Environmental Impact Assessment

1
Lecture 15

• Environmental Impact Assessment
• Past, Present and Future

2
Pre-1970 Decision Making Process

• Feasibility Study
• Technical
• Financial

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NEPA Action-forcing Mechanism Sec. 102 (2)(C)

• .
• all agencies of the Federal Government shall
• .
• (C) include in every recommendation or report on
  proposals for legislation and other major Federal
  actions significantly affecting the quality of
  the human environment, a detailed statement by
  the responsible official on the environmental
  effects of the proposed action.

4
Post-1970 Decision Making Process

• Feasibility Study
• Technical
• Financial

5
Environmental Planning vs. EIA

• Environmental Planning
• Evaluation of the potential environmental impacts
  of a proposed action and provides recommendations
  to avoid or minimize potential adverse impacts
• Main tool Environmental Impact Analysis (EIA)
• Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)
• Systematic process for identifying and evaluating
  the potential effects of proposed actions on the
  physical, biological, cultural and socioeconomic
  components of the environment
• EIA is a process
• Outcome of EIA process is a report or
  environmental document

6
General Steps in EIA Process
Formulate project
Identify potentially significant environmental
impacts
Evaluate impacts
Develop mitigation measures
Report / Revise
Decision
7
The Planning Process

• The Planning process has several levels
• Projects
• Programs
• Plans
• Policies

8
Shortcomings of EIA

• Environmental issues are dealt with in a reactive
  and project focused, rather than a pro-active
  way the main focus is often on mitigation
  non--direct effects are often neglected
• Decisions above the project level-at which EIA is
  usually applied-are made without an awareness of
  their consequences
• Long-term visions of sustainable development and
  associated aims and objectives are not
  consistently followed through short term
  political interests and benefits prevail

9
General-Purpose Government

• Includes both corporate and police powers
• Traditional form of democratic government for
  integrating and balancing competing policy
  objectives
• City, county, state governments
• Problems
• Boundaries may not match regional systems
• Issues generally too serious and complex to be
  managed by local government alone

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Metropolitan Development Issues

• Urban sprawl and loss of agricultural land/open
  space
• Interurban transit
• Lagging economic growth
• Solid and liquid waste disposal
• Regional environmental impacts
• Jobs/housing balance

11
Multilevel Environmental Management
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U.S. Constitution

• 5th Amendment
• No person shall be deprived of life, liberty,
  or property, without due process of law nor
  shall private property be taken for public
  use,without just compensation.
• Places very strong limits on ability of
  government to regulate private use of land

• 10th Amendment
• The powers not delegated to the United States by
  the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the
  States, are reserved to the States respectively,
  or to the people.
• Reserved powers clause of U.S. Constitution
• Established state primacy over land use

13
U.S. (18th and Early 19th Century)

• System of counties
• Historically an administrative unit or agents of
  state government
• Provided array of social services (public safety,
  roads, civil records)
• Early form of regional government

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Post-Civil War

• Rise of industrial age and associated problems
• Era of land swindles
• Demands to modernize government
• Charter cities ability to make and enforce all
  laws and regulations for municipal affairs
  subject only to the limitations of their charters

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Metropolitan Government Reform in the 20th Century

• 1st Wave Home Rule Power and Urban Consolidation
• 2nd Wave Fractured Regionalism
• 3rd Wave Reintegrating Regional Growth
  Management Policy

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1st Reform Wave Progressive Era

• Established home rule
• Ability of cities and counties to conduct their
  affairs without interference from state
  government
• Corporate powers - Allowed cities and counties to
  raise taxes, issue bonds, and build large-scale
  infrastructure
• Regulatory powers police and public safety

• Regulation by commissions and boards
• Scientific management model
• Appointed members
• Include industry representatives

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Progressive Era - Consequences

• Established dual role for counties
• Agent of state government
• City government for unincorporated areas
• Many public works projects
• Los Angeles Aqueduct
• Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and Aqueduct
• Expanding metropolises
• Primarily single core metropolitan areas

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Rise of Suburbs (1950s-1970s)

• Unintended consequence of Progressive Era
• Conditions facilitating suburban growth
• Mass production of automobile
• Public investments in transportation
• FHA mortgages
• Fear of urbanization
• Home rule transformed metropolitan areas into
  clusters of independent cities often
  differentiated by wealth, race, and function
• Rising public awareness of environmental problems

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2nd Reform Wave Fractured Regionalism (1970s)

• Vertical regionalism
• Single function planning agencies supported by
  federal and state funding
• Fractured because agencies not required to
  coordinate plans or integrate policy objectives
• Horizontal regionalism
• Efforts to centralize land use authority and
  create strong multipurpose regional planning
  agencies rebuffed by voters
• Local governments reluctant to yield land use
  control to state agencies

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Dominant Forms of Regional Planning (1970-1990)

• Vertical Regionalism
• Single function agency (corporate or regulatory)
• Examples
• Caltrans (corporate powers)
• Air Resources Board (regulatory)
• Voluntary Horizontal Regionalism
• Procedural coordination between local
  jurisdictions and levels of government
• Rarely able to enforce multipurpose regional
  plans
• Example
• Councils of government (COG)

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Planning System Under Stress (1980s and 1990s)

• Fiscal constraints
• Reduced federal funding (1980s)
• Proposition 13 (California)
• Housing affordability
• Urban congestion
• Suburban sprawl
• Habitat destruction
• Loss of agricultural land
• Air and water pollution

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3rd Reform Wave Reintegrating Regional Planning
(1990s)

• Devolution in federal and state programs
• Common features
• Policy integration across functional areas
• Emphasis on collaborative planning among
  institutions and stakeholders
• Examples
• ISTEA (Interstate Transportation Efficiency Act)
• Riverside County Integrated Plan (NCCP-driven)
• SANDAG regional planning

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Regional Governance Models

• General purpose government
• Special purpose government (functional
  regionalism)
• Regional clearinghouses
• Voluntary collaborations

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Types of Regional Agencies

• Regional planning councils or districts
• Metropolitan transportation planning
  organizations (MPO)
• State planning agencies
• Regional environmental conservation agencies
• Regional public service authorities
• Regional business and civic leadership groups
• Consolidated city/county governments
• Ad hoc groups

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Regional Planning Councils

• Also called associations of government or
  councils of government
• Most widespread regional planning agency
• Planning for regional infrastructure
• Research and clearinghouse functions for federal
  and state programs
• Governing body usually elected officials from
  local governments

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Metropolitan Planning Organizations

• Transportation planning agencies required by 1962
  Federal Highway Act in all metropolitan areas
  over 50,000
• Responsibilities
• Comprehensive planning for transportation
• Allocation of federal and state transportation
  funding in region
• Board can include appointed officials

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Regional Environmental Conservation Agencies

• Established to plan and manage environmental
  resources
• Examples
• Adirondack Park Commission
• Tahoe Regional Planning Commission
• New Jersey Pinelands Commission
• Chesapeake Bay Commission

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Regional Policy Fragmentation

• Vertical fragmentation
• Poor coordination between functional planning
  areas
• Lack of mechanism for resolution of conflicts
  between policy objectives
• Horizontal fragmentation
• No land use control by regional and state
  agencies

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Regional Planning Reform

• Problem current political institutions not
  built to facilitate regional policy integration
• Goal of Reform - Policy Integration
• Integrate planning across policy areas that have
  traditionally been treated separately

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Key Elements of Effective Regional Planning

• Regional focus a clear articulation of regional
  rather than local needs and concerns
• Policy coherence ability to integrate and trade
  off goals and objectives across different
  functional areas
• Accountability teeth to ensure that policy
  objectives are implemented

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Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)

• Systematic process for evaluating the
  environmental consequences of proposed policy,
  plan or program initiatives in order to ensure
  they are fully included and appropriately
  addressed at the earliest appropriate stage of
  decision making on par with economic and social
  considerations.

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Strategic Environmental Assessment

• Strategic means that it happens at an early
  enough stage in the decision making process that
  it can have a significant influence on key
  decisions
• It is environmental in the broad sense, not
  just bio-physical. May also include related
  social aspects

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Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)

• SEA is a system of incorporating environmental
  considerations into policies, plans and programs
• SEA is a legally enforced assessment procedure
  required by European Union Directive 2001/42/EC
  (known as the SEA Directive)
• Application spreading to other countries

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Purpose and Objectives of SEA

• The main purpose of SEA is to ensure the early
  consideration of environmental and social aspects
  in decisions about policies, plans and programs
  (PPP).
• It is an integrative tool to support
  cross-sectoral approaches, which are needed to
  achieve long term sustainability objectives.

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Development of SEA

• Foundations laid in 1969 by NEPA (US)
• No distinction between policies, plans, programs
  and projects, but general reference to actions
• Subsequently, many countries introduced
  provisions for environmental assessment
• Usually for projects only (easier ...)

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Development of SEA (cont.)

• Term SEA coined in the late 1980s
• Initially , principles of SEA and EIA were
  perceived to be the same
• In the mid 1990s, at one point SEA was frequently
  portrayed as any type of environmental assessment
  above the project level (policies, plans,
  programs, laws, regulations)

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Development of SEA (cont.)

• SEA has been formalized for example in the
  Netherlands, Canada and Denmark
• In 2004 all European Union member states began
  conducting formal SEA
• SEA Protocol to the UNECE Convention on EIA in a
  Transboundary Context (2003)
• Informal SEA type systems are in place in many
  countries worldwide world

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EIA vs SEA
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Why SEA?

• Focus is on big picture, priority concerns,
  trends not the sum of detailed, site specific
  assessments
• Best suited to analyze economic policies,
  sectoral or regional strategies/plans,
  sub-regional investment programs
• Not a substitute for site-specific EA

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Corporate Environmental Assessment
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Product Life Cycle
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Building Life Cycle
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Life Cycle Inventory
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Life Cycle Impact Assessment
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Typical Impact Categories
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Summary

• Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)
• Systematic process for evaluating the potential
  environmental effects of proposed actions
• Applied to projects, programs, plans, and
  policies
• Outcome of EIA process is a report or
  environmental document
• EIA trends
• Past trend was application to projects
• Future applications
• Strategic environmental assessment (SEA)
• Corporate environmental management (ISO 14000)