If there is such a significant impact, a more involved analysis with several alternatives to the proposed project is required; then, a second report—an EIS—is written. So NEPA provides an indirect protection of the environment by increasing publicly available information on the environmental consequences of potential actions. From information comes awareness and potential civic engagement on behalf of the natural world.

The environmental assessment considers the shortterm and long-term, direct and indirect effects of the project on humans, water, air, the climate, the soil, minerals, the flora and fauna, and the visual landscape. An important aspect of NEPA's required environmental assessment is the involvement of the American public, in addition to expected consultation with experts and other agencies. This part of environmental assessment is called “scoping”: the full disclosure to the public of a proposed action, along with a solicitation of many diverse comments and recommendations from that public. Certainly that public includes business interests, so the scoping process provides an important forum for the discussion of all personal and commercial interests. All comments within the scoping phase of the assessment must be written down and addressed in the final environmental report.

...