Environmental Assessment Panels :What They are - what They Do


Book Description

Describes role of federal Environmental Assessment and Review Process in determining environmental impacts of federal projects and activities.




Public Participation in Environmental Assessment and Decision Making


Book Description

Federal agencies have taken steps to include the public in a wide range of environmental decisions. Although some form of public participation is often required by law, agencies usually have broad discretion about the extent of that involvement. Approaches vary widely, from holding public information-gathering meetings to forming advisory groups to actively including citizens in making and implementing decisions. Proponents of public participation argue that those who must live with the outcome of an environmental decision should have some influence on it. Critics maintain that public participation slows decision making and can lower its quality by including people unfamiliar with the science involved. This book concludes that, when done correctly, public participation improves the quality of federal agencies' decisions about the environment. Well-managed public involvement also increases the legitimacy of decisions in the eyes of those affected by them, which makes it more likely that the decisions will be implemented effectively. This book recommends that agencies recognize public participation as valuable to their objectives, not just as a formality required by the law. It details principles and approaches agencies can use to successfully involve the public.




Environmental Impact Assessment


Book Description

Environmental Impact Assessment presents the proceedings of the Seminar on Environmental Impact Assessment that took place in Villach, Austria in September 1979. The rapid pace in technological and economic development led to detrimental effects on the environment. In this regard, it is imperative that policies are formulated in order to avert future environmental damage. The forum seeks to develop methods, procedures, techniques, and policies on Environmental Impact Assessment, a concept whose time has come. The seminar is attended by an array of international experts, leaders, agencies, and organizations to discuss various issues on Environmental Impact Assessment. The seminar begins with a paper on the main procedural and institutional questions related to environmental impact assessment, which intends to be the jumping board for further discussions on the matter. Papers on the qualitative and quantitative methods of environmental analysis; integration of environmental considerations into the planning and decision-making process; public information and participation; problems with the international aspects of environmental impact assessment; and case studies are presented. In the end, the participants adopted a set of conclusions and recommendations, which are reproduced in full. Environmentalists, ecologists, policymakers, government and private planners, political leaders, scientists, and concerned people will find this book invaluable.










Hazardous Decisions


Book Description

where Jeremy Richardson, Albert Weale and Hugh Ward were excellent hosts at the Department of Government and Thomas Christiansen a very good roommate. Having included the UK as a country where decision processes were far less participatory (and thus ‘worse’ in my own view) than those in the Netherlands, I started doing my first interviews there, which were mainly intended to identify suitable case studies for research. But then I read a highly critical review of a book that had a similar topic as my study. The critique was that cases of hazardous waste siting cannot adequately be studied without understanding their national context. This made me decide to devote some attention to the legal context of hazardous waste siting in the three countries of interest (which is of course only a part of the national context) and its development through the years. The study of the UK system of environmental regulation and land use planning was not a simple issue, and I was warned various times (for instance by Andrew Blowers at the Open University) that the legislation was highly complex and easily misinterpreted. I felt personally touched by such warnings and decided that I should perhaps approach the UK system a bit less as an evil empire and maybe be a bit more ‘objective’ in my appraisals.