Environmental Policy and NEPA: Past, Present, and Future

Published:
June 13, 1997 by CRC Press - 360 Pages
Editor(s):
E. Ray Clark, Council on Environmental Quality, Washington D.C., USA; Larry W. Canter, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, USA

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$139.95
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ISBN 9781574440720
Cat# SL0721
 

Features

  • Presents concise historical perspective on environmental policy, regulations, and decision making
  • Provides comparisons of environmental laws throughout the world
  • Evaluates current substantive and conceptual issues associated with the environmental impact assessment process that have value throughout the world
  • Details approaches for avoiding ecological disasters
  • Outlines use of adaptive management in conjunction with continuous monitoring
  • Highlights court cases related to NEPA that have shaped EIA practice and should influence future practice
  • Emphasizes the importance of social impact assessment
  • Identifies future opportunities for environmentalists and policymakers
  • Focuses on alternative dispute resolution, an emerging tool for resolving conflicts

    • Summary

    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.

    Table of Contents

    Chapter 1: The Historical Roots of NEPA
    Chapter 2: NEPA: The Rational Approach to Change
    Chapter 3: Implementing NEPA: A Non-Technical Political Task
    Chapter 4: The Rationality and Logic of NEPA Revisited
    Chapter 5: Basic Purposes and Policies of the NEPA Regulations
    Chapter 6: The Unfinished Business of National Environmental Policy
    Chapter 7: What Has NEPA Wrought Abroad?
    Chapter 8: Cumulative Effects and Other Analytical Challenges of NEPA
    Chapter 9: Can NEPA Prevent "Ecological Train Wrecks"?
    Chapter 10: The Case for Continuous Monitoring and Adaptive Management Under NEPA
    Chapter 11: Highlights of NEPA in the Courts
    Chapter 12: The CEQ NEPA Effectiveness Study: Learning From Our Past and Shaping Our Future
    Chapter 13: Increasing the Efficiency and Effectiveness of NEPA Through the Use of Technology
    Chapter 14: Putting People in the Environment: Principles of Social Impact Assessment
    Chapter 15: The Missing Link: Effects on Communities, Neighborhoods and Individuals
    Chapter 16: Public Involvement Under NEPA: Trends and Opportunities
    Chapter 17: Alternative Dispute Resolution in the NEPA Process
    Chapter 18: Creating a User-Friendly NEPA
    Chapter 19: NEPA and Tribal Matters
    Chapter 20: The Role of NEPA in Sustainable Development
    Chapter 21: NEPA's Interdisciplinary Mandate: Redirection for Sustainability
    Chapter 22: Environmental Policy and NEPA: Future Directions

    Editorial Reviews

    "this book offers a great deal of information and insight regarding the way the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) works, or fails to work, or does not work as well as it should...presents a variety of viewpoints from people who bring different kinds of experience to their analysis, including six academicians and eight federal government agency workers...useful as a text or to supplement upper-division or graduate level courses in environmental policy...Those who teach NEPA or deal with it in their writings should be sure to become familiar with the volume."-Dean B. Suagee, First Nations Environmental Law Program, Vermont Law School

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