Second half schedule

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Second half schedule

• Homework 3 due April 8
• Homework 4 due April 22
• Memo 2 due April 29
• Four more discussion sections
• This weeks discussion reading Food Miles now
  online.
• Exams returned Probably on Friday
• Memos returned Probably in section this week

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Remaining topics - Land use -
Endangered species - Climate change -
International issues - Natural resources
(fish, energy) - Water (quantity)

• Some topics not covered by the textbook.
• Background readings will be online.

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Today

• National Environmental Policy Act of 1969
• Brief history
• Land use policies (start)

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• Sec. 2 42 USC 4321.
• The purposes of this Act are
• To declare a national policy which will encourage
  productive and enjoyable harmony between man and
  his environment to promote efforts which will
  prevent or eliminate damage to the environment
  and biosphere and stimulate the health and
  welfare of man to enrich the understanding of
  the ecological systems and natural resources
  important to the Nation and to establish a
  Council on Environmental Quality.

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• CONGRESSIONAL DECLARATION OF NATIONAL
  ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
• (a) The Congress, recognizing the profound impact
  of man's activity on the interrelations of all
  components of the natural environment,
  particularly the profound influences of
  population growth, high-density urbanization,
  industrial expansion, resource exploitation, and
  new and expanding technological advances and
  recognizing further the critical importance of
  restoring and maintaining environmental quality
  to the overall welfare and development of man,
  declares that it is the continuing policy of the
  Federal Government to use all practicable means
  and measures to create and maintain conditions
  under which man and nature can exist in
  productive harmony, and fulfill the social,
  economic, and other requirements of present and
  future generations of Americans.

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• Sec. 102 42 USC 4332.
• The Congress authorizes and directs that, to the
  fullest extent possible (1) the policies,
  regulations, and public laws of the United States
  shall be interpreted and administered in
  accordance with the policies set forth in this
  Act, and (2) all agencies of the Federal
  Government shall --
• (A) utilize a systematic, interdisciplinary
  approach which will insure the integrated use of
  the natural and social sciences and the
  environmental design arts in planning and in
  decisionmaking which may have an impact on man's
  environment
• (B) identify and develop methods and procedures,
  in consultation with the Council on Environmental
  Quality established by title II of this Act,
  which will insure that presently unquantified
  environmental amenities and values may be given
  appropriate consideration in decisionmaking along
  with economic and technical considerations

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National Environmental Policy Act

• What does NEPA do?
• Requires Environmental Impact Statements (for
  certain situations).
• Environmental Impact Statement
• A report laying out all positive and negative
  environmental effects of a proposed undertaking.
  Often includes a discussion of possible
  alternative actions.
• Environmental Assessment Scoping Letter.

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NEPA, cont.

• Environmental Impact Statements are required of
  federal agencies for major projects or
  administrative rules that may significantly
  affect the environment.
• Intended as a planning/ information/ education
  tool.
• Who is responsible for submitting an EIS?
• Federal government agencies

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NEPA, cont.

• What does an EIS do?
• Mostly nothing.
• Mostly procedural.
• More lawsuits than any other env. law
• Projects may be delayed.
• In some cases, other statutory obligations are
  uncovered. Examples ___________.
• Important role for Federal land use.

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• Judge Blocks Rule Permitting Concealed Guns In
  U.S. ParksWashington Post, Friday, March 20,
  2009
• A federal judge yesterday blocked a last-minute
  rule enacted by President George W. Bush allowing
  visitors to national parks to carry concealed
  weapons
• U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly
  issued a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit
  brought by gun-control advocates and
  environmental groups
• She wrote that officials "abdicated their
  Congressionally-mandated obligation" to evaluate
  environmental impacts and "ignored (without
  sufficient explanation) substantial information
  in the administrative record concerning
  environmental impacts" of the rule.

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NEPA, cont.

• Why did Congress write such an (ultimately
  toothless) law?

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Exemptions from NEPA

• Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003
• (c) ADMINISTRATION.
• (1) IN GENERAL.Federal agency involvement in
  developing a community wildfire protection plan,
  or a recommendation made in a community wildfire
  protection plan, shall not be considered a
  Federal agency action under the National
  Environmental Policy Act of 1969.

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• (2) EXEMPTION.The Federal Advisory Committee
  Act (5 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply to the
  planning process and recommendations concerning
  community wildfire protection plans.
• FACA Open Meetings Law
• Q Can Congress do this? Why can Congress do
  this?

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Land use

• Historically, the U.S. has taken a very different
  approach to land use regulation.
• Traditionally, we do not regulate it nearly as
  much as pollution.
• Why?
• What do we do instead to address environmental
  problems arising from land use?

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Land use overview, cont.

• A few exceptions (examples where we do regulate
  land use)
• Endangered species
• Surface mining
• Wetlands
• Forest practices (state)
• Zoning (county)
• Note Because of these factors, many more levels
  of government are involved.

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Land use overview, cont.

• One other important difference
• http//nationalatlas.gov/printable/images/pdf/fedl
  ands/fedlands3.pdf
• http//nationalatlas.gov/printable/images/pdf/fedl
  ands/md.pdf

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• Federal government owns 29 percent of U.S. land,
  plus entire Outer Continental Shelf.
• States own an additional 8.7 percent.

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Federal lands, cont.

• Federal lands are held in 5 systems
• National Forests
• National Parks
• Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands
• Wildlife Refuges
• Wilderness Areas

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Federal lands, cont.

• As before, Congress passes a law to govern each
  of these systems.
• The Administration must interpret these laws.
• Each system is managed separately, with its own
  unique laws and rules.
• National Forests U.S. Forest Service
• Bureau of Land Management
• National Parks National Park Service
• Wildlife Refuges U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

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• Wilderness Areas
• Managed by one of the 4 other agencies.
• But, a separate set of rules apply.

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Wilderness areas (brief)

• Wilderness Act of 1964
• an area where the earth and its community of
  life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is
  a visitor who does not remain retaining its
  primeval character and influence, without
  permanent improvements or human habitation, which
  is protected and managed so as to preserve its
  natural conditions

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Wilderness areas, cont.

• Main criterion is roadless.
• Act of Congress needed to designate an area.
• Other laws
• Eastern Wilderness Act of 1975
• Maryland Wildlands 1971
• Other states have state wilderness areas.
• Wilderness areas are not a big part of our
  environmental policy tool kit.
• Still, this is a very remarkable law.

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Bill to Protect Wilderness Areas Is Defeated in
HouseBy Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post Staff
Writer, Thursday, March 12, 2009 A bill that
would have designated 2 million acres in nine
states as protected wilderness was narrowly
defeated yesterday in the House when it failed to
garner the necessary two-thirds vote. The
measure -- which has passed the Senate and would
represent one of the largest expansions of public
lands in a quarter-century -- received 282 yes
and 144 no votes, leaving it two votes shy of
passage. Conservation groups and many lawmakers
said the package, which combined more than 170
bills, would preserve some of the nation's
remaining pristine landscapes, but several
Republicans argued that it would cost too much to
implement and would stand in the way of needed
energy development. "At a time when we need jobs
and we need energy independence, it's the wrong
time to be tying up too much land," said Rep.
Jason Chaffetz (Utah), who added that some of the
proposals merited approval, but "so many of the
bills could never withstand an individual vote.
The bipartisan bill would apply to areas from
Oregon's Mount Hood to part of Virginia's
Jefferson National Forest. Other affected states
are California, Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, New
Mexico, Utah and West Virginia.